Easter Tulips

I've always been a fan of flowers.  Their bright colours and crisp details always grab my attention and draw my eyes to them.  For Easter, My Lovely Assistant ended up being gifted a pot of tulips.  They still hadn't opened yet, but that didn't mean that they weren't nice to look at.  While beautiful, they have a very short shelf life, so I knew that my procrastinating ways wouldn't work out very well.  Once the Next Generation was put to sleep, I grabbed my camera and went to work.  For the first photograph, which was taken at f/5.6, 1/160sec, ISO 100 at 70mm, I stacked up the pot on some thick books so that I was shooting from a little bit under the tulip to get a good view of those red and white lines.  For the second photograph below, which was also taken at f/5.6, 1/160sec, ISO 100 at 70mm, I went the opposite route.  One of the tulips was beginning to slowly open, so I tried to shoot from above so I could see inside, but keeping the bottom half of flower hidden by the petals.  In my mind, it feels like we're peaking in on something that we're not quite supposed to be seeing just yet.  Some flash was bounced off of the ceiling for both photographs to bring out the colours.  Both the reds and whites on the outside, and that little hint of yellow that you can see on the second photograph.  They opened for real about a day later, but we'll save those photographs for another time.  It's always best to keep the audience wanting more.

Flowers For The Flower

Being from Montreal, you learn pretty early that hockey is more of a religion than religion.  The main house of worship was called The Forum, and when I began to watch, the latest in a long line of holy figures was actually a blond demon.  He was also known as The Flower, as his last name literally translates to that in English.  I was a fan, and one of my earliest memories is of the city I grew up in.  Close to our home was a street called Lapointe.  I was always a little upset about that because it was Guy Lafleur who was my favourite player, not Guy Lapointe.  Whenever we'd walk by, I'd always check to see if someone had finally fixed such an obvious error.  No disrespect meant M. Lapointe, I was but a little five-year-old at the time.  In honour of The Flower, here are some of my favourite flowers.  The photograph was taken at f/4, 1/1250sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  In honour of The Flower, feel free to visit the Canadian Cancer Society to make a little donation if you can.  Somewhere near the Pearly Gates, in that big Forum in the sky, the red light is flashing and all of the angels are certainly yelling "Guy! Guy! Guy!"  Thanks for the memories.

It Was Spring

Before Mother Nature's late April Fool's Day joke saw us wake up to a blizzard and several centimeters of snow on the ground the other day, it had been very much looking like Spring.  However, I've learned over the years to never count Winter out until at least the month of May, and this little dusting proved that theory to be true.  The day before, I spent a little bit of time on the back deck of the head office and took some photographs of the birds who were busy preparing their nests.  My Grandmother always said that seeing a Robin was the first sign of Spring.  This little guy though must have forgotten to check his calendar though.  He was nice enough to pose for me, and this snow will mostly be gone in 24 hours, so hopefully she found a place to let the storm pass.  The first photograph was taken at f/5.6, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 200mm.  Here are a couple more shots of my feathered friend.

f/5.6, 1/800sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/5.6, 1/640sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

By the end of the afternoon, the snow had stopped falling and the little birds were out, surveying the damage to their new nest, and probably looking for a meal too.  Worm my not be my first choice, but after the morning they went through, I'm sure it tasted great.

Five Little Piggies

I've been listening to children's songs almost non stop for a little more than two years now.  But, even without the daily airing of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, I would still probably be taking photographs of The Crown Prince's piggies.  He hasn't really learned how to smile yet, so I've been focusing on his fingers, eyes and toes.  I believe I did the same thing with The Heir Apparent, and I'm pretty sure that any parent with a camera has done the same thing too.  While watching him wiggle the other day, his toes ended up a little tangled, and with all of those wonderful foot lines, it ended up being too much for me to resist.  The photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/25sec, ISO 400 at 70mm, and then turned to black and white.  I purposely underexposed the photograph a little bit while shooting to make sure that the lines would show up a little better.  If there are any foot readers out there that would care to let me know what his future holds based on all of those lines, feel free to do so.

The Glorious Sons At MTelus

Growing up and listening to the radio, it seemed at time like Canadian rock music was pretty much limited to three bands.  Rush, Bryan Adams and Triumph.  Of course, that wasn't the case.  Those three seemed to get the headlines, but there was always a large group of Canadian bands just under the surface.  Luckily, these days the bubble doesn't seem to be as small and there are several good Canadian bands not only getting some needed airtime on the radio, but they headlining large tours as well.  Such is the story of The Glorious Sons.  The last time that I saw them, they were opening for another band in a smaller venue.  Here we are, several years later and they have grown in popularity as much as they have grown musically.  They're not opening shows, but rather headlining a huge cross country tour.  The Unfinished Business tour, named after the fact that it was supposed to take place back in 2020 before you-know-what happened, began right here as Montreal was the opening night of the tour.  Singer Brett Emmons joyous proclaimed that this was the biggest group of people they had played for in this city, and I'm sure that the same will hold true on the other dates as well.  Since last seeing them, the band has released two albums.  Young Beauties & Fools came out in 2017 and was followed up by A War On Everything from 2019, which they were supposed to be touring in support of back in 2020.  They also won a couple of Juno Awards for Rock Album of the Year in 2018 and 2020  A good thing is worth waiting for, and this show was well worth the wait.  It's a fun challenge to photograph these guys because singer Brett Emmons is a ball of energy on stage,  flinging himself from one end of the stage to the other, stopping to interact with fans and bounce around the other band members as well.  His high energy also provided an extra obstacle in the photo pit as not only did we have to deal with his rapid movements, but try and dodge the mic stand as it was constantly being swung around.  Maybe a helmet should be issued along with the photo pass when we pick it up before the show.  Strictly for safety reasons of course, though it would certainly make a cool collectable to add to my growing collection.  The first photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/320sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm and the third photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 33mm.  Here are several more photographs that I took of their performance.

f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 42mm

f/3.2, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 33mm

f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/124sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/125sec, ISO 3200 at 30mm

f/3.2, 1/800sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/320sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

The concert was opened by fellow rising Canadian rocker JJ Wilde.  If you'd like to see the photograph that I took of her performance, you can follow the link.  Special thanks to Jason Murray and Ian Stanger of Black Box Management and Sophie Lefin of Evenko for getting me a pass to the show. If you'd like to find out more about The Glorious Sons and their music, feel free to follow the link to visit their website.  In these times, we could all use a little dose of rock and roll to get a smile back on our collective faces.  One thing is for sure, even though masks were still in use, you could see the smiles in the eyes of everyone who was there.  It wasn't any ordinary concert, it was glorious.

JJ Wilde At MTelus

My latest musical adventure saw me make my first visit of 2022 to the MTelus for a duo of Canadian rock talents that have not only taken the Country by storm over the last couple of years.  First up was JJ Wilde, a relative newcomer from Ontario.  In a short three years, she was built up a strong library of songs and a dedicated fan base that came out early to she her open the show.  I still remember hearing her debut single, 'The Rush' back in 2019 and wondering who it was that I was listening to.  That single eventually led to a debut album, Ruthless, in 2020 which won Rock Album of the Year at the Juno Awards in 2021 and was quickly followed up by another EP, Wilde, last year.  There was no mention of any new album during her set, but it wouldn't surprise me to hear some new music from her soon.  The last photograph you'll see in this set is one that I wasn't originally sure about including.  I'd like to have something more from the floor, but we're only allowed to shoot the first three songs from the pit, and I'm still a little leery about leaving there early.  I Wouldn't want to miss something in the short time that I'm allowed to be there.  There are televisions along the walls along the sides of the MTelus, so I had a little idea.  While it's true that I can't shoot the concert after the first three songs, nobody said anything about taking a photograph of the television.  It's not an award winner, but it is something a little different.  The first photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/400sec, ISO 5000 at 24mm and the second photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/800sec, ISO 5000 at 24mm.  Here are several more photographs that I took during her performance.

f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/125sec, ISO 3200 at 30mm

f/3.2, 1/500sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/100sec, ISO 5000 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/400sec, ISO 5000 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 5000 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/125secm, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/250sec, ISO 5000 at 35mm

f/3.2, 1/800sec, ISO 5000 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/800sec, ISO 5000 at 24mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 5000 at 26mm

 

To find out more about JJ Wilde and her music, you can follow the link to her website.  If you'd like to see the photographs of The Glorious Son, who followed her on to the stage, you can follow the link.  The crowd was roaring as her performance came to an end.  It's fun to see someone seemingly come out of nowhere and find not only success, but what seems like success for many years to come.

Beyries At Théâtre Corona

I always enjoy doing a little reading about the musicians that I have the good fortune to photograph.  My latest show saw me return to the Théâtre Corona in Montreal to photograph a show my local sensation, Beyries.  It was while reading up on her career that I learned she got her start in music at a young age by writing songs on her Grandmother's piano.  My Grandmothers both played a role in supporting my photography, so I instantly get the warm fuzzies when I learn that a Grandmother is involved in the career trajectory of any artist.  Hers is also a story of surmounting odds.  Beyries, or rather Amélie Beyries the person, beat cancer twice before finally deciding to follow her heart and let her talent lead her way.  How can you not root for her after hearing her story.  But, she isn't just a story.  The songs that she kept hidden for so long touched a receptive public. From those humble beginnings, a very respected career has begun to bloom.  As she said during a break in the music, in the span of five years she has gone from playing her songs to nobody to playing them before thousands of people on stages all over the World.  On this evening, the stage was a homecoming celebration before friends, family and fans.  And they were all more than ready to celebrate with her.  Her first two albums, Landing (2017) and Encounter (2020) have garnered her many fans, and those fans let out a roar of approval when she announced from the stage that her next album would be entirely in French.  The mood was already festive, but now the real party could begin.  The first photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/100sec, ISO 4000 at 35mm and the second photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/80sec, ISO 4000 at 24mm.  I was given free reign to shoot the whole show from anywhere, so here are several more photographs that I took during her performance.

f/16, 1/50sec, ISO 16000 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/100sec, ISO 4000 at 33mm

f/3.2, 1/100sec, ISO 1600 at 24mm

f3.2, 1/30sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/3.2, 1/100sec, ISO 1600 at 39mm

f/3.2, 1/30sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/3.2, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/3.2, 1/320sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f4, 1/50sec, ISO 3200 at 125mm

f/3.2, 1/640sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/4, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 85mm

f/4, 1/100sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/3.2, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

It was a dream come true.  Wandering around the historic walls of the Théâtre Corona, camera in hand, taking photographs of a talented musician before a crowd that adored her.  To find out more about Beyries and her music, follow the link to her website.  A big thank you to Emmanuelle Girard of Comme C'est Beau Management and Marianne Côté of Roy and Turner Communications for getting me a pass to the show.  Beyries had the courage to not only face down Cancer twice, but to take the leap necessary to leave a life of boring jobs behind in order to follow her dreams.  You can't help but to be inspired by that.