The Sun Sets On 2018

What a year is has been.  2018 may be a hard year to top for Your Friendly Neighbourhood Photographer.  Many things passed before my lenses.  Cars, insects, flowers, bridges, My Lovely Assistant's tasty creations, fireworks, football games, championship hockey games, musicians and sunsets.  Only thing missing would be a sunrise, but I've always been more of a night owl than a morning bird.  128 updates, more than I had planned to be honest, several appearances during the Weatherpics segment on CTV Montreal and an appearance in La Presse.  My personal highlight was getting a photo-pass to shoot a concert by The Beaches in Montreal.  That was something I wasn't sure I'd ever get, and is something I can only hope will happen once again.  To close the photograph album for 2018, there's time for one final update.  This photograph was taken the same day as my second December appearance on CTV.  Something simple, just the sun, some clouds and a plane flying off in the distance.  It was taken at f/16, 1/160sec, ISO 100 at 200mm.  As the sun sets in the photograph, so it does on 2018.  Here's to wishing all of you out there in Internetland a very happy and healthy 2019.  Happy New Year to you all!

Distant Explosions

Well, not every idea is going to be a good one.  I usually shoot them from my side of the St. Lawrence River and always feel impressed how little the buildings look next to the fireworks.  Things kind of went the other way with this outing.  With the image of large fireworks dancing in my head, I made my way to to Mount Royal.  However, as you can see from these photographs, the fireworks come off looking much smaller from a distance.  The view of Montreal is still nice with all of the lights in the buildings, but many of those buildings also ended up blocking the blasts.  So, I played with the photograph sizes a little bit, stretching them out to try and capture as much light as possible.  The first photograph was taken at f/16, 25sec, ISO 100 at 24mm and stretch out to 12" x 4" and the second photograph was taken at f/16, 20sec, ISO 100 at 24mm.  Here are a few more that I took while up on the mountain.

f/16, 25sec, ISO 100 at 24mm, 12" x 3"

f/16, 20sec, ISO 100 at 24mm, 12" x 4"

f/16, 10sec, ISO 100 at 51mm

f/16, 10sec, ISO 100 at 51mm

 

The last two are actually the same photograph, just cropped a little differently.  You could say that I'm a little disappointed with this set.  On the other hand, they are still fun to look at and it's always nice to see the colourful Montreal skyline.

Christmas Eve Dessert

All of the presents have been unwrapped, and hopefully all of the stomachs have recovered from the multiple meals that have been eaten over the last few days.  I know mine is still full, partly due to the wonderful desserts created by My Lovely Assistant.  Here is her Christmas Eve dessert.  A Yule Log made with mascarpone cheese, chocolate and raspberries, while topped with cranberries and crushed pistachios and completed with gingerbread Christmas trees.  As is the usual case, I made us a little bit late to the party by taking several photographs of her handy work.  The first one was taken at f/2.8, 160sec, ISO 1600 at 60mm.  Here are a few more.

f/5, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

f/4, 1/125sec, ISO 100 at 38mm

I took some with flash, which works well on the close-up, but my favourite shot would be the first shot without flash, which allowed more of the Christmas tree lights to be seen.  To achieve that one, My Lovely Assistant ended up standing on a chair with a white cardboard to reflect some of the kitchen lights onto her cake.  Head Chef and Lovely Assistant, her holiday work schedule was full, almost as full the bellies of those who ate her wonderful dessert.

Merry Christmas To All

With Christmas upon us, it's time to shut down the old blog for a few days as there is much preparations, shopping and visiting to do.  The little guy in the photograph also needs to start getting ready for his big night, but I'm happy that he took a moment to pose for Your Friendly Neighbourhood Photographer before heading off into the night. I placed him on a glass table, which had some added colour thanks to the reflecting Christmas lights.  I also angled the kitchen lights in his direction to make him look just a little more jolly.  The photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/25sec, ISO 800 at 38mm.  With that taken care of all that remains is to wish you all a Merry Christmas from My Lovely Assistant and myself.  Hope you all have a Happy Holidays.

My Gingerbread Neighbours

Another Christmas is upon us, which means that while I'm tapping away at this computer, My Lovely Assistant is slaving away in the kitchen.  She has been preparing all kinds of festive treats, like this Gingerbread house.  It was waiting on the table one evening with strict instructions telling me not to touch it or move it around very much as it may have been fragile.  Luckily for me, her work was solid because move it, I did.  I placed the house and its inhabitants onto a cutting board and near our little Christmas tree in order to get a nicer image.  You need to take risks in photography, and I took a big risk because had that house collapsed when I moved it, I probably wouldn't be having a Merry Christmas.  The photograph was taken at f/4, 1/80sec, ISO 100 at 60mm with a little bit of added flash.  The building is still standing, but is due to be demolished on Saturday.  My belly and I can hardly wait.

Natrel Fire On Ice At Vieux Port de Montreal

Fireworks are mostly thought of as a Summer activity, but why limit a good thing to one season.  As part of the Winter activities down at the Old Port of Montreal, a fireworks display goes off every Saturday night from the middle of December to early January.  It's called Fire on Ice and is put on by the Natrel dairy and Van Houtte coffee companies.  I went to a parking lot on Ile Sainte-Hélène in order to get the view that you see.  It really is a great spot as you not only get the explosions of the fireworks and the buildings, but you get some nice reflection of those two things on the water as well. The explosions aren't quite as big, but they are just as colourful.  As a bonus, the lights of the city of Montreal serve as a very nice supporting guest in the photographs.  I have been 'politely' asked to leave this spot in the past, but security decided to leave the few of us who had gathered for the show alone on this night.  The first photograph was taken at f/16, 10sec, ISO 100 at 27mm and cropped at 12" x 4" in order to fit in more of the city because I like those wide angle style photographs.  The second photograph was taken at f/16, 13sec, ISO 100 at 27mm and the third photograph was taken at f/16, 13sec, ISO 100 at 27mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took of the show.

f/16, 13sec, ISO 100 at 27mm

f/16, 20sec, ISO 100 at 27mm

f/16, 6sec, ISO 100 at 27mm

It might just be a case of my imagination getting away from me, but the fifth photograph makes me think of a light monster walking towards the city.  An illuminated Godzilla if you will.  In any event, there will be three more of these shows, head out to see them if you're interested and in the area.

A Little Something

My sense of timing sometimes leaves a lot to be desired.  Last year we received this loaf of Christmas bread from My Lovely Assistant's aunt.  Yes, talent with creating tasty treats does seem to run in the family.  I snapped off a photograph or two before it quickly disappeared into our bellies, but then as often happens, other things came up and the photograph ended up being forgotten.  "Not a problem," I said to myself, "I'll just post it around Christmas as a kind of family advertising.  That plan ended up going off the rails when I found out that she closed her company over the Summer.  So instead of a promotional post, I guess we'll consider it a thank-you post instead.  Other than the marshmallow and chocolate decorations, I also wanted to capture the inside pattern of the bread as well.  I put it on a cutting board, had My Lovely Assistant, cut off a slice and fired away.  I took the photograph was f/9, 1/200sec, ISO 100 at 24mm with a little flash added to the mix and also slapped one of the company stickers on the cutting board for all to see.  Though you can no longer order anything, feel free to visit the Un P'tit Rien Facebook page to see some of the tasty creation that are still on display.

Cold Temperature, Warm Sunset

Though the temperatures have dropped, the clouds have finally cleared and the sun has come out to play.  That meant that the opportunity was there for some nice sunsets.  Tuesday's ended up on CTV Montreal and La Presse, but my good fortune wasn't about to end.  After taking a look at the sky after getting home for the Day Job, I saw that the combination of clouds and sun was perfect for another nice sunset.  I again grabbed my gear and headed out into the cold.  Instead of zooming in on the buildings, I pulled back a bit and grabbed a shot of the downtown core, but also the sun as it hit the horizon and the light it was giving off on the above clouds.  I used a small aperture to get that little star effect around the sun and underexposed to silhouette the buildings and capture a little more of the colour in the sky.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 1/60sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  I once again decided to send it in to CTV Montreal as Mom always said that it's nice to share.  The fine crew there liked it enough to air it during the six o'clock newscast and Lori Graham sent the photograph out on Twitter.  My fun week of photography continued.

Live And In Living Colour

It has been so grey here over the last several weeks that Your Friendly Neighbourhood Photographer might have been coming down with a case of the Blah's.  So, when the clouds cleared a little today, I knew that the time was going to be right for a nice sunset.  I rushed home from the day job, grabbed my gear and then climbed a perfectly positioned snow bank in a nearby parking lot.  I then began to snap away as the sky went from blue, to gold and finally to red.  In one of those good timing moments I like to attribute to my Grandmother, I noticed a flock of geese flying towards the Biosphere.  I waited for them to enter an empty spot at the left of my image, purposely underexposed so the colours would come out a bit more and then snapped away.  Once home, I figured the fine folks at CTV News Montreal would enjoy a little colour as well so I sent it off to them and then it appeared during the evening newscast.  All in a days work.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 1/100sec, ISO 100 at 200mm.  Thanks once again to Lori Graham (who also featured the photograph on Twitter) and the folks at CTV Montreal for airing my photograph.  My 15 minutes of fame continues.

The Cleaning Ladybug

Here we are, December of another year.  The archives are once again overflowing with photographs that have yet to see the light of day, so it's the last month to put a few out before the 2018 file makes way for 2019.  I took this photograph back in August.  A ladybug had crawled out from its hiding spot with some dust on her red wings.  Just another of those situations where the dust really seemed to stand out so it was something I wanted to photograph.  Fortunately, she was crawling around on a nice wood windowsill with the afternoon sun coming in.  All I had to do was grab the old macro lens and snap away. The photograph was taken at f/4, 1/50sec, ISO 800 at 60mm.  Just another of the little critters who like to model for me.

Giant Cookies

It's that odd time of the year where I don't really know what to put up on the old blog.  I still have a backlog of sunset photographs to use, but it is currently snowy and cloudy all of the time so the photos seem out of place.  On the other hand, the snow is sloppy, wet and doesn't photograph that well, so I don't end up snapping many photographs.  During such uninspiring times, it's always a pleasure to walk up to the door and be met with some sweet smells.  In this case, My Lovely Assistant had whipped up a batch of giant chocolate chip cookies.  After taking an after-the-day-job snack, out came the camera, the white background and the playing with my food began.  The straw saw double duty as an accessory and also a tool to add some bubbles to my glass.  Mom wouldn't approve of the bubble blowing, but it added an extra little something.  The photograph was taken at f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 24mm and the cookies & milk disappeared soon after.

The Beaches At L'Astral

Longtime followers of the blog should be well aware that two of my favourite subjects to be featured here are photographs of fireworks and concerts.  Getting shots of fireworks is pretty basic, however it is a little more tricky for concerts.  The outdoor shows are pretty easy to get into, all you have to do is show up.  Things change for shows in a concert hall.  I have been lucky enough to manage to get a camera into some of the shows that I have attended over the last few years, but some deception and chicanery was often involved.  Last night, neither of those underhanded tactics were necessary.  I had a free evening, and I saw that a band I enjoy was playing in town so I decided to take a chance.  I sent off an email to the band managers, described my photographic history and also a small portfolio of some of my concert photographs.  Much to my surprise and joy, I got news a day later that my request for a photo pass had been accepted.  Some rather happy news for your friendly neighbourhood photographer.  Getting back to the subject at hand, The Beaches are a rock band out of Toronto that have really shot up in popularity over the last year.  Their single, T-Shirt, was one of the big radio hits of the Summer.  They had released a few EP's in 2013 and 2014 before their first full length album, The Late Show, was released last October.  The didn't waste much time in getting some recognition either, being nominated for a SOCAN Songwriting Prize and winning a JUNO for Breakthrough Group of the Year.  The concert itself was a blast.  My pass allowed me to shoot the first three songs, so I looked up some videos of their previous concerts to see what to expect.  After the three songs ended, I blended into the background as I was allowed to stay for the rest of the show and tried to take a few extra sneaky pics from time to time.  The crowd was very much into the high energy songs and rocking to the music all evening.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 35mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm and the third photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 24mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took during their set.

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 24mm

f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 1600 at 24mm

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 40mm

f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 27mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 115mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

What a great evening.  Once again, much thanks to Universal Music Canada, Evenko and Greenland Productions for providing me with a photo pass.  You can find out more about The Beaches, including how to get their album and where to see them next, by visiting their website.  It was a very memorable evening.  Hopefully there will be more like them in the future.

Goodbye Honolulu At L'Astral

Saturday night might be alright for fighting, but there's nothing better than a Friday night concert, especially when it is one that I have a photo pass for.  More on that in the next update.  Goodbye Honolulu, a cool rock band from Toronto, was the opening act for the evening.  The list their influences as a wide variety of punk and rock bands from the 1970s to today, and from watching the show, you could see that they have done their homework.  The did a good job of warming up the crowd with their full energy songs, and the crowd returned the favour as one patron offered a round of shots to the band in the middle of their set.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took during their set.

f/2.8, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 120mm

f/4, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/4, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 45mm

f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 51mm

f2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 51mm

Much thanks to Universal Music Canada, Evenko and Greenland Productions for the pass.  It was a terrific experience.  You can find out more about Goodbye Honoluly by visiting their website.

Félines du St-Laurent vs Rapides de Champlain

It's been a while since I've been at a hockey rink, so when I got a heads up that my favourite junior A hockey team, the Félines du St. Laurent would be playing a few short minutes away, I jumped into the car.  I am, of course, a little biased in my liking the Félines as their goaltender Florence is the daughter of my friend Emmanuel.  I was on hand for their championship performance back in April, and you can see those photographs by following this link.  Things have gotten off to a rough start for the squad this year, but the Félines got off to a good start by scoring an early goal in the first period against their rivals.  Sadly, things went a little downhill from there as the team ended up losing 5-1.  I apologized for my part in the loss.  As a spectator, my record now stands at 2 wins, 5 losses and a tie.  Luckily one of those wins was the Championship match of last year, otherwise I think I would probably no longer getting invitations to the games.  The game was played in the Delson arena, and the sight lines were not great.  A low ceiling over the stands made it difficult to get any shots without the top of the protective glass getting in my way, and the glass surrounding the rink was pretty scuffed up and lacking the handy little openings that photographers get to use at the pro rinks.  Despite this, I still managed to get some nice shots of the action, though I did feel a little awkward standing right against the glass for most of the game.  I might bring a little stool with me next time so that I can sit and not feel like I am standing out like a sore thumb.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 3200 at 64mm and the second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm.  Here are some more photographs that I took for the game action.

f/2.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/2500sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/2500sec, ISO 3200 at 58mm

f/2.8, 1/2500sec, ISO 3200 at 52mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/3200sec, ISO 3200 at 75mm

f/2.8, 1/1600sec, ISO 3200 at 100mm

 

f/2.8, 1/1600sec, ISO 3200 at 90mm

Though the game didn't go as hoped, I still was happy to grab a couple of pretty cool photographs from my various positions in the arena.  Hopefully I'll get to a few more games before the season ends.

Double Sunset

One of the reasons why photographers don't make good walking partners is that we don't tend to snap and move.  Different angles need to be considered, look a little more to the left and then maybe just a little more to the right.  A simple stroll turns into an interminable outing for whoever doesn't have a camera in their hands.  Once the walk does come to an end, it's the photographer who then has the unenviable task of going through all of those different photographs trying to find just the right one.  Sometimes things work out for the best, and other times I just can't decide so I end up using more than one.  This update is brought to you thanks to my indecisiveness.  I took these photographs while out on an Fall stroll a while back.  I found myself down by the banks of the St. Lawrence River and was just in the right spot to see the sun go down.  I liked the thick red clouds that can be seen on the second photograph, but also liked how they thin out and reveal more of the sky in the first one.  The first photograph was taken at f/9, 1/320sec, ISO 400 at 54mm and the second photograph was taken at f/9, 1/250sec, ISO 400 at 70mm.  Since I can't decide, you can discuss among yourselves over which one you prefer.