The Sun Sets On 2024

Another year is in the books, and it has been another good one for Your Friendly Neighbourhood Photographer and The Old Blog.  We finished the year with 135 updates, and a large majority of those were of the musical variety.  I was able to shoot 39 concerts this year, during which I shot 88 bands.  A huge jump up from the 27 shows that  I shot last year.  A big reason for that was my joining up with V13 Media, who offered me a home for my concert photography.  With them backing me, I ended up getting into more shows, and bigger shows.  They seem very happy with my work, and I am happy with the arrangement so we'll keep working together in the new year.  A new year which will hopefully see me cover more and even bigger shows.  A highlight once again was the Summer concert series put on by the Ville de Longueuil.  We once again had some weather issues this year as a few shows got rained out, but at least we didn't get caught in any thunderstorms this year.  The Heir Apparent continues to be a big hit at these shows.  Both with the musical groups and our fellow citizens.  As usual, a big thanks goes out to My Lovely Assistant for guarding the fort.  I used to say that I would 'play' the role of concert photographer, but I guess that I officially am one now.  I kept my streak of appearing on CTV News intact as well.  Back on Saint-Patrick's Day I submitted a photograph of the Samuel-de-Champlain Bridge which was all lit up in green for the event.  Shortly afterwards, CTV Weather Specialist Lori Graham announced her retirement from the station, and as she was generally in charge of the Weatherpix segment which regularly featured my photos, I didn't send any more in.  To be honest, the segment may still exist, but with all of the added concert coverage, I had less time to shoot other things as I chose to stay home at other times to make up for the time I was away for shows.  By the way, happy retirement, Lori.  Thanks for having aired so many of my photographs over the years.  It was always fun to see them on the big screen.  Once past that, we had our usual collection of insects, flowers, frozen scenes, some food, toys and a couple of odd things that I found to be interesting.  Lots of visitors passed through these pages this year, so thanks to everyone who took a few moments out of their day to visit.  You remain a very silent group, but I see that you visit, and I thank you for doing so.  Which bring us to our latest update.  There is a big patch of wild feather grass that grows near the Head Office, so I headed out there one evening in the Fall to catch the sun as it went down behind the blades and branches.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 1/2500sec, ISO 400 ay 70mm.  Underexposing the photograph really brought the colour out of the sky and gave some nice sharp silhouettes.  With that, we close our 2024 folder and get our new 2025 folder ready to be filled.  Thanks for sticking around, and lets see what will develop in the new year.