Five Minutes For Fighting

Before my Mom or anyone else out there gets upset about the violence being presented on this page, both 'combatants' were just playing around.  This happened over the weekend at the Classique Montréalaise.  A city wide hockey tournament being held as part of the celebration for the 375th anniversary of the city.  Teams from all of the boroughs were represented and the action was hot and heavy.  In this particular situation, it serves a good lesson that you probably shouldn't mess with the referee.  As a photographer, it is important to sometimes be lucky and be in the right place at the right time.  You never know when a good fake fight will break out.  The first photograph was taken at f/5.6, 1/800sec ISO 400 at 70mm.  Here are a few more.

f/5.6, 1/1000sec, ISO 400 at 46mm

f/5.6, 1/1250sec ISO 400 at 46mm

f/5.6, 1/1250sec, ISO 400 at 46mm

Both got five minutes for fighting, but I think the guy with the red tuque might have also gotten an extra two minutes for instigating and a game misconduct.  The ref had a size advantage and used it to win the fight on my scorecard.

In 55 Days

It has taken a while, but thanks to a push from My Lovely Assistant, things are moving forward for my photography exhibition.  As you can see in the photo above, it takes place from March 23rd to April 23rd at the Greenfield Park Library.  What you see under the crudely produced ad is the first of my photographs that will be on display.  The usual place where I got my photographs developed was no longer an option so I moved on to something new.  They did such a good job, that I'll give them a little mention here.  If you're looking for a good company to take care of your prints, put your photos in the hands of PhotoLab Yves Thomas.  Great work at a great price.  Which photos were printed?  There's a little glimpse of the first four above, but to see them all, you'll have to head over to the Greenfield Park Library (225 Empire, Greenfield Park) from March 23rd to April 23rd to find out.  There will be more news here as we continue to get closer to the date.

Needing Some Colour

I've often made mention of the large collection of photographs that are laying dormant in my hard drive.  This veritable land of misfit photographs continues to grow, though there are times when some of my photographs end up there on purpose.  Over the summer month, things here get very busy.  There are always a large variety of classic cars, fireworks, insects, outdoor concerts and other events that end up on these pages.  As a result, sometimes I push some of them back for a later time.  I do this often with flowers.  I enjoy photographing flowers because of their bright colours and distinctive parts.  I sometimes think that they get overlooked in the summer, so I like to save some of those shots for days like today.  I don't know about the weather in whatever part of the world you may be reading this is, but over here, it's been more than a week since we've had any real sunshine.  Days like today could use a little colour, and that is where these flower photographs come in handy.  This particular flower, a Forget-Me-Not (or Myosotis) was taken at f/2.8, 1/125sec, ISO 400 at 60mm.  It is really no bigger than a penny, for those of you who remember what a penny is, but getting up close with a Macro lens really brings out the colour, as well as the little 'teeth' just about the yellow center and the little spots of pollen over the petals.  A little something to chase those greys away.

Packard Hood Ornament

This past weekend, the annual Montreal Car Show began and my little brother was kind enough to offer me a ticket to the event.  I kindly declined the offer as I wasn't free, but the occasion did serve to remind me that I still have a ton of car photographs parked in my hard drive, just waiting to be taken out for a spin.  The particular photograph has been one of my favourite shots that have been collecting dust in the garage.  It's the hood ornament of a late 1930's Packard automobile.  I failed to get the exact year the car was made as this was taken during my visit to the Saint-Lambert Classic Car Show when I failed to either take notes or photograph the information car displayed on the windshield.  I had taken the same photograph from the other side, but didn't like the background.  I quickly noticed that if I moved to the other side, there were lots of trees, which would make a nice green background for my shot.  There's also a blurred out silver light post back there that I like as well.  Kind of looks like a beam of light going up to the sky.  As an added bonus, the red from the car parked next to to reflected in the wings and body of the hood ornament giving it a nice added red glow.  The photograph was taken at f/4.5, 1/1000sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  I'm sure the car show would have been fine, but I'm also pretty sure that there wasn't anything this cool on any of the cars on display.

Last Year's Leftovers

 I admit, the title to this update may be a little bit harsh.  However, it is a known fact that the one thing everyone has to deal with once the holidays end are leftovers.  Thankfully, these leftovers don't go bad.  If these photographs look familiar to you, it is because you saw some like them back before 2016 ended. I used them as my end of year sunset update.  After I took those photographs, I stuck around for a little bit longer.  Soon after the brownish red had left the sky, it was quickly replaced by this really nice blue.  As such, I was compelled to shoot off a few more photographs before making my way home.  Once again, both photographs were taken at f/9, 1/60sec, ISO 400 at 200mm.  As with the previous update, I simply used the same original file and cropped it two different ways.

 

Who doesn't like a good two-for-one deal.  As with the others, I still like the way that the metal structure of the bridge stands out against the sky.  Don't be in a rush to leave after you've taken your photograph, something else may soon present itself.

Before The Big Bang

I often show up early when I go out to photograph fireworks in order to make sure that I get a good spot.  Another reason is because it's good to have a little bit of extra time before everything starts to explode to make sure that everything is properly focused and framed as you'd like.  While I'm doing these things, I'm often taking photographs in order to make sure that everything is how I want it to be. If I have been smart enough to choose a good location, this can also result in some bonus photographs to add to my collection.  These photographs were taken back on Christmas Eve when I was getting ready to photograph some fireworks.  The first one was taken at f/16, 25ec, ISO 100 at 28mm and the second photograph was taken at f/16, 30sec, ISO 100 at 28mm.  I used a wide angle so that I could get both a traditional style shot and a wide crop.  Though I was there for fireworks, the lights of the city were just as nice as the fireworks that happened later that night.  By using a wide crop, I was also able to get everything from the old grain silos to the clock tower from the Old Port, while also getting all of the skyscrapers from downtown.  Kind of the old, and modern eras of Montreal coming together as one.

Christmas Flower

They say that it is always better to give than to receive.  This update has a little bit of both of those.  This year for Christmas, My Lovely Assistant got a Candy Coloured Amarillis as a gift and it just recently went into bloom.  Of course, this meant that I had to grab my camera and capture some of its awesome colours and then pass along the photos to all of you.  The only problem was that for several days after blooming, the sun was nowhere to be seen.  Instead of some natural sunlight, I brought out my flash and bounced some light  around the room, trying to bring out the colours, while also capturing the details of the flower as well.  The first photograph was taken at f/14, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 68mm.  Here are a few more photographs.

f/7.1, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 68mm

f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 68mm

The colours were what initially grabbed my attention, but I think my favourite little detail is on the third photograph.  If you look way down in the bottom left-hand corner of the photograph, you'll see just a little bit of yellow pollen that remained on the petal when I lowered it a little bit for a clearer shot inside.

Forgotten Firework

The year is getting off to a rough start for my old brain.  First, I forget to save my changes before closing Photoshop, then when I finally do post the photographs, I end up forgetting to add my favourite one to the group.  I think my personal editors are going to have to keep a closer eye on me.  This photograph, shot at f/16, 8sec, ISO 100 at 68mm, and taken at the same time as the others, was my favourite of the bunch because it looks like a giant flower next to the skyscrapers of Montreal.  During fireworks shows, they often repeat the same explosion a couple of times in a row.  This was about the fourth larger explosion, so I had begun shooting as the third one had already exploded and the fourth rocket was climbing into the air.  That's why the firework explosions looks so full and you can see the flight that the rocket took.  The end result is kind of like a giant red dandelion.  That's all for this batch.  I'll be back with more photographs if I can remember where I put my camera...

Fireworks Over Montreal

I think it has already been well established that I am a big fan of fireworks.  Seems like I've been caught between two extremes this past several months.  It was high 30's and humidity back in July and this past weekend it was close to minus 30 with the wind.  Still, the bright lights and loud explosions were calling to me.  This was the final fireworks display for the winter activities down at the Old Port of Montreal.  Every Saturday from the beginning of December there had been a fireworks display that people could watch while skating on the large outdoor rink that is on the site.  I went back to the same spot that I visited for the New Year's Eve fireworks because I thought that without the fog and clouds, it might be a nice location.  I always like to have something in the background of my fireworks photographs, and this spot provided me a nice view of the building of Montreal behind and on either side of the explosions.  Depending on the size of the explosions, it allowed to me chose whether I wanted to crop my photographs in a more traditional 8" x 12" or something wider, like 24" x 8".   These are the photographs that I was planning on posting on Monday before my little Photoshop accident.  Luckily, I had saved all of the cropping and touch-ups before closing the program so not much was lost.  The first photograph was taken at f/16, 15sec, ISO 100 at 68mm.  The second photograph was also taken at f/16, 15sec, ISO 100 at 68mm and the third photograph was taken at  f/16, 20sec, ISO 100 at 68mm.  Here are a couple more photographs that I took during the show.

f/16, 20sec, ISO 100 at 68mm

f/16, 15sec, ISO 100 at 68mm

f/16, 15sec, ISO 100 at 68mm

As far as I know, that's about it for fireworks between now and July.  At that time I'll probably be trading in my winter jacket for shorts and a t-shirt, but I'll probably still be out there somewhere with my camera.

Hidden In The Trees

There are times when things don't end up going as planned.  I had several other photographs prepared to be posted today, but made the fatal mistake of closing Photoshop before everything was saved.  To make matters worse, I didn't even realize it until I had already written a different headline for this post and was looking through my folder to find the photographs.  Nothing there.  After the pit in my stomach began to settle, I remembered that I have a rather large reserve of photographs to deal with, so I quickly went back to my recent Val Morin photographs and found this one.  Originally, I took the photograph because of the cottage in the upper left corner of the photographer.  I hadn't even noticed the cottage in the bottom right until after I had gotten home and began looking a little close at what I had.  The photograph was taken at f/10, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 150mm.  I really like the way that the empty trees look while covered in snow.  Same with Evergreens with snow covering them.  It's a look that just says 'Winter' to me.  Now if you'll excuse me it's back to try and recover those other photos that never got saved.

Winter Wonderland

After watching some fireworks, My Lovely Assistant and I ended up heading up north to spend some time with her family.  Their cottage on a lake has provided some nice summer photographs.  This time, the lake is frozen over and instead of leaves the trees are full of snow, but I think the scene is just as peaceful, if not more, than it does with waves on the water.  Though the trees are bare, I enjoy looking up on the mountain and seeing the snow on the ground, as well as the snow covered evergreens just above the lake.  The photograph was taken at f/13, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 145mm.  I played around with different shutter speeds in order to get just the right colour in the trees while keeping the white of the snow.  Looks like a cozy winter scene.  All that is missing is a fireplace.

New Year's Fireworks 2017

Welcome to 2017!  As has become the norm over here on the blog, we began the year with fireworks.  There was a bit of a hitch in that plan this year.  The weather was not cooperating.  A little after noon, the clouds rolled in and the snow started to fall.  It kind of put a damper on things as I was kind of losing interest in attending the annual show in Old Montreal under such conditions.  In a bit of a compromise, I ended up going to a local park with the hopes of getting some shots through the snow and cloud, and My Lovely Assistant joined me up on the hill, wearing snowshoes for the trek no less.  Much to my fear, the cloud cover was in fact a little too thick.  I still took a few shots since I was still out there and brought them home to play with.  The finished product is far from being the best fireworks shots that I have ever taken.  However, I still decided to include them here on the blog because I'm kind of happy that I got anything at all.  I decided to include the original photograph files on this blog to provide a 'before' and 'after' effect.  By playing the with the Levels tool in Photoshop, I was able to pull some colour out of the explosions, while also darkening the sky.  Basically, by using the Levels tool, you can adjust the brightness, contrast and tonal range of the photograph.  By doing so, I was able to take nothing, and turn it into something.  The first photograph was taken at f/22, 10sec, ISO 100 at 68mm .  Here is the second one, followed by the 'before' versions.

f/22, 10sec, ISO 100 at 68mm

 

So you see, I didn't have much to work with.  If there was one plus to the whole situation, had it not been for the clouds, the spot would have actually been kind of cool.  There's another similar show coming up next week, so I might go back and try it again.  Hopefully the sky will be a little more clear.