Look Ma, I'm On TV

My Mom keeps telling me that I should send my photographs in to the local newscast more often.  As they say, 'Mother is usually right', and I guess that she was this time as well.  I had gotten an email from her late last night.  I read it after having gotten home from photographing the latest fireworks display as part of the Montreal International Fireworks Competition. She had included the email needed to send weather photographs for the nightly forecast.  I finished uploading my latest photographs and I figured 'what the heck, give it a shot'.  I quickly went through the photographs and chose the one I thought was the best of the bunch, did a little editing and sent it off.  I then waited through the six o'clock newscast and tah-dah!  There it was.  I thought the photograph looked a little darker than it really is on television, so I've included it here with the update.  It was taken at f/7.1, 15sec, ISO 100 at 32mm.  Thanks to Lori Graham and all at CTV News, and ofcourse, thanks Mom.

Montreal International Fireworks Competition - Spain

As we near the end of July, it also means that we're near the end of the annual Montreal International Fireworks Competition.  This past Saturday, the skies over Montreal were brightened by Spain, or more specifically, the RICASA Company of Valencia.  The family run company have been turning night into day for 135 years, including being featured at various Pan-Am Games, presentations in New York and the Olympics.  This was their third appearance in Montreal, earning third place finishes in 1998 and in 2005.  With those amazing credentials, it shouldn't be a surprise to say that this has been my favourite show to date this year.  Sadly, the elements once again decided to play havoc with things.  The skies had opened earlier in the day as a couple of downpours left everything rather wet.  As we approached show time, the sky had begun to clear, but there was still a chance of rain so I decided to stay a little bit closer to home and returned to the same spot I had shot at two weeks ago.  Things started out fairly well as there was only a slight bit of cloud cover which I always feel adds a little bit of texture to these photographs.  However, about fifteen minutes into the show the wind once again began to shift  and ended up blowing all of the smoke from the fireworks right back into my location.  It slowly crept over to where I was as I watched it slowly shroud everything along the way.  As the show was near an end, the smoke was everywhere, as you can see in the second photograph.  The difference between the first photograph, taken at f/8, 10sec, ISO 100 at 34mm and the second photograph, taken at f/8, 4sec, ISO 100 at 34mm, is quite remarkable.  Here are a few more photographs I took before the smoke swallowed everything.

f/8, 5sec, ISO 100 at 34mm

f/8, 6sec, ISO 100 at 34mm

f/8, 8sec, ISO 100 at 34mm

f/8, 8sec, ISO 100 at 34mm

After these last two shows, I've spent more time in a smoker than certain sandwich meats.  I returned to this spot because I wasn't happy with my positioning.  Ends up the spot I had used previously has been rendered useless as a large tree has been planted directly in the sight-line to the fireworks.  I liked this spot a little better than the previous one, except for that annoying road sign at the bottom center of the frame.  Hopefully none of you noticed it, but it bothered me all night, until the smoke became a bigger issue.  It's been a kind of unlucky run this year so I'm hoping that the tide will turn for these last two show.

Montreal International Fireworks Competition - U.S.A

I generally try and begin each of these updates with what I think is the best photograph of the bunch.  Something that I hope will grab your attention enough to make you want to stick around and see the rest.  Today, we're going against the grain.  The first photograph that you see here, taken at f/13, 30sec, ISO 100 at 35mm, is not what I would consider to be the best one I took.  Rather, it's the clearest photograph that I took.  Last night was the fifth installment of the annual Montreal International Fireworks Competition.  It was the turn of the Untied States of America to light up the skies over Montreal.  Representing our neighbours to the South was Western Enterprises, Inc, a third-generation family based company out of Oklahoma.  This was their second appearance at the competition.  I had decided a few hours before the show that I was going to take my photographs from my favourite location.  A lot of land off in Longueuil that sits empty for eleven months of the year, but city officials show up every July to charge people nine dollars to park their car and watch the fireworks.  Or so I learned from listening to a conversation between people in the car next to us.  Fortunately, there is no cost for parking your bicycle, which was the mode of transportation used by My Lovely Assistant and your Friendly Neighbourhood Photographer.  About ten minutes before the show was going to begin, the wind shifted and a pit a disappointment began to form in my stomach.  There had been a nice brisk breeze that would have been perfect to push the smoke from the fireworks away, until Mother Nature turned her nostril and decided to send that breeze right in our direction.  As a result, the first photograph you see is the first photograph that I took.  It is also the only one where I have a clear view of not only the fireworks, but also Mount Royal, some of downtown Montreal, several of the rides at the La Ronde amusement park and the Jacques Cartier Bridge.  After about five minutes, all of them were swallowed up by a thick cloud of smoke that remained in my face for the rest of the presentation.  I still think that I ended up with some pretty cool photographs, including the second photograph which was taken at f/9, 8sec, ISO 100 at 24mm, and all of the others that you can see below.

f/9, 10sec, ISO 100 st 24mm

f/9, 8sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

f/9, 6sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

f/9, 5 sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

As I was saying, I still think that they are nice photographs, but I can't help but think how much nicer they would have been without all of the smoke.  That's the chance you take with fireworks.  Once you're at your chosen location, if things go wrong, there's not very much you can do about it.  Just shoot away and try to make the best of things.

Sunday Night Football

A few days back I was asked if I would like to attend a soccer game where a couple of former co-workers would be playing.  I thought it was kind of odd that they'd be playing soccer at 9:00PM on a Sunday night, but once I got around that thought bubble, I figured it might not only be fun, but it could be a good opportunity to take a few photographs.  Over the past couple of years, I've taken photographs at baseball, hockey and football games.  I've actually taken some soccer photographs in the past, but that was several years ago during a Sports Photography course I took.  I probably should have gone over my notes a little bit before leaving because I was a little rusty on the rules and the flow of the game.  I was a little bit over focused on trying to get photographs of my two friends.  As a result, I ended up missing several cool plays off of corner kicks and throw-ins.  Something I'll have to keep in mind should I end up down at the pitch once again.  The game was between the Longueuil Belettes and a team from Greenfield Park.  Two teams who play in the U-21 Feminin Inter-Ville Rive-Sud league.  As I mentioned, the teams took pitch a little after 9:00PM at Centre Multi-Sport in the shadow of the Colisée Jean-Beliveau.  The conditions were a little difficult.  There were several lights pointed at the field, but I didn't want to go over ISO 1600 in an attempt to limit the amount of noise that would appear in my photographs.  Low light conditions and fast moving athletes don't mix very well.  I still managed to grab some pretty interesting and action packed shots, mostly by trying to position myself as close to the action as possible and trying to shoot mostly while the ladies were directly under the lights.  A sense of anticipation and some good luck factored into these shots as well.  The first photograph was taken at f/4, 1/20sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/4, 1/125sec, ISO 1600 at 142mm and the third photograph was taken at f/4, 1/100sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm.  Here are several more photographs that I took during the game.

f/4, 1/125sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm

f/4, 1/400sec, ISO 1600 at 123mm

f4, 1/100sec, ISO 1600 at 88mm

f/4, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 80mm

f/3.2, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm

f3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm

f/3.2, 1/125sec, ISO 1600 at 168mm

f3.2, 1/125sec, ISO 1600 at 168mm

f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 1600 at 135mm

f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 85mm

f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm

You may have noticed a few recurring faces in these photographs.  As I mentioned, I was there to photograph a couple friends, hello Grace & Sarah.  Sadly, the Photographer Curse did the ladies in.  I seem to bring bad luck to the athletes I go to photograph.  I can now add soccer to the list of sports I've been invited to photograph, only to see the people who invited me find themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard.  Hopefully, this won't keep me from getting invited back again.

Montreal International Fireworks Competition - Switzerland

Another Saturday night in Montreal means another Saturday night of fireworks.  Up this week was Switzerland, who was being represented by the Sugym Fireworks Company, who were making their second appearance at the competition.  It was also a chance for me to try out a new shooting location.  This one is located down at the Old Port of Montreal.  I went there last year for some photographs, but this time instead of using the walkway that leads to the old clock tower, I went down closer to where the artificial beach is.  I think it's a pretty cool spot.  You get a nice view of the fireworks, a good view of the bridge, and the clock tower on the right adds another little landmark to the photograph.  My only disappointment was that instead of the clock tower being illuminated as usual, there was some kind of light show being displayed upon it.  That kind of frustrated me at certain points of the evening.  The light show did provide some interesting effects of the walls of the tower, but sometimes simplicity is best, and I would have liked for some regular lighting on atleast one of my photographs.  That aside, I think that the photographs you see here on the page are rather cool, and the first one is probably my favourite that I have so far taken this year.  The theme of of the presentation was e-motions, inspired by emoticons which are those little smiley face things you see while reading things on the internet.  Something like this, :-) for example.  They even managed to make a few such faces appear in the sky, though with long exposure photography, they still come off looking like streaks of light.  The first photograph was taken at f/9, 13sec, ISO 100 at 43mm and the second photograph was taken at f/10, 10sec, ISO 100 at 43mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took during the show.

f/10, 25sec, ISO 100 at 43mm

f/10, 8sec, ISO 100 at 43mm

f/10, 30sec, ISO 100 at 43mm

f/18, 20sec, ISO 100 at 38mm

Hard to believe, but the fireworks competition is already half over.  Or you could go the more positive route and say that there is still half to go.  Either way, if you're a fan get out there to see them.  Though clouds and humidity have caused a little bit of a problem for me this year, the shows are still spectacular to see.

Summer Swim

It's hot outside.  Miserably hot and humid.  A combination that I hate more than anything.  If you happen to be one of the unlucky folks who don't have air-conditioning, then the next best option would be to do as this little guy and find a nice body of water to hide in.  I found this little guy hiding in a small pond while on vacation in Tadoussac a few years back.  I had been trying to take a photograph of the pond when my spider-sense, or in this case my frog-sense, kicked in and told me to look down.  That's when I noticed the frog looking up at me with a big smile on his face.  Don't believe me?  Then check out the second photograph.  I took the photograph of just the frog after I had noticed him in the water.  I knelt down on the walking path very slowly so that I wouldn't scare him away. I'm sure that there may be some non-believers out there, but I'm pretty sure that he is smiling for the camera.  He sure looks pretty comfortable in that water, something I'm sure that the others out there among us who have been enduring this heat and humidity would smile if they were up to their neck in cool water as well.  The first photograph was taken at f/4, 1/320sec, ISO 100 at 70mm and the second photograph was taken at f/6.3, 1/100sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  With the first photograph, I was just trying to photograph the reeds that were coming out of the water.  I used a large aperture to blur out some of the front of the photograph because I thought it would look more interesting.  With the second photograph, I used a slightly smaller aperture since I wasn't really close to the frog and wanted to make sure that all of his face would be in focus. On that note, I'm off to huddle next to my magical cold air machine.  I hope that all of you out there are able to find a cool pond of your own.  Also, don't forget to smile if someone happens to photograph you while you are swimming in it.

Montreal International Fireworks Competition - Canada

My Lovely Assistant is quick to remind me that often during the walk home from a fireworks exhibition I'm often a little down as I feel that I've not a good job of capturing the display that took place in the sky.  This time, it was a little bit of the opposite.  I was quite happy with my shots, especially considering that they took place during a very overcast night where low winds and humidity caused the smoke to move out of the way more slowly than usual.  It was only after I got home that I noticed I wouldn't be able to properly crop the photographs as I had wanted.  I used this location once before a few years ago.  Part of the fun for me is getting the metal superstructure of the bridge into the shots with the fireworks exploding over it.  My plan was to keep the superstructure in the top, right hand corner, and let the fireworks fill the rest of the space.  I thought I had positioned myself properly, but I think I was a little bit to far to the right.  To compensate, I ended up moving the fireworks more to the right of my photographs, or leaving a bit more sky that I would have wanted in the photographs where I kept the fireworks on the left.  The first photograph was taken at f/16, 5sec, ISO 100 at 28mm and the second photograph was taken at f/13, 8sec, ISO 100 at 28mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took during the show.

f/13, 6sec, ISO 100 at 28mm

f/13, 6sec, ISO 100 at 28mm

f/13, 1sec, ISO 100 at 28mm

f/13, 10sec, ISO 100 at 28mm

It was Canada's turn to light up the sky and the fireworks were handled by Big Bang Fireworks, a company from Calgary with 18 years of experience, but making their first appearance here in Montreal.  I'm sure that the photographs are fine, but in my head there is still that tinge of disappointment over having missed the composition I was looking for.  I might try to redeem myself at this location before the competition comes to an end.

Montreal International Fireworks Competition - Chile

The 32rd Edition of the Montreal International Fireworks Competition brought much colour and noise to the skies over the Greater Montreal area last night.  This was the second show of the competition, and was handled by the Pirotencia Spa company, specifically their Chilean branch.  Mother Nature had been threatening a sky show of her own as thunderstorms had been in the forecast for much of the evening, but they never materialized.  Since the threat of rain was hovering, I stayed close to home for these photographs, choosing to shoot from a spot in Saint-Lambert's Seaway Park.  It's a spot I like as the park runs along a busy highway right across from the fireworks.  As a result, I get a light show in the sky from the fireworks and also a bonus show at the bottom of the screen from the light trails left behind from the passing cars.  Sometimes, a squad of police cars, there to make sure that traffic keeps moving, pass at the same time and makes for a crazy mix of colours along the roadway.  Though the rain did finally hold off, a little more wind would have been welcomed.  The smoke from the exploding fireworks would linger a little longer than than I would have liked, smoking out some of the fireworks.  I ended up having an accurate trigger finger on this night and came home with, in my own not so humble opinion, several cool photographs.  The first one was taken at f/10, 10sec, ISO 100 at 50mm and the second photograph was taken at f/10, 8sec, ISO 100 at 50mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took of the show.

 f/10, 6sec, ISO 100 at 50mm

f/13, 8 sec, ISO 100 at 50mm

 

f/13, 10sec, ISO 100 at 50mm

 

f/13, 8 sec, ISO 100 at 50mm

f/13, 6sec, ISO 100 at 50mm

 

I generally try to keep these fireworks themed updates limited to six shots, but after several hours of trying to cut down on my list, I made it to seven and could decide on which last photograph wasn't going to make the cut.  So, since this is my blog, I suppose that it is okay for me to break my own rules.  It also means that my archives just grew in size.  Maybe I'll have an all fireworks themed month some time in the future.