Montreal Fireworks Competition - Throwback 1985

The month of July is about upon us, which means that it's also time for the sky over Montreal to explode with colours.  The sky was exploding with a different kind of colour as the sky was grey and Mother Nature's fireworks of thunder and lightning were putting on a show. This year is the 35th anniversary of the world famous fireworks competition and this opening exhibition was called Throwback 1985.  The show was put together by Hands Fireworks, a company based in Ontario that was established in 1873.  Since the weather was a little unpredicatble, I stayed close to home and used my spot that shows off some of the Jacques Cartier Bridge, with handy little sign at the bottom of the frame so any out-of-towners can know its name.  The first photograph was taken at f/16, 15sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took of the show.

 f/16, 10sec, ISO 100 at 42mm

f/16, 8sec, ISO 100 at 70mm

f/16, 15sec, ISO 100 at 70mm

f/16, 15sec, ISO 100 at 70mm

f/16, 30sec, ISO 100 at 70mm

f/16, 25sec, ISO 100 at 70mm

The other feature I like about this spot is getting the passing lights of the cars at the bottom of the frame.  Especially the passing police cars.  As an added bonus, from this spot you can hear those same police cars yelling at the slow driving motorists to pick up the speed and move along.  Always entertaining as some of their comments can be quite sarcastic and funny.  There are still seven more shows this year, go out and see some of them.

Little Flower Lover

I'm probably not the best person to have as a guest at a gathering.  I tend to keep to myself, and if I have the opportunity to take out my camera and start shooting things, I do it.  Photographing insects, or talking to other people. I don't know about the rest of you, but the choice is an easy one for me to make.  This past weekend we celebrated Father's Day, and I celebrated by finding some bugs.  However, that reminded me of another of my odd habits, and that's taking photographs and then leaving them on my hard drive.  So, the insects of 2019 will have to wait as we have this little guy from a few years ago to see.  The photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 100 at 60mm.  I'm no fan of wasps, but this is actually just a baby, and not really as annoying as the adult version.  He was more than happy to look for pollen while I snapped away with my macro lens, making him look much larger than he really is.

Je Suis Naturel Hair Care Products

I had the opportunity to try my hand at a little advertising a few weeks back.  While visiting with my parents, my brother's girlfriend Melanie asked if I could stop by their place afterwards to photograph some products for an online company that her friend manages.  It's called Je suis naturel, a company that sells all natural beauty and skin care products.  I'm always up for a challenge, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  For this particular photograph, we used the little bench that they have outside of their house as a backdrop.  We put a potted plant dead center and then lined up the hair products in groups of two along the bench.  I can't take much of the credit for this particular photograph as Melanie did most of the set-up, but it was my finger that pressed down on the shutter, and that is a rather important job indeed!  The photograph was taken at f/6.3, 1/250sec ISO 100 at 60mm.  To find out more about Je suis naturel, you can find their webside by clicking on the link, or you can visit their Facebook page.

Death From Above At Théâtre Corona

As previously mentioned, my latest photo pass got me in the doors of the Théâtre Corona in Montreal.  The headline act was Toronto dance-punk duo Death From Above.  The band originally got together in the early 2000's, took a hiatus in 2006 and then returned in full force back in 2011.  I was a little late to the party, but have been a fan since picking up their album 'Outrage! Is Now' a few years back.  This show was a celebration of the release of their first EP, 'Heads Up' from 2002 with some of their other hits sprinkled into the setlist as well.  The band consists simply of a drummer/vocalist and a bassist/keyboard player, and it works perfectly.  The lighting for the show was definitely less consistent than the opener (Murray A. Lightburn...click for the photos).  I kind of had a moment of panic as I knew that I was only there for three songs, and the longest one was a little over two minutes.  I was desperately trying to get the right shutter speed so that the band wouldn't be out of focus.  However, my fast fingers ended up being up to the task and I think I walked out with some pretty cool photographs, living up to the challenge.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm and the second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/100sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm.  Here are several more photographs that I took during the performance.

f/2.8, 1/60sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/2.8 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 42mm

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

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 59mm

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

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/2.8 1/60sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

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

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

As with all good things, this one also ended way to quickly.  Three songs goes by so quickly, but I'm very thankful to have earned a pass to the show.  As I always say, here's hoping that there will be more in my future.

Murray A. Lightburn At Théâtre Corona

My latest photo pass experience found me at the Théâtre Corona on Sunday night.  The opening act on that evening was Murray A. Lightburn.  Perhaps better known as vocalist and guitarist for local group The Dears, he has been building a solo career over the last couple of years.  He released a new album back in February, Hear Me Out, and was promoting it by playing some songs.  It was a very minimalist setting, just Mr. Lightburn and his guitar, so I tried to move around a lot and play with the different colours of light as he was drenched in a different colour for each of the three songs I was permitted to photograph.  I had a great time and it felt really easy to do.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/125sec, ISO 800 at 70mm.  Here are several more that I took during the performance.

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 800 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 800 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/100sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/80sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/80sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

 

f/2.8, 1/80sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/40sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

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

f/2.8, 1/125sec, ISO 800 at 70mm

Though I was aware of his music, this was my first time seeing Murray A. Lightburn live.  His songs were full of emotion and raw without all of the other noise that comes with a band.  Just a man and his guitar, sometimes you just don't need anything more.  To find out more about Murray A. Lightburn, feel free to visit his website at the following link.

Travis Cormier At South Shore Montreal Ribfest

The people turned out at the South Shore Montreal Ribfest to fill their stomachs, but they also got a healthy dose of rock and roll as dessert.  On the stage was Travis Cormier, a finalist from the 2016 edition of the popular television series, La Voix where he blew the judges away with a rendition of the song Dream On by Aerosmith.  He was on stage to promote his latest album, Dollars And Hearts, which was released late in 2018.  He played several songs from that album, as well as some other cover songs from the likes of Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams & AC/DC.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm.  Here are several more photographs that I took during his performance.

f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 1600 at 28mm

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

 f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

 f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

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

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

f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 1600 at 35mm

Admitedly, I didn't know very much about Travis Cormier before the show began, but I was very impressed with what I saw.  He put on a high energy show that the crowd on hand really enjoyed.  To find out more about Travis Cormier, don't forget to visit his website at the following link.

Saturday Night Fever (w/Élizabeth Blouin-Brathwaite) At Festival Classica

The headline event of the Festival Classica each year is the 'Classica Rocks!' show on Saturday night.  It involves the Classica orchestra, under the musical direction and arrangements of Simon Fournier and Peter Brennan, along with a full orchestra taking on the musical works of a famous groups.  Previous shows have featured the songs of The Rolling Stone, Elton John and Pink Floyd.  This year, the show featured the works of The Bee-Gee's and other notable disco hits from the era.  There was a special guest vocalist for the show, Élizabeth Blouin-Brathwaite, a talented vocalist and musician who you could say grew up on the stage as the child of two famous musicians.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 27mm.  Here are several more photographs I took of the show.

f/2.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 125mm

f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 1600 at 165mm

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 168mm

f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 135mm

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm

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

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 165mm

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 1600 at 115mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 105mm

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

I actually wasn't planning on photographing this show.  I was at another location taking photographs with My Lovely Assistant and we had planned just to stop by and listen.  However, I have a bit of a hard head from time to time and I managed to sneak down near the front of the stage and sat myself on the concrete, trying not to block the view of the people who were sitting behind me. Afterwards, I walked around the site a little bit to try and find a nice view of the stage and voila!  We have another musical update for the blog.