The Final Whistle

The local Champlain Cavaliers football team was playing a Quarter-Final play-off game last night,so I decided to make the trek down the street one last time this season to see the team in action.  It ended up being one heck of a good game.  Things were looking pretty bleak at halftime as the team was down 22-9 and their starting quarterback had been taken out of the game in the middle of the second quarter after taking a hit.  Thinking I had a good selection of photographs, I almost headed for home at the half, but I'm really happy I didn't because I would have missed one heck of a comeback.  The team scored two fourth quarter touchdowns to take the lead 23-22 with a less than four minutes to go.  Things were looking fairly bleak when the opposing team took the ball all the way down the field and scored the go-ahead touchdown with a little bit more than two minutes to go on the following drive.  However, despair quickly turned to elation when on the ensuing kick-off, Champlain returned the ball all the way down the field and scored what would be the winning touchdown.  Final Score - Champlain 29 vs Ahuntsic 28.  Sadly, even in victory this game marked the end of my football season, photographically speaking.  Though Champlain won the game, their next play-off game will be played in Thetford Mines, and should they make it to the finals, that game will be played in St. Jean.  A bit far off for me to make the trip.  Still, I had much fun attending the three games that I made it out to this season, though I wish that one of those games would have taken place in the afternoon to provide me with a bit better light to take my photographs.  I could also use a bit of better luck.  I only got a good shot of one touchdown during the three games that I attended.  For the most part, the scores always seemed to come at the other end of the field from where I was positioned.  I only have myself to blame for this past game though as three touchdowns were scored in my end zone, but I missed the first two when I wasn't fast enough to adjust my focusing while the action was taking place and I ended up with two out of focus scores.  That really ticked me off.  I'll have to practice spinning that focus ring a little more quickly to build up my finger speed.  The first photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm.  The third photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm and the fourth photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm.  Here are a few more shots of the action that took place on the field.

f/3.2, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/3.2, 1/800sec, ISO 3200 at 110mm

f/3.2, 1/500sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/3.2, 1/500, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

That last photograph ended up being the winning touchdown.  Congratulations to my former school on their great season, and here's wishing them much success in the semi-finals this weekend.

Reese's Pieces

The explanation behind these photographs is kind of a stretch, but I'm guessing that those of you who come here are somewhat interested in my little musings, so here goes.  If you're reading this the day after it has been published, you know that it is Halloween.  On Halloween, fun folks young and old alike get dressed up in various different costumes.  A favourite costume through the ages has been to dress up as an alien.  And who is the everyone's favourite alien?  Why it's E.T.  And what was E.T's favourite snack?  Reese's Pieces.  As a Halloween treat to all of you, I'm offering up some photographs of Reese's Pieces.  Longtime visitors to this site know that photographing candy is something I enjoy.  There are two reasons.  First, they're really colourful and can really grab your attention.  Second, they make for a really tasty treat once your done shooting them.  I like to shoot candy two different ways.  With a large aperture which blurs out the background and again with a smaller aperture, keeping everything in focus.  The first photograph was taken at f/16, 1/80sec, ISO 400 at 60mm and the second photograph was taken at f/8, 1/60sec, ISO 400 at 60mm.  After all of you trick or treaters get home with bags filled up with tasty treats, give a look at what is inside.  There might be something cool in there to snap a picture of before you eat it.

Double On The Rocks

Though we can now safely say that Summer is over, I'm still going through a little phase where I've been going over several of the photographs that I've taken over the last few summer vacation trips, trying to make up for last time and putting a final polish on them.  Sure, I should have done this probably shortly after getting home from those vacations, but one of the drawbacks of being a shutterbug, is that you sometimes end up coming home with way more photographs than you thought you would.  That's when my other little bad habit kicks in.  A wise man once said 'why do today what can be put off until tomorrow', and for better or for worse, those words seem to have stuck with me for most of my life.  These photographs were taken during the trip of 2014 to Tadoussac.  I shot them in the late afternoon after My Lovely Assistant and I had just arrived in town and went for a walk on the rocky beach as our first official act.  The first photograph, shot at f/5, 1/1600sec, ISO 1000 at 68mm, is of rocks that were out of the reach of the tide.  I liked the way that the sun and shadows seemed to dance around them.  The second photograph, shot at f/6.3, 1/400sec, ISO 100 at 42mm was taken down by the water and I played around with a couple of different exposures before finally getting one that allowed me to properly capture not only the sun falling on the rocks, but also a nice reflection of the blue sky and clouds in the water.  These were the first among many photographs that I took in Tadoussac, and marked the beginning of a good vacation.

Ladybug Invasion

Okay, it's time to dig back into the archives for a quick update.  These photographs were taken last fall after getting home one afternoon and finding that the building had been invaded by ladybugs.  This one in particular seemed rather relaxed and enjoyed posing.  These photographs have been sitting in my website folder since January, but two little incidents finally got me to post them.  First, we had a similar invasion two weeks ago, though none of the bugs were as photogenic as this one.  The second reason needs a bit of explaining.  While visiting my parents over the Thanksgiving holiday, I came upon a ladybug that had gotten into their house.  I managed to position it onto my finger with the intention of letting it free outside, when I felt a little sting.  The little thing had bitten me.  I'd never known ladybugs to bite before, but it reminded me of these photographs.  The first one in particular.  I'm not sure how well is shows at the small size I use to post my photographs on this website, but when it was blown up to 10" x 15" for my exhibition back in March, one of the things that struck me were the teeth.  It's not a surprise I felt a bit of a pinch with a mouth full of teeth like this bug has.  Getting back to the photograph, another thing that I really liked was the reflection of the ladybug.  We had just painted the railings no more than two weeks before this photograph had been taken and the fresh paint provided a nice reflective surface.  I liked the photograph so much that I cropped it both vertically and horizontally.  It's the vertical version that ended up being put on display.  The photograph was taken at f/4, 1/125sec, ISO 400 at 60mm.  Here's a third photograph that I also took that afternoon.

f/4, 1/125sec, ISO 400at 60mm

The reflection shows a bit more on the third photograph, but I should have probably used a smaller aperture in order to keep more of the face in focus.  Lesson learned.  Shoot with different apertures and also keep from being bitten by bugs in the future.

Football Highlights

Last night I made my way back to Seaway Park in Saint-Lambert for some more football action.  It was a 7:00PM start time and by the time that the game ended a little bit after 10:00PM, I was a human Popsicle.  Get ready to hear some words that I have quite possibly never uttered before.  It was cold.  I'm never cold, but on this night, I was frozen.  I was also always in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Still no touchdown photographs, and by the third quarter I was to cold to move, so I just stuck to one end zone and tried to grab some plays as they happened.  The touchdown will have to wait for another time as this was the last regular season home game for the team, and it looks like my 'Day Job' will keep me from being able to see the team in their play-off game.  I might be getting ahead of myself as the scheduled time for the game has yet to be announced, but I was really hoping to be able to see a game while the sun would be out.  Especially now as the evenings have gotten a tad bit colder than I guess I was prepared for.  The first photograph was taken at f/4. 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 120mm and the second photograph was taken at f/3.5, 1/1000sec, ISO 3200 at 123mm.  While I continue to thaw out from last night, here are a few more photographs that I took during the game.

f/3.5, 1/500sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/3.5, 1/500sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/3.5, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

 f/3.2, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/3.2, 1/500sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/3.2, 1/800sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/3.2, 1/640sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/3.2, 1/500sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/3.2, 1/320sec, ISO 3200 at 75mm

Nope, I'm still not fully thawed out.  This calls for an afternoon of warm nachos and watching some football on the couch.  Hmm, good thing today is a Sunday.  I love it when a plan comes together.

Left Behind

As previously mentioned, My Lovely Assistant and I were out apple picking last weekend.  A yearly activity that I enjoy very much.  As much for the tasty treats we bring home, as for the opportunities to grab a cool photograph.  Those of you with long memories may remember a photograph similar to this one that I took way back in 2012.  This one was taken under similar circumstances.  We were walking back with our bag of apples when I saw this one on the ground.  It had rained the night before so there was a bit of moisture on the apple, and instead of being on a dirt road, this nice red apple was surrounded by some bright green grass.  I took this photograph at f/7.1, 1/640sec, ISO 100 at 25mm.  I don't really see it as a replacement, just an update on what was a rather popular photograph.

Where's Waldo?

The other day while My Lovely Assistant and I were out picking apples, we had filled our bag to the top and were walking back to the parking area when she pointed out that there were grasshoppers everywhere.  There was one little guy who was following my every step.  I believe I've mentioned a few times that I jokingly like to say out loud to these little bugs and animals that if they stay still, I'll take their photograph.  I know it seems rather silly, but it seems to work.  If you look real close, you can see the little guy hidden in there somewhere.  This photograph was taken at f/16, 1/50sec, ISO 100 at 25mm.  I know the photograph looks a little messy, but I liked all of the different hues of green, not to mention that it kind of fit the whole "Where's Waldo" theme with the viewer needing to try and find where my little buddy is hidden.  Did you find him?