Monday 27 August 2018

Daniel Bélanger At Saint-Lambert En Fête

One final show of photographs to share.  Our three day adventure at Saint-Lambert en Fête has sadly come to an end, but what a three days it was.  The headline act of the weekend was one of the big names of modern Québec music, Daniel Bélanger.  Since releasing his first album in 1992, I can't think of a time when it you wouldn't hear one of his songs on the radio.  Since then, he has gone on to win several Juno and ADISQ awards for his work, his albums are among the best selling of all time in Québec and has sold an untold amount of tickets to his concerts.  He was in Saint-Lambert to give the final show of his current tour for his most recent album, Paloma, which is his eighth studio album and was released late in 2016.  I didn't have much chance to move around for this show.  As soon as the opening act (Alexandre Poulin - photographs to be seen by following the link) ended, My Lovely Assistant and I were suddenly surrounded by people trying to get as close to the stage as we were.  Since I was the only one with a camera, maybe My Lovely Assistant was right, we really were in the Groupie Position. The band hit the stage and the crowd erupted as their hero hit the stage.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm and the second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 3200 at 57mm.  Here are several more photographs that I took during the performance.

f/2.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 3200 at 60mm

f/2.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 3200 at 59mm

f/2.8, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 58mm

f/2.8, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 59mm

f/2.8, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 59mm

f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

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

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/50sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/125sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 85mm

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

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

It was a great show.  My only complaints were from a photographic point of view.  I usually like to grab a few photographs of the supporting musicians, but they had very little light on them during the concert.  A couple of photographs with the lights of the video background would have been nice as well, but there were so many people that it was impossible to move around without losing my own spot as well.  That aside, it was a terrific show and everyone went home happy.  With that, it's time to charge some batteries, both mine and my cameras, so after eight updates in five days, I think it's time for a little break.

Sunday 26 August 2018

Preville Big Band At Saint-Lambert En Fête

I don't get to photograph very many musical acts to begin with, so it is pretty rare that I get to photograph one twice in the same year.  A little more than a month ago, My Lovely Assistant and I attended a concert by the Preville Big Band in Longueuil.  Sadly, a flash rain storm brought an end to the show that night.  When we saw that they would be playing again at Saint-Lambert en Fête, we decided to go and see them again.  As bad luck would have it the rain from July seems to have followed us as about fifteen minutes before the show was to begin, the rains again fell from the sky.  For those interested, you can go back and look at those July photograph I took by following this link.  While the rain continued to fall during most of their performance, it did let up enough every once and a while for me to leave the shelter of my tree and snap off a few photographs.  Again, the band entertained their soggy audience with a series of soul, jazz and old time rock and roll tunes that probably would have had more people dancing in the street, as they were in Longueuil, were it not for the bad weather. The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 88mm and the second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 125mm.  Here are several more photographs that I took during their performance.

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 400 at 75mm

f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 88mm

f/2.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 400 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 115mm

f/2.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 400 at 168mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 100mm

f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 150mm

f/2.8, 1/1000sec ISO 400 at 135mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 105mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 135mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/1600sec, ISO 400 at 145mm

f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 102mm

Though the rain was falling, as you can see by all of the smiling faces, the band was still having a good time.  Those who braved the weather seemed to enjoy the show as well.  This was the end of my 2018 Saint-Lambert en Fête experience, but there is still one more update to go.  Seven concerts in four days has backed things up a little bit, but it was a great three days.

Alexandre Poulin At Saint Lambert En Fête

My little weekend at Saint-Lambert en Fête continued Saturday night, taking in two more concerts at the Scène Desjardins.  My Lovely Assistant accompanied me to the shows on this night and we arrived just early enough to grab some spots at the railing in front of the stage.  While she referred to our spot as the 'Groupie position', I prefer to think of it as the 'Photographer position'.  The first act of the evening, was Alexandre Poulin, a singer-songwriter from the Sherbrooke area.  Alexandre began playing the guitar at a very young age,  released his first album in 2008 and was nominated for an ADISQ Award for Revelation of the Year. He followed that up by winning the 2011 Canadian Folk Music Award for Francophone Writer/Composer of the Year and has brought his music to several different halls and festivals over the years. This stop in Saint-Lambert was the final show for the tour of his most recent album, Les Temps Sauvages, which was released in 2016.  Though most of the pieces were soft folk style songs, he and his band also upped the speed and volume several times while looking like they were having a ball on the stage.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/160sec ISO 800 at 70mm and the second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 800 at 63mm.  Here are several more photographs that I took during the performance.

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 68mm

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 57mm

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 65mm

f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 1600 at 66mm

f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 1600 at 34mm

f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 1600 at 59mm

f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/125sec, ISO 1600 at 34mm

f/2.8, 1/125sec, ISO 1600 at 48mm

f/2.8, 1/125sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/125sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/100sec, ISO 1600 at 28mm

f/2.8, 1/100sec, ISO 1600 at 27mm

f/2.8, 1/100sec, ISO 1600 at 27mm
 
The fun thing about these outdoor festival shows is that they introduce me to artists who I didn't know, but who's music I end up enjoying very much.  It's also fun when the artists spot you in the crowd and smile for the camera, as the guitarist did several times.  It was a fun way to open the evening, even if we were in the 'Groupie Position'.