More Than Weeds

A bit earlier this month I mentioned how The Heir Apparent had begun to participate in little photo projects with me.  Shortly after writing those words, it was off to the backyard for another little project.  The sun was shining on some little patches of the yard, so we decided to look for the biggest Dandelion that we could find.  After doing so, we placed it in the middle of the sun spot, surrounded by lots of ground ivy that was growing in the grass.  We then went about taking our photograph.  And by 'we', I of course mean that I was taking the photograph while The Heir Apparent had fun jumping on my back while I was on the ground.  The Crown Prince was also involved as he very generously decided to take a break from his Dandelion tasting to leave this one for us to play with.  The photograph was taken at f/5.6, 1/200sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  It also served as my favourite photographic lessons.  Anything can be photographed.  Even two forms of weeds that most people go out of their way to remove from their lawns.

A Shadowy Light

The use of flash has been a thorn in my side.  It can be a very powerful tool, yet I'm still not 100% comfortable using it.  With that in mind, I'm also always trying to practice using flash and have gone through enough AA batteries over the years to ensure that the Energizer Bunny will have a very comfortable retirement.  My latest flash adventure took place in the backyard on a grey afternoon.  Our apple tree is in bloom and I decided to take a closer look.  As often happens, it was a mistake that put me on the right path.  I accidentally had a leaf block some of the light from my flash on one of my first shots, and looking back, I thought it looked kind of cool.  So, I re-positioned the leaf so that the top of the flower would have a shadow over it while the bottom would get a nice dose of flash.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 1/200sec, ISO 100 at 70mm with flash and the shadow was provided by a well placed leaf.  Hopefully, a nice juicy red apple will be filling that space in a few months.

Victoria Bridge Day

I know that my last post here on The Old Blog was about the large quantity of special 'days' that seem to fill the calendar, and I'm guilty of creating a few of my own.  Up here, the final Monday of the month of May that precedes the 25th of May was known as Victoria Day in honour of Queen Victoria.  That day has changed names a few times over the years.  While not necessarily a fan of the Monarchy, I'm also not really a fan of what the day now represents here either.  So, in an effort to depoliticize things, I now let that day be known as Victoria Bridge Day in honour of the bridge that crosses from Saint-Lambert in to Montreal.  I've covered it's history here before, but the quick version is that the Bridge was originally opened in 1859.  A bridge that has stood for over 160 years seems worthy of a special day to me.  It has changed forms a few times over the years, but those original pillars are still standing.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 1/60sec, ISO 100 at 62mm.  I hope you all had a Happy Victoria Bridge Day.

In Praise Of The Bee

I come from a time when the only real important 'Days' of the year were your Birthday, Christmas Day, the first Day of Summer Vacation, and Happy Days.  Now, it seems that there is a Day for everything under the sun.  Some of them are quite frivolous, but for others, I am willing to join in with.  Such is the case with May 20th, which is World Bee Day.  The day was chosen as it was the birthday, all the way back in 1734, of Anton Janša.  He is considered to be the pioneer of beekeeping and the day serves to remind us all of the important role that Bee's play in our daily life.  Without the Bee, we would be without many of the foods we enjoy through the act of pollination.  We may have had a rocky relationship when I was younger, but I've grown to appreciate the Humble Bumble Bee and spend a great amount of time letting The Heir Apparent know the difference between this winged friend and his much more annoying cousin, the wasp.  We enjoy watching them fly around the yard in the Spring, and I enjoy taking photographs of them later in the Summer as they enjoy our vast selection of Sunflowers.  The photograph was taken at f/6.3, 1/125sec, ISO 100 at 200mm with some flash to brighten things up and add that little sparkle to his eyes.  While I wouldn't suggest hugging a Bee, you can let some of those Spring wildflowers grow in your yard as it will provide them with a nice little snack.  They'll be happy, and in the long run, so will we all.

Blowing In The Wind

Far be it from me to complain, but the weather has taken a turn towards cooler temperatures over the last several days.  Now, I realize that there is no avoiding the miserable and oppressive heat and humidity if June and July, so I've welcomed these cooler May temperatures as every below average day means that we are one day closer to Fall.  Those cooler temperature were also accompanied with some rather strong winds, so I decided to have a little fun with flash and try to create a little camera blur.  Earlier in the day on Saturday, The Heir Apparent was given a little pinwheel as a gift.  We'd also done a little shopping and gotten some flowers that would be a gift for Grandmother for Mother's Day.  We had planted the pinwheel in with the flowers and when the wind began to pick up, I thought it would be cool to try and shoot the flower, while capturing the motion of the pinwheel.  The wind ended up being a bit stronger than I had hoped, and the flower itself ended up getting blown out of focus as well, but I was finally able to get the shot I wanted after a few attempts.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 1/40sec, ISO 100 at 70mm with some flash to make the colours pop on an otherwise grey and dreary day.

Bullet For My Valentine At Place Bell

Our first visit to the Place Bell in Laval this year was to shoot one of the more famous Metalcore bands to make their way out of the United Kingdom, Bullet For My Valentine.  This was their first visit to Montreal in seven years and their fans were almost in a frenzy, singing along with the music being played over the PA as they waited for the show to begin and erupting into one loud communal roar as their heroes hit the stage.  The opening drum attack of the first song they played, Your Betrayal, had awaken the masses and the first mosh pit had already been formed before the guitar intro had ended.  I'd say that the band was just as enthused as the crowd.  They were very kind to us photographers as well.  I noticed a couple of held poses during the three songs we were in the pit, and I was the recipient of one of them when lead guitarist Michael Paget looked right into my camera for a nice extended period.  Much more fun than positioning yourself in front of an artist only for them to immediately turn away.  Thanks Michael. The first photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/1000sec, ISO 5000 at 24mm.  Here are several more photographs that I took of their performance.

f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 5000 at 63mm

f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 5000 at 53mm

f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 5000 at 50mm

f/3.2, 1/320sec, ISO 5000 at 35mm

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

f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 5000 at 30mm

f/3.2, 1/250sec, ISO 5000 at 28mm

f/3.2, 1/800sec, ISO 5000 at 38mm

f/3.2, 1/100sec, ISO 5000 at 28mm

f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 5000 at 67mm

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

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

f/2.8, 1/80sec, ISO 5000 at 55mm

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

f/3.2, 1/1600sec, ISO 5000 at 38mm

f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 5000 at 55mm

f/3.2, 1/320sec, ISO 5000 at 30mm

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 5000 at 67mm

f/3.2, 1/80sec, ISO 5000 at 35mm

f/3.2, 1/800sec, ISO 5000 at 39mm

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 5000 at 70mm

f/3.2, 1/400sec, ISO 5000 at 35mm

f/3.2, 1/500sec, ISO 5000 at 24mm

If you'd like to find out more about Bullet For My Valentine and their music, you can do so by following the link to their website.  A big thank you goes out to Matt Ash and Niall Crisp of Raw Power Management for getting me a pass to shoot the show.  As always, the opportunity is very much appreciated.  The band was continuing to tour off of their most recent album, 2021's self-titled release, which will be re-released as a Deluxe version later this year.  Hopefully it won't take another seven years before they make their way back.

Family Teamwork

Though I am still relatively new to the game, I spend lots of time wondering what the future will hold for the two junior members of the family.  I'm guessing that it is the same with all parents out there.  I'm also guessing that lots of parents would like their offspring to maybe follow them down some kind of path.  Last Summer, The Heir Apparent followed me around a lot with her little wooden camera that My Lovely Assistant created for her and we would take part in some little photo projects.  Like this one here.  We had some cone flowers growing in the front yard so we headed out to photograph them.  We used a small spray bottle to add some mist and moisture to our flowers.  I would shoot and she would spray, and then we would change roles.  A nice little rain effect, without actually having to get wet.  Well, not entirely true as The Heir Apparent took as much joy in misting me as she did the flowers.  The photograph was taken at f/7.1, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  What The Heir Apparent doesn't know, is that revenge has already been planned for once this years flowers appear.

Old Friends

"I don't seem to remember ever owning a droid."  It's May 4th, Star Wars Day, which means it's time to go back to a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.  This year I decided to pair up a couple of old friends.  It's true that Obi-Wan Kenobi never owned R2-D2, but they certainly had lots of adventures together.  Their relationship goes back to the first episode of the Star Wars series, The Phantom Menace, when the little R2 unit saves a ship with a much younger Obi-Wan on board.  R2D2 would go on to be more of a partner to Obi-Wan's Padawan learner, Anakin Skywalker, before eventually being paired up with Anakin's son, Luke.  In between though, many stories were shared.  My little R2 is looking a little rough, but when you consider that I've been carting him around since the 1980's, and that I was one of those kids who actually played with his toys, then I suppose I'm lucky that he is as intact as he is.  The Obi-Wan figure actually belongs to my brother, but I guess I have laid claim to it since it has been residing in a box in my basement for about 25 years now.  He's got a little dust on him, but I chose not to remove it for this photo as the Obi-Wan / R2D2 reunion took place on the desert planet of Tatooine, where old Ben certainly found lots of dust on his tattered robes.  The photograph was taken at f/8, 1/200sec, ISO 100 at 28mm.  May The Fourth, and The Force, be with you.

Here's Looking At You, Kids

Time stops for nobody, and seems like somebody has been pressing on the Fast Forward button ever since the arrival of The Heir Apparent and Crown Prince.  By design, you haven't seen very much of them here on the Old Blog, but they have been photographed quite a bit over their short period of time with us.  My Lovely Assistant and I agreed that they don't need to have photographs of them floating around the internet, but I get to break the rules for the occasional part.  In most cases, my part of choice is their eyes.  When The Heir Apparent first joined us, I would spend all of my time looking at her eyes.  The Crown Prince has proven to have just as wonderful eyes to get lost in.  With The Heir Apparent, she's kind of at the age where I can direct her a little bit with how to pose, so I got her to stare out towards the window which was providing the light for out little photo-shoot.  I had to be a little more sneaky with The Crown Prince.  He's become accustomed to have a camera pointed at him, but at a little past one year old, I can't really tell him to look in any particular direction.  So, I just pointed the camera at him and waited for him to look right at me through his little water cup.  The first photograph of The Heir Apparent was taken at f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 400 at 70mm and the second photograph of The Crown Prince was taken at f/2.8, 1/40sec, ISO 5000 at 145mm.  A couple of cute little buggers who are already growing way to fast for my liking. If somebody could find that remote control, I'd like to make sure that the Fast Forward button isn't stuck so that time could slow down just a little bit.