From The Archives

During this pandemic, a lot of time has been sent looking through the old photo archives.  For some reason, every time I would take a little trip down that digital road, I would end up at this shot.  It was taken a little more than four years ago while I was in the La Ronde parking lot to take some photographs of the Winter fireworks from the Old Port of Montreal.  There have been some changes made since this photograph was taken, most notable of which would be the addition of a giant Ferris wheel which would be roughly position in the center of this particular shot.  What initially drew my attention to take this photograph was all of the different lights, but the more that I've looked at it over these last few months, it has been the large clouds that have grabbed my attention.  So, I decided to get rid of the colour and just look at the cloud.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 25sec, ISO 100 at 28mm.  There's always some fun stuff to find in the archives.

 

Purposely Out Of Focus

As previously mentioned, I often take photographs from different angles or vantage points when I'm out and about.  This follows the theme as it will be the third update that I pull out of my Valentine's Day visit to the Samuel-de-Champlain Bridge.  Speaking of which, take a minute and visit the other two photographs at this link and then this link.  While there, I had a flash back to photograph I took one year while waiting for a fireworks display to begin.  I had forgotten to adjust the focus and everything came in as colourful circles of light.  I figured why not try it again.  I threw my lens as far out of focus as possible, used a large aperture and took a long-exposure shot.  The result, shot at f/2.8, 30sec, ISO 100 at 70mm, is what you see on the right.  Kind of a surreal little mix of light and lines.  Something a little different, and a fun little distraction to have fun with while you're out shooting.

Musical Memories

I guess this is a bit of a bittersweet version of the Musical Memories series.  Today we revisit the concert that was headlined one year ago by The Beaches at the Théâtre Corona in Montreal and featured Fade Awaays and Goodbye Honolulu as opening acts.  It was a terrific show, but it was also my last show that I got to photograph before the world got turned upside down by the plague.  So rather than focus on the negative, lets look at the positive.  I will always have a soft spot in my heart for The Beaches.  They were the first band that I got to photograph officially.  I'm not talking about hiding in the crowd with my camera, I mean front of the stage with a pass around my neck.  Not only that, but they put on a terrific live show.  Their songs are great to start with, but they seem to just take things up that extra notch when playing live and have torn the house down both times I saw them.  This was my first time seeing Fade Awaays and I really liked their set while it was my second time seeing Goodbye Honolulu and they did a great job of getting the crowd going.  I suppose that it is kind of poetic that the very first show I got to photograph, and the very last one were of the same group, though I really hope that this little circle will be broken soon and that I'll find myself in front of another stage and other bands as soon as possible.  The first photograph, of the Fade Awaays, was taken at f/2.8, 1/60sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm.  The second photograph, of Goodbye Honolulu, was taken at f/2.8, 1/125sec, ISO 3200 at 55mm.  Here are a couple more photographs of our headliners, The Beaches.

f/2.8, 1/60sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 33mm

If you'd like to see the other photographs that I took at the show, you can find my Fade Awaays photographs by following this link, my Goodbye Honolulu photographs by following this link and my of photographs of The Beaches by following this link.  If you'd like to find out more about the bands, you can visit their websites by clicking the links on their respective names.  Fingers crossed, there will be some new shows in the near future.

A Little More Love Is In The Air

When I'm off shooting landscapes, I often ended up taking several different shots from different points of view.  Under normal circumstances this photograph would have served as a header for the previous update, but the photograph ended up appearing on CTV Montreal so the video ended up serving as the header instead.  In case you missed that photograph, you can follow this link to see it and the accompanying video.  I like this shot too much to let it just disappear into the archives, so it gets an update of its own.  I opened my lens as wide as it goes because I wanted to get some of the buildings of Montreal into my shot.  The last bit of light was still in the sky as you can see the different layers of blue coming down, coupled with the red of the bridges the the city lights in the distance.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 30sec, ISO 100 at 24mm.  I like these stretched out wide-angle shots.  They're fun to shoot, especially with such a great subject.

Love Is In The Air

It was Saint-Valentine's Day yesterday and to mark the occasion, the Samuel-de-Champlain Bridge was all decked out in red.  My Lovely Assistant had spotted a note about that in the morning paper, which immediately made my photographer ears pick up.  I mean, what could be a better way to spend Valentine's Day evening than on the banks of the frozen St. Lawrence River with my cherished camera.  Sounds romantic, no?  I got to my spot moments after the sun went down, leaving the sky bright and blue and the red of the bridge lights was reflecting off of the snow below.    I had some problems with my tripod sinking into the snow, but there was a half buried bench nearby which I used to put the legs of my tripod on to solve that problem.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 25sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  I then sent the photograph off to CTV Montreal and weather specialist Lori Graham was kind enough to air it during the noon broadcast.  Thanks once again.  It still is, and always will be, fun to see my photograph on the air.

Winter Break

Though I am among those who prefer temperatures to be as far below zero as possible, I know that I'm in the minority and that the rest of you out there prefer things to be a tad bit warmer.  Since it is -25C with the wind today, and it has been comfortable, I mean chilly, for a few days in a row now, I figured some of you might need a little break.  I keep some 'Summer' photographs in the archives for just such occasions.  Though I don't know why you'd want to, imagine the hot sun beating down on you as you paddle away on a lake with your family and or friends, much like this group of people were doing Lac des Bouleaux in the Mont-Saint-Bruno National Parc a few years ago.  The photograph was taken at f/8, 1/1250sec, ISO 400 at 70mm.  Fear not, warm weather warriors.  Your time in the sun is closer than you think.

Crispy Sunrise

I'm kind of a little bit opposite of most people when it comes to the Winter months.  When the weatherman says that it will be terribly cold outside, instead of snuggling up under a warm blanket, I head out to take photographs.  There's something about a Winter sunrise.  There's no smog in the air, the sky just seems to be a little more deep and everything on the ground is a little extra crispy.  I had spotted this little location back in the Summer while on a walk with the family and thought it might make for a nice sunrise shot.  Luckily there hadn't been as much snow as usual this Winter so when I passed by, all of the wild brush hadn't been buried.  As a result, the sun came right up in the middle of the clearing and gave those wild branches a golden hue.  I parked the car on the side of the road and got into a little snow to my shins, but it was worth getting wet feet.  Since I'm terrible at making decisions, you get two versions of this shot.  I like the wider version at the top of the page as I wanted to get in more of the blue sky, and the second photograph I like as it highlights a little better those wild branches.  Why settle for one good photograph when you can have two?  The photograph was taken at f/16, 1/400sec, ISO 100 at 35mm.  There are sure to be a few cold mornings left this Winter.  I've even already added a few other shots to the archives already.  While you're in your warm home, snug as a bug in a rug, I'll be out there shooting away and enjoying every one of those degrees below zero.

Frozen Circles

It's always a good idea to have a plan when going out to photograph something.  However, it's also important to take a moment and look around once you get there.  A few weeks back I went out on a particularly foggy morning with the idea of getting some photographs of the bridges leading to Montreal.  Feel free to visit them again, or for the first time, by following this link.  While I was waiting for the fog to be just right, I took a look to my right and noticed that the freezing fog had left a little frosting of ice on the blocks of wood that made up the road guardrail.  I took a small mental note and before packing up and leaving for the next bridge, I went back to my piece of wood, got nice and close and took the photograph.  It was taken at f/6.3, 1/30sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  These little discoveries are part of what I enjoy about photography.  Something as simple as a piece of wood becomes something else with the intervention of Mother Nature.

Looking Out My Back Door

Since we're all confined and curfewed, I've been trying to do some different things photographically.  One of my biggest headaches has been using an external flash on my camera.  I had some fun with it during the holidays, photographing some of My Lovely Assistant's culinary creations.  So, I decided to take the classroom outside.  There was a odd snow creation on the deck railing outside of the house, so I decided to snap a few photographs.  I waited for the sun to begin to set and found an angle that I found interesting and began to experiment.  I lowered the power of the flash so that it would serve as a fill light.  Giving enough light to brighten the front of the snow, but not powerful enough to blow out the background and even allow for some of the sun to shine through the holes in the snow.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 1/160sec, ISO 100 at 38mm with some flash bounced off of a card at 1/3 power.  I'm still far from being super confident with flash, but it's always important to have a little fun.