With Hallowe'en just around the corner, it might be a good time to send a little chill down your spines. I haven't had a very friendly relationship with spiders over the years. With age, we've come to be a little more friendly as they tend to keep their distance, and I have learned to appreciate them a little more. Still, there are some little 'wark' moments like when I stepped outside of the house and saw this guy hanging upside down under our deck light and giving me dirty looks. In years gone by, it would have probably meant an instant squishing, but instead it lead to a little photo-shoot. I can't tell if he's smiling or not, and despite our new respect for each other, I still had no desire to get any closer. The photograph was taken at f/7.1, 1/160sec, ISO 100 at 200mm with some flash to help bring out his features. When we last saw each other, he was snacking on a fly so I thought it best to leave him to his meal. Better the fly than me.
Saturday 29 October 2022
Creepy Crawly
Tuesday 25 October 2022
Sabaton At Place Bell
I only discovered Sabaton a few years ago, and I am very disappointed in myself that it took so long. Growing up, one of my favourite subjects in school was History, and this band is pretty much an extended history class set to driving drums and loud guitars. Their songs and albums are entirely about past historical events, mostly significant battles and wars. From the trenches of World War I, the battles in the sky of The Red Baron to even ancient Greece, this band sings about them all, and I have been eating it all up since finally finding my way to them. I had almost sent a request to photograph them during their previous visit here in 2019, but I was still new to the concert game. I didn't want to miss them a second time, this time at the bigger Place Bell in Laval. The stage was set up like a giant field of battle, complete
with barbed wire fence that, while annoyingly in the way as a photographer, added an extra little touch to the stage show. The drum riser looked like a giant tank and there was a far share of explosive devices being detonated as they show went along. The crowd was really in to the show as well, already split down the middle in preparation for a wall of death before the lights even began to dim, We were treated to a little waltz from a couple of fans in a moment of peace before the battle on the floor was to being. Once on stage, Sabaton was unstoppable. As usual, I was able to photograph the first three songs, in this case it was Ghost Division, Stormtroopers and The Red Baron. Songs about the 7th Panzer Division of the German army in World War II, soldiers of the Imperial German army from World War I and, of course, the famed fighter pilot. They were touring in support of their most recent album, The War To End All Wars, which was released in March of this year. The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm and the second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/125sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm. Here are several more photographs of their performance.
Epica At Place Bell
My first visit to Place Bell featured some familiar faces here on the Old Blog. Epica, who we last saw on these pages back in January of 2020, was opening up a Saturday night of music out in Laval. Led by what I consider to be one of the best singers in Metal today, Simone Simons, Epica stormed the arena as the light went down and took command of the stage. Speaking of the stage, it presented a bit of a challenge as the front was lined by a barbed wire fence, part of the stage decorations for the band that would be following. As a result, I tried to shoot between the lines of wires, or under them when possible, but it soon became evident that doing so would be quite impossible. So, should you notice some wire going through some of the photographs here, you now know why. Getting back to Epica, they were touring to support their latest
album, Omega, which came out in February of last year. They also have a new EP coming out in November called 'The Alchemy Project', which features the band teaming up with other influental names from the world of Heavy Metal. Even though they were opening the show, there was a loud group of fans out early to support them as the line stretched to almost the entire front block of the building when I arrived. The chants of "Epica! Epica!" were also heard loud and clear through my protective earplugs as show time neared. They had sold out the Théâtre Corona last time they were here, so it was good to see them play on a bigger stage to a bigger audience. The first photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 42mm and the second photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/500sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm. Here are several more photographs of their performance.
