Fireworks From Old Montreal

Those of you who have been following me here should be well aware by now that I really like photographing fireworks displays.  Despite my hatred of the Summer heat, I'm still out there when the temperature hits the 40's with humidity factored in and now I can say that I've hit the other end of the thermometer as well.  This past Saturday, after the windchill was factored in , the temperature was a rather crisp -41 Celsius.  My Lovely Assistant sat this one out, and my parents thought that I might have been a little crazy, but I wasn't going to let a little cold get in the way of my fun.  This was the final show of the annual Fire On Ice display from the Old Port of Montreal and sponsored by the Natrel dairy company.  Milk and fireworks, sounds like a winning mix to me. I went back to my spot on the banks of the Saint-Lawrence River from earlier in December.  There was still a brisk wind, but it wasn't as strong as it had been the previous time.  I had also since replaced my shutter trigger so there was much less of an issue concerning camera shake this time around.  Which is a good thing because I really liked the designs in the sky that this show produced.  I tried some different exposure times and also tried opening the shutter at different time during the explosions to create shorter and also longer light streaks in the sky.  As an added bonus, the cold air created a nice layer of ice fog over the river which you can see in several of the photographs.  I did have one surprise waiting for me...I actually wasn't the only one out there!  There was another brave soul out there taking some photographs of the show and we shared a chuckle over the extremes that we were going through in order to grab a few photographs.  Speaking of which, the first photograph was taken at f/16, 13sec, ISO 100 at 32mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/16, 8sec, ISO 100 at 32mm.  The third and fourth photographs were taken at f/16, 10sec, ISO 100 at 32mm.  Here are several more photographs that I took of the show.

f/16, 13sec, ISO 100 at 32mm

f/16, 8sec, ISO 100 at 32mm

f/16, 8sec, ISO 100 at 32mm

f/16, 8sec, ISO 100 at 32mm

f/16, 20sec, ISO 100 at 32mm

f/16, 10sec, ISO 100 at 32mm

f/16, 6sec, ISO 100 at 32mm

That was a pretty large selection, but I wanted to make the most out of my time in weather so cold that, as the late, great George Balcan would have said, was cold enough to freeze the nuts off of the Victoria Bridge.  Don't worry Mom, I was wearing boots and a scarf.

Starting The Year With A Bang

New Year's Eve brings out  variety of emotions in people.  This year there was some uncertainty, frustration and one huge surprise.  Uncertainty came in the form of the weather.  New Year's Eve this year featured a temperature of -24C, upped to -36C when you added the windchill.  The normal minded person would probably stay inside under such conditions, but the call of fireworks can be very strong.  Uncertainty was quickly replaced by frustration as what should have been a quick car ride to my desired parking spot ended up turning into a bit of an adventure as the first road was blocked off by police and security forces, I guess to make sure that people didn't get to close to the explosions.  We'll keep that in mind for later.  The secondary road to my spot ended up being congested with traffic as it seems that an in-ordinarily large amount of people seemed to want to spend New Year's Eve at the casino.  Why they were making the trek at 11:30PM is a bit of a question to ask, but I guess that's one that will need to be answered at another time.  After finally getting out of the traffic, parking the car and making a mad dash up the hill, My Lovely Assistant and I finally arrived at my desired location, just to find out that Mother Nature had been at work and caused the trees to grow in the years since I had last visited that spot. 

It was too late to turn, so I quickly began to shoot away as fireworks began to explode over the special illumination of the Jacques Cartier Bridge.  Then came the huge surprise.  At the stroke of midnight the sky lit up like one would expect when fireworks are involved...however these fireworks were going off rather close to us.  One parking lot away to be exact.  We could see the flashes of the explosions going off  and a quick look up revealed a sky full of colour and smoke.  Not to mention the fiery debris that was falling down all around us.  A large piece of which My Lovely Assistant brought home with us.  It made a New Year's Eve that will not only be hard to forget, but hard to top as well.  Back to business, I felt that the photographs left a little to be desired.  We were to close to the fireworks to properly capture them, but the experience was one that won't be forgotten.  Also, as My Lovely Assistant often tells me, the photographs aren't really as bad as I make them out to be either.  The first photograph was taken at f/16, 2sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/13, 5sec, ISO 100 at 24mm.  The third photograph was taken at f/22, 4sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm and the fourth photograph was taken at f/20, 4sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm.  Here are a few more photographs from the night.

f/22, 4sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/22, 2sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/22, 3sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

Yes, an old enemy returned, that being the version of me that forgets to reset the ISO after using the camera.  This resulted in a little bit more Photoshop work after the fact, but hopefully that guy won't be returning to often this year.  From My Lovely Assistant and myself to all of you, may your 2018 be full of all kinds of great surprises.

Sun Sets On 2017

It is often said that time flies, and as proof, here we are at the end of another year.  As has become a bit of a tradition here on the old blog, I'm ending the year with a nice sunset.  2017 was another fine year seen through the lenses of my camera.  Sporting events, concerts, fireworks, insects and illuminated bridges were all among the highlights of my photographic year.  Chief among the highlights was a third photography exhibition, Point Of View/Point de vue, which took place back in March.  I once again also managed to get two photographs broadcast on the CTV evening news and was glad to know that several others enjoyed my photographs thanks to the visits both here, and on the Eric Mahannah Photography Facebook Page.  This particular photograph was taken at f/9, 1/100sec, ISO 100 at 25mm.  I was standing near the Victoria Bridge and really enjoyed the view with the changing colours in the sky against the silhouetted skyscrapers of Montreal and the other section of the bridge.  As the sun sets in the photograph, so it does on 2017.  Here's to wishing all of you out there in Internetland a very happy and healthy 2018.  Happy New Year to you all!

Paul Mahannah's Barn

I suppose that I could be described as a sentimentalist.  On most trips to visit my parents, I often find myself driving a little bit extra out of my way just to pass in front of the homes where, once upon a time, both sets of my Grandparents used to live.  The barn located where my paternal Grandparents used to live has been slowly deteriorating, to the point where I'm pretty sure that some of the roof has caved in.  Sensing that time may be running out before the building comes down for good, and seeing a nice fresh coat of snow on the barn, I stopped and got out of my car long enough to snap off a photograph.  From information gathered from my father, the larger part of the barn with the triangle roof dates back to the early 1900's and the smaller addition on the right was added in the 1930's.  The hay rakes were found on the property and placed in this location by the current owners.  I can still remember looking out the yellow doors of the smaller part of the building, as well as the old window and the little knickknacks, tools, bottles and assorted items that would hang on the walls and window sills.  The photograph was taken f/11, 1/100sec, ISO 100 at 34mm.  The building may be falling down, but it still has lots of character and holds many years worth of memories.

Merry Christmas To All

While I wasn't looking another Christmas has managed to sneak up on us.  It's time to shut things down for a couple of days and visit with my parents to see what will be hiding in their Christmas tree this year.  That's where I found this shiny little trinket last year.  I liked the whole teddy bear/rocking horse combination as it reminds me of Christmas gifts.  I moved it to a different part of the tree that had a few more lights and tried to aim it towards some of the brighter kitchen lights to get that extra shine on it.  The photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/50sec, ISO 800 at 24mm.  I hope that you all get all kinds of nice gifts this Holiday Season and that you all get to spend as much time as possible with family and friends.  Merry Christmas from My Lovely Assistant and myself to all of you out there.

Christmas Dessert

Since we're now officially in the Holiday Season, family gatherings and huge meals are to be scheduled and attended.  This means that it is time for My Lovely Assistant to shine.  She created this wonderful three-layered cake with caramelized pears and almond cookie trees.  It took her a fair amount of time, yet still much less time than I spent trying to photograph it.  I tried to find just the right amount of flash to properly light the cake, yet also keep the background darker so that we can see the reflection of the Christmas lights on the glass table surface.  I ended up taking the photograph at f/3.2, 1/20sec, ISO 800 at 24mm while bouncing some flash off of the ceiling down onto the cake, and also using up a four-pack of AA batteries while taking all of the test shots in the process.  The neighbours must have thought that we were having one heck of a party with all of the lights going off.  Hats off to My Lovely Assistant and her wonderful talents.

A Little Shaky

In order to be successful when taking photographs of fireworks, there are two things that much any photographer should have.  You need a sturdy tripod and a remote switch to trigger the shutter.  Sadly, about ten minutes before the fireworks show from the Old Port of Montreal was to begin, my remote switch took its last photograph.  I was taking some test shots to make sure that everything was in focus when I hit the button....and nothing happened.  I wasn't just going to pack up and leave, I do like to watch fireworks displays after all, but I was reduced to trying to take photographs by pressing my finger against the shutter button on the body of my camera and holding it in place.  The method works, but it also leaves open the possibility of the photograph being ruined by camera shake.  Since the exposure time on these types of photographs is a couple of seconds, and it's really hard for the human body to remain perfectly still, the reality is that even the smallest of movements gets recorded in the form of broken lines and things appearing out of focus.  As a result, I was only able to salvage two photographs from the evening and had to do a few Photoshop tricks to mask the lines and make it appear sharper.  The first photograph was taken at f/16, 20secs, ISO 100 at 28mm and the second photograph was taken at f/16, 8sec, ISO 100 at 28mm.  There are a few more of these winter fireworks shows, so I'll be getting myself a new switch and I'll be getting back out there soon enough