Jean-Michel Richer At Festival Classica

This is the fourth update of the Broadway Trio set and the photographs are focused on Jean-Michel Richer.  Jean-Michel is a Tenor who has sung with the Opera de Montreal and performed in several countries.  He has performed songs from Don Giovanni, Montezuma and La Boheme among others.  On Sunday, he performed a series of Broadway songs both solo and also with his partners on the afternoon, Gino Quilico and Raphaëlle Paquette, as part of a concert highlighting songs from several famous Broadway plays.  The first photograph was taken at f/4, 1/1250sec, ISO 800 at 168mm.  Here are several more of Jean-Michel performing.

f/4, 1/1250sec, ISO 800 at 150mm

f/4, 1/640sec, ISO 800 at 200mm

f/4, 1/1600sec, ISO 800 at 200mm

f/4, 1/1600sec, ISO 800 at 200mm

f/4, 1/400sec, ISO 800 at 200mm

f/4, 1/400sec, ISO 800 at 130mm

f/4, 1/640sec, ISO 800 at 168mm

f/4, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 155mm

f/4, 1/640sec, ISO 800 at 200mm

This was the fourth update of the day, or somewhere between one and four depending on if you were reading them as they were being put up.  If you've been reading from the beginning, thanks for sticking around.  Keep reading for some photographs that I took of his co-stars, Raphaëlle Paquette and Gino Quilico and the entire group.

Roots & Dawn Tyler Watson At South Shore Ribfest

The updates are coming fast and furious.  This was my third concert on Sunday, and the second show that I took in over in Greenfield Park, where they were having their very first Ribfest.  This show was done by a group who called themselves Roots, because they are all a group of local singers and musicians.  They were joined on stage during the performance by Dawn Tyler Watson, one of Canada's rising vocalist stars.  In 2017 she took first place at the 33rd International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee.  Locally, she has also won three Canadian Maple Blues Awards, nine Quebec Lys Blues Awards and has been described by Le Journal de Montreal as the Queen Of Blues in Montreal.  Sadly, from a photography point of view, I again had to deal with music stands all over the stage, and musicians either hidden in the back or in bad lighting on the wings of the stage.  This didn't take anything away from the performance, nor did it bother the rest of the crowd, which probably didn't care as they were enjoying the show, which I did as well.  They all sang a fun collection 70's and 80's rock songs, with Dawn Tyler Watson adding a little soul and blues to the evening as well.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 85mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm and the third photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm.  Here are several more photographs that I took during the show.

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 3200 at 160mm

f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 3200 at 145mm

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 3200 at 165mm

f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 3200 at 175mm

f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 3200 at 170mm

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

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 168mm

f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 3200 at 182mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 145mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 145mm

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 165mm

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 135mm

Three concerts in one day.  That was a lot of music, and a lot of photographs.  But I enjoyed every moment of it.  So much so, that I even ended up going to a fourth show on Sunday.  Those photographs will also be up here soon.  In the meantime, while I couldn't find a website for Roots, you can go and find out more about Dawn Tyler Watson by visiting her website which will give you the chance to hear her voice and see some videos as well.

Intonation At South Shore Ribfest

The musical weekend continues.  After shooting some photographs at the Festival Classica, I made my way down the street to Greenfield Park.  They were holding the first of what they feel will be an annual Ribfest.  Ribs aren't really my thing, but photographing live music is and I felt that the event would provide me with a nice opportunity to grab some shots.  Which was the case.  The first band that I saw was called Intonation, and were a bunch of local musicians who were belting out some classic rock songs from the 1970's and 1980's.  The four main singers were lined up along the front of the stage, with the musicians mostly stuck in the back of the stage and in the wings.  This kind of limited what I could shoot.  Another obstacle was the music stands lined-up at the front of the stage and the fact that since the show was taking place before sunset, stage lights weren't turned on until very late into their set.  Despite these little photographic annoyances, I still managed to grab a few shots of the show, and the fun that the group was having.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 400 at 70mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/1000sec, ISO 400 at 165mm and the third photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 400 at 155mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took during their performance.

f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 150mm

f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 400 at 155mm

There was a brief break after their set, but there was another performance yet to come, which featured some of the same, and a couple of new, faces.

Giorgia Fumanti at Festival Classica

The arrival of June is pretty much the beginning of Summer, but more importantly to me, it also signals the beginning of the free outdoor concert season.  It's getting increasingly more difficult to get my camera into concert venues as security seems to have clamped down hard recently, but luckily I still have free reign to bring it to these outdoor shows.  I took advantage of two local festivals, and the nice weather, to take in three concerts yesterday, making for a very busy day.  First up on the schedule was the Festival Classica in Saint-Lambert. On the stage was Giorgia Fumanti, a Soprano singer originally from Italy but based in Montreal since 2002.  She performed several classic operatic songs, as well as some more regional songs and others from her new album, Amour, which was just recently released.  For the photographs, I mostly tried to stick with close-ups and vertical shots because she was performing on a stage that was set up for a large orchestra and choir that would be performing later in the night.  A shot full of microphones and music stands isn't very interesting.  I still managed to grab some nice photographs of the performance, and added a few more of the musicians as well as I like to make sure that everyone is included.  The first two photographs were both taken at f/4, 200mm, 1/320sec, ISO 200 at 200mm.  Here are some more photographs that I took during the performance.

f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 400 at 80mm

f/4, 1/320sec, ISO 200 at 160mm

f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 400 at 150mm

f/4, 1/320sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/4, 1/320sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/4, 1/320sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/4, 1/320sec, ISO 400 at 150mm

f/4, 1/320sec, ISO 400 at 150mm

f/4, 1/320sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

f/4, 1/320sec, ISO 400 at 130mm

f/4, 1/320sec, ISO 400 at 175mm

With that, we were off and running.  She had a terrific voice and the crowd was very appreciative of the concert.  If you'd like to hear more of her music, please visit her website where you can also find information on buying her albums.  Off to the next concert we go.

Giant Thunderbird

When I go to classic car shows, the one car that is always on my must-find list is the Ford Thunderbird.  I come from a family of Ford drivers, and while the Mustang might be the more popular choice, I've always been drawn to the Thunderbird.  In Native American mythology, the Thunderbird was a supernatural creature of power and strength, and I've always felt that those cars live up to that billing as well.  This photograph, taken at f/16, 1/1000sec, ISO 400 at 24mm, was of the hood decal on a 1954 Thunderbird.  I like to look for these kinds of things at car shows because I always feel that if it looks good on the car, it will probably look good on its own as well.  The black painted decal of the green paint really stood out on the car and I think it looks good photographed as well.

Hubcap Art

As previously mentioned, I attended the Saint-Lambert Classic Car Exhibition last weekend.  It's a favourite annual event of mine as I love looking at the old classic cars.  I try to go in with a mission every year because photographing the actual cars is a tad bit difficult as they are all parked in tight together, there are lots of people walking around and the put information cards in the windshield.    This year, my mission was to grab a nice hubcap photograph.  Sadly, despite getting there early, they nice hubcaps were unavailable as the cars were parked in a way that I couldn't get back far enough to properly photograph them.  Luckily, this one, which belongs to a Austin Healy 3000 Mark III from 1965, was parked all by itself.  I grabbed a photograph of the whole wheel, taken at f/16, 1/100sec, ISO 100 at 24mm, and then cropped in the hubcap.  Those of you with eagle eyes may notice the reflection of Your Friendly Neighbourhood Photographer in the hubcap.  I kinda like being in there as I add a little bit of colour to the photograph.