An Eye To The Future

I look at the calendar and sometimes can't believe it myself.  It has been a year since The Heir Apparent entered our lives. They say that the eyes are the window into the soul and I have spent much of the last year, looking into these.  The greatest part of my day is when I get home from the day job and I see these eyes light up when they recognize who I am.  They can also make me feel so little and helpless when they are looking at me with anger or sadness, but luckily those moments never last for very long.  I've photographed these eyes several times over the last year, and will continue to do so for years to come.  This photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/100sec, ISO 400 at 67mm. I had the help of our friend Annie the Giraffe to attract the attention of our subject upwards and luckily she wasn't too upset about being photo-shopped out of the final image.  I look forward to looking into these eyes for a great many more years to come.

Rise, Shine And Give God The Glory

Over the last week I've had a bit of time off and have been trying to photograph some sunrises and sunsets.  While I was driving back home from sunrise hunting I noticed that the sun would rise next to the Paroisse Saint-Hubert. It is located on one of Canada's oldest roads, Chemin Chambly, which was established as a military road between forts back in 1665.  For a more recent story, the location of the sun and the church reminded me of something my Grandmother used to say to us when we woke in the morning.  'Rise, shine and give God the glory' would chime from her mouth and was a memory that immediately came to mind when I saw the sun next to the church.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 38mm.  It may have been freezing cold outside, but the sun wasn't about to miss the Sunday service.

Chilly Sunset

With a little bit of time off this week from The Day Job, I've been trying to get out a little bit and snap some seasonal photographs.  One thing that I keep getting drawn back to are the bridges of Montreal.  I have photographed them so much over the years that they're kind of like old friends.  It feels good to visit them from time to time.  Wednesday it seemed like there would be a nice sunset so I headed out to one of my favourite fireworks locations to watch the sun set behind the Jacques Cartier Bridge.  Mother Nature didn't provide many clouds, but the one large one in the middle of the bridge looked pretty cool.  Like a bright spotlight trying to shine through a smoke machine.  Since we're still under confinement with a curfew, I don't have much to do at night once The Heir Apparent goes to sleep, so I decided to try this one as both a regular 8"x12" shot and also stretched out as a 4"x12" shot.  As usual, I like them both, so they both get to show up in this update.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 1/500sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.

*** EDIT ***

I guess I wasn't paying attention, because my photograph appeared on the CTV Montreal 6:00PM newscast on Thursday night.  I hadn't been expecting it as I had submitted the photo Wednesday night.  I guess it was to late to use then, but they were kind enough to use it on Thursday night instead.  As a result, I wasn't able to record the segment for the old blog, but if you follow this link, it will lead you to the newscast and my photograph will be shown at the 18min40sec mark.  Thank you very much to Lori Graham and the gang at CTV Montreal for using my photograph.  I'll try to pay better attention next time.

Musical Memories

Since we're still living under the plague, which also means that live music has yet to return to our lives, it is time to revisit another of the concerts I shot in the past.  One year ago I got hired by the Baby Boomer's Band to shoot one of their shows that they were having at the Montreal Casino.  I had shot the band two times previously during classic car events in Saint-Lambert and they really liked my work.  This was a big moment for me personally.  I'd already shot concerts before, but this time I was personally asked to be there, and as a bonus, was getting paid for it too.  I really thought that this event was going to be the beginning of a terrific little streak for me, until the entire world came crashing down.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/100sec, ISO 3200 at 44mm.  Here are a few more shots from the show.

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 45mm

f/2.8, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/2.8, 1/60sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

If you'd like to find out more about the Baby Boomer's Band, you can follow the link to their website.  If you'd like to see more of the photographs that I took during this show, you can click on the following link.  It was certainly one of the few highlights that 2020 provided, hopefully things will eventually get back on track.

Bridges To Nowhere

After going out for a pre-curfew walk on Thursday, I noticed that it was a little bit foggy outside.  The amateur meteorologist in me took that to mean that if the temperature were to drop a little bit overnight, there was a good chance that I'd have a shot at getting some ice fog photographs in the morning.  I was right to a degree.  There had been some ice fog that formed on the branches and trees overnight, it's just that you couldn't see it because everything was developed in a thick fog.  With plan A in shambles, it was time for Plan B.  I drove down to the Jacques Cartier Bridge to see what I could see.  Based on what you're looking at, I sure couldn't see a lot.  I had thought about sticking around a little longer to see if the fog would lift a bit, but after 10 minutes, there was no movement at all.  That's when I thought it might be cool see see how the fog had eaten the three other bridges that connect to Montreal.  My second stop was at the Victoria Bridge, but my shooting options were very limited due to security fences and construction work.  I packed up my gear and headed for bridge number three, the new Samuel-de-Champlain Bridge.  Once there, I kind of took advantage of a broken security fence to walk a little further onto the construction site and get a better shot.  Sure, a better shot of the fog, but a better shot just the same.  I was thinking about walking a little bit closer to the other side, but a little car with a flashing yellow light persuaded me that maybe it was best not to push my good fortune any further than I already had.  The first photograph of the Jacques Cartier Bridge was taken at f/6.3, 1/80sec, ISO 100 at 30mm and the second photograph of the Victoria Bridge was taken at f/6.3, 1/200sec, ISO 100 at 35mm.  Here is the third photograph of the Samuel-de-Champlain Bridge.

f/7.1, 1/160sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

It certainly was an interesting drive getting to my locations.  The fog had lifted a bit on my drives to the Victoria and Champlain bridges, but my ride to the Jacques Cartier was something out of a Stephen King novel.  It made the morning a little more memorable.

Chocolate Pear Birthday Cake

It's time for a little trip back to the kitchen.  My Lovely Assistant celebrated a birthday recently, and you can't celebrate a birthday without a birthday cake.  No, I didn't bake her a cake.  Attempting that would have probably involved a visit from the fire department and possibly poison control as well.  For her birthday, she made a chocolate pear cake and the word 'chocolate' should probably be in bold print.  As usual, it was delicious.  The Heir Apparent isn't quite old enough to eat these creations just yet, so that meant that I got to have a double portion.  I have to take advantage of these situations while I can.  I took the first photograph from above the cake with my tripod, which was taken at f/4, 1.6sec, ISO 100 at 35mm with some flash bounced off of the ceiling.  Here are the two other photographs of the cake in all of its chocolate glory.

f/6.3, 1.6sec, ISO 100 at 70mm

f/4, 1.6sec, ISO 100 at 61mm

I took advantage of our Christmas tree lights to serve as a background for the other photographs.  They have sadly been put away so I'll need to find a new background for the dishes My Lovely Assistant will create for the rest of the year.  I'm sure we'll figure something out, the background isn't really what you're here to see anyway.

Forbidden View

In the continued story that is our experience with COVID-19, another chapter was written Saturday night as we entered the era of the curfew.  In my little part of the planet, we are now obligated to be home from 8:00PM until 5:00AM the following morning.  This will be the law of the land until February 8th.  As such, there won't be much in the way of night photography happening.  I've always been a fan of snapping some pictures after the sun has gone down, though I don't really do that much on frozen January nights.  So that we don't forget what Montreal looks like after the sun goes down, here is a shot from the archives taken before one of my nights shooting fireworks a while back.  It was taken at f/18, 30sec, ISO 100 at 62mm.  Montreal is a beautiful city when the sun goes down and the lights go up.  Looking forward to seeing the bright lights of the big city once again some day soon.

Pour Some Sugar On Me

It is common knowledge around these parts that My Lovely Assistant is a master in the kitchen.  During the holidays she decided to try her hand at a new treat.  A bit before Christmas she bought a mold for baking doughnuts so I knew that my taste buds were going to be in for a happy start to the year.  The first batch was made last week and they were delicious.  So to mark the occasion,  I decided to break out the camera and capture the moment.  I stacked a few of the doughnuts on a plate and then placed it in front of our Christmas tree.  I turned on the tree lights to add a bit of colour to the background and thought that it might be cool to drop some powdered sugar onto the doughnuts as the photograph was being taken.  I then turned off the kitchen lights and bounced some flash off the ceiling in order to light up the doughnuts, but not overpower the lights in the tree which preserved the different colours.  The photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  As with most of My Lovely Assistant's creations, they don't last very long after being photograph.  This batch is already gone, hopefully there will be more to come shortly.

Musical Memories

One year ago today you could say that I was riding pretty high.  I had just completed a most exciting year of photography, My Lovely Assistant and I had just moved into the new Head Office, we were but a few weeks away from the arrival of The Heir Apparent.  That night, I headed in to Montreal to photograph a triple-bill at the Théâtre Corona, headlined by Dutch symphonic metal band, Epica.  As usual, I showed up early at the venue because I want to be as close to the stage as possible in case there was no photo pit.  My stomach sank a little bit when I arrived as the line to enter the building already streched down the block and around the corner.  Luckily, there was a pit that night so everything ended up okay, but I was a little worried there for a while in that line.  Joining Epica on stage that night were Blackguard and The Agonist.  I later learned both bands were from Montreal and that had probably been the reason for the huge line that I found myself in earlier in the night.  All three bands put on a great performance that night and just like that, I was off to what I thought was going to be a terrific year.  What is it that they say about the best laid plans?  The first photograph, taken while Blackguard was performing, was taken at f/2.8, 1/80sec, ISO 6400 at 24mm.  The second photograph, taken while The Agonist performed, was taken at f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 6400 at 39mm.  Here are two other photographs that were taken while Epica performed up on the stage.

f/2.8, 1/1250sec, ISO 3200 at 31mm

 

f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 3200 at 31mm

 

If you'd like to see the other photographs I took that night, you can find the photographs that I took of Blackguard by following this link, the photographs of The Agonist can be found at this link and the photographs of Epica can be found at this link.  While you're zooming around the internet, don't forget to visit the websites of Blackguard, The Agonist and Epica to find out more about them and their music.  Hopefully I'll be able to see them again one day soon.

Starting The Year With A Bang

 

After such a rotten year, one has to hope for happier things to come.  So I went back to the archives to dig something out from one of my happy places.  The would be the frozen banks of the St. Lawrence river.  In past years, I would have been there to photograph the New Year's fireworks from the Old Port.  Just to show that a new year doesn't mean that we're out of the woods just yet, there were no fireworks this year, which is kind of a shame because the weather was perfect.  Not very cold of windy at all.  Anyway, we've changed numbers on the calendar, hopefully we won't be in the same situation when it comes time to change them again in 365 days.  Speaking of numbers, this photograph was taken at f/16, 15sec, ISO 100 at 32mm.  I hope you all have a terrific 2021 and we'll see what kind of things I end up photographing this year.