The Sun Sets On 2023

I'm sure that this is probably a common theme with everyone else out there, and I probably say it every year, but it's hard to believe that we're already at the end of another year.  As with all of you, it's a time of reflection for Your Friendly Neighbouhood Photographer as well.  The Old Blog is handy in that I can easily go through the months along the side of the page and see what I've been up to this past year.  It was definitely a very musical year for yours truly.  In 2022, I shot 23 concerts and this year I had quietly hoped to be able to shoot an average of two per month and get to 24.  I ended up going a little bit passed that as I ended up shooting 27 concerts and a total of 72 bands over the course of the year.  The most fun was the series of Summer concerts that the Ville de Longueuil produced.  A couple got rained out, and we got caught in a thunder storm for another, but these shows are great because I get to go them with the whole gang.  Once again, The Heir Apparent was front and center with me at the foot of the stages, with her little wooden camera in tow.  She also got to enjoy some of the spotlight as well.  She was invited up on the stage by Francis Degrandpré, was given guitar picks by Joli Jolie and Justin Saladino and even went to meet Lou-Adriane Cassidy who told her she was impressed by all of her dancing.  She's already saying that she can't wait for the shows next Summer, and neither can I.  Once again, I send a message of thanks to all of the managers, concert promoters and public relations firms who have allowed me to shoot those shows.  An even bigger thank you goes out to My Lovely Assistant who keeps her hands full with The Heir Apparent and Crown Prince while I go out an play concert photographer on those nights.  I wouldn't have been able to do any of that without you, so thank you very, very much.  For our yearly sunset, we're going to grab one from the archives.  With all of my concert going, I decided to cut back on other photographic outings to compensate for the times I was gone.  That being said, I still managed to find a wide selection of insects, toys, flowers and flames in my immediate surroundings  to get another 130 updates done this year.  This shot will probably need to be updated as I'm pretty sure that a couple more buildings have sprung up since it was taken.  Cloudy sunsets with a break over the horizon are the best as they clouds really swallow up the colours of the setting sun.  By underexposing the shot and using a small aperture, you can really grab lots of the colours and also get that little star effect around the sun, as you can see in the bottom left of the shot.  It was taken at f/16, 1/60sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  Thanks to all of you who take the time to stop by here, look at my photographs and read my words.  Traffic went up here again this year, so though you all remain a silent bunch, the fact that you all keep coming back means that I must be doing something right.  Happy New Year to all of you out on the internets, see you all in 2024.