Frozen Mail

Back on Boxing Day, we went out for a little family walk in order to work off some of that excess Christmas sugar that was in our system.  It had snowed during the night, and some ice fog had left a nice white crystal coating on everything.  On our little path was one of those community mailboxes and framing it was some nice frozen hedges.  At the time, Canada Post was on strike and I thought it kind of clever of myself to take photograph of the frozen box as mail service had essentially been frozen by the strike.  Thankfully, the strike came to an end a few weeks ago, though not before I finally got around to publishing my photograph.  Speaking of which, it was taken at f/6.3, 1/1600sec, ISO 400 at 47mm, and has now been delivered to your electronic devices.  I took quite a few photographs that day, at my current speed, the rest should be ready to be shared by Summer 2028.

Candy At Théâtre Beanfield

It may be a new year, but we have a little bit of catching up to do musically.  Back in November the Théâtre Beanfield in Montreal was home to one of the heaviest concerts of the year as  Exodus came to town.  It was a four bill show, and with a slate of November concerts to cover, our two opening bands fell victim to the quickly passing sands of time.  With a little break in the action, it's time to give them a little bit of a shine.  The second band to perform hailed from Richmond, Virginia, and goes by the name of Candy.   Their sound is described as a vulgar display of modern metal power, and vocalist Zak Quiram definitely unleashed the power of his voice on the crowd.  Being an old guy myself, I’m not sure that I understood the concept with their sampling and pre-recorded sound bites, but once they let loose with their guitars, the place was rocking.  I was definitely in the minority, though, as the fans in the building were cheering on like crazy.  I will definitely try to get more familiar with them.  Candy have three full length albums and three EP's to their name.  They have been rather busy this year, releasing a full length album, 'It's Inside You', in June of 2024 and followed that up with an EP, 'Flipping', in October.  Candy aren't likely to tempt your sweet tooth, in fact they're more apt to kick your teeth in.  However, the rush of adrenaline from their performance is more potent than giving sugar to a two year-old.  The photographs were all taken at f/3.2 while using various different shutter speeds, ISO setting and focal lengths.  Here are the rest of the photographs that I took of Candy while they performed up on the Théâtre Beanfield stage.

If you would like to find out more about Candy and their music, you can do so by following the link to their Facebook page.  If you would like to see the photographs that I took of Dead Heat, Havok and Exodus, who all performed that night, you can do so by following the respective links.  A Candy show is an intense experience without many equals.  Be sure to check them out when they hit a town near you.

Dead Heat At Théâtre Beanfield

Time to finish up a little bit of musical coverage before we dive back in to the deep end of the pit in the new year.  It's back to the Théâtre Beanfield in Montreal we go to revisit a couple of opening acts who took the stage by storm during a tour headlined by thrash metal legends, Exodus.  Our first band to hit the stage that night, direct from California, was Dead Heat.  They are known for their fast paced songs and full blast live performances.  From the opening notes, singer Chris Ramos was already throwing himself around the stage while unleashing guttural yells deep enough to rattle the speakers.  They definitely got the crowd good, pumped and primed for the heavy metal thrashing they were about to experience.  Dead Heat inspired at least three different circle pits during their short set, getting the collective blood of the crowd nice and loose early in the evening.  Dead Heat are known for their live performances and they certainly gave the Montreal crowd full value for the short amount of time that they had on stage.  The roar of approval at the end of their set certainly reflected the great time they had just experienced.  Dead Heat have released two albums so far, the most recent being 'World At War' from 2021 and their most recent release was an EP, 'Endless Torment', from 2023.  Most of their set came from those two albums, but one would think that they will be releasing some more new music soon.  The photographs were all taken at f/3.2 while using various different shutter speeds, ISO settings and focal lengths.  Here are the rest of the photographs that I took of Dead Heat while they performed on the Théâtre Beanfield stage.

 

 

If you would like to find out more about Dead Heat and their music, you can do so by following the link to their Facebook page.  If you would like to see the photographs that I also took of Candy, Havok and Exodus, who all performed that night, you can do so by following the respective links.  Dead Heat gave the crowd a terrific show and with all the extra interaction with the crowd, they certainly made sure that everyone had a great time.  Be sure to check Dead Heat out when they perform near you.

Starting The Year With A Bang

If there is one thing that I miss, it's shooting fireworks.  Before moving the Head Office a few years ago, we were right next to the river and I would easily be able to shoot the annual Les Grands Feux Loto-Québec that takes place every year at La Ronde, the Feux sur Glace Natrel displays from the Old Port of Montreal and the midnight fireworks on New Year's Day.  Yes, there are ample opportunities to see some loud explosions around Montreal.  Our final year at that location, I think I managed to shoot every one of the shows from a different location.  As The Heir Apparent and Crown Prince get older, maybe we'll take them out to a show eventually, but it's still a little bit past their bedtime  While we wait to make a return, there is still a reserve of shots in the archives that have yet to be used.  Such as this one.  It comes from one of the Winter shows down at The Old Port.  I always loved these shows as from my spot on the other side of the river I could frame the fireworks next to the Montreal skyscrapers.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 15sec, ISO 100 at 27mm.  With that, we take off on another year of photographic adventures together.  This will be lucky Year 13 for The Old Blog, so maybe I should watch out for black cats and ladders.  Let the new year begin!