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.

 

Moment Of Remembrance

A small, simple photograph to commemorate the large sacrifice that many have made to afford me the freedom to take small, simple photographs.  The photograph was taken at f/5.6, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 60mm using a Macro lens and bouncing some flash off of the ceiling.  I remember so that those who are no longer with us are never forgotten.

Fall Television Spectacular

As previously mentioned, the amount of sunlight we've been getting over the last few days has been rather limited.  It was another colourless day on Tuesday, but as I arrived home from the day job, the clouds began to part, leaving the potential for a nice sunset.  I quickly grabbed by gear and headed over to the Jacques Cartier Bridge.  I walked along the bicycle path to a spot that afforded me a nice view of the buildings of downtown Montreal, but the sun wasn't where I wanted it to be.  Before heading home, I quickly glanced in the other direction towards the Victoria Bridge and was very happy that I did.  The clouds had split, leaving a nice blue sky and some red and orange light from the setting sun on the clouds that remained.  My Mom has been saying that it has been a while since I had sent in a photograph to CTV News, so I figured this one might be broadcast worthy.  I sent it off and a few minutes later, there it was on television.  They unfortunately made a mistake in identifying the photograph, though weather specialist Lori Graham caught the error and corrected the situation.  The photograph was taken at f/9, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 70mm and a little bit of Photoshop was used to bring out a little more colour.  Thanks again to Lori Graham and CTV News for letting me add another couple of seconds to my fifteen minutes of fame.

Autumn Stroll

It seems like we haven't seen the sun for about two weeks now.  As someone who isn't a big fan of the heat, it's not that big of a deal, but it also means that other than the photos of a few weeks back, there won't be many more Autumn 2018 colours to show.  However, there is always a colourful lining to every grey cloud.  Looking for Fall images, I headed into the archives and found this photograph that I took a few years back.  It's always fun to find hidden things in my photographs.  For instance, if you look just below the middle trees in this shot, you'll see a couple of people who were out for a stroll. I had never noticed them before until I started to play around with this photograph.  The photograph was taken at f/9, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  A nice little Sunday discovery.