Montreal International Fireworks Competition - Austria

L'International des Feux Loto‑Québec continued this past Wednesday night as Austria was the latest Country to light up the sky over Montreal.  The fireworks were produced by steyrFire Feuerwerke company.  I'd like to tell you a little more about them, but my German is a little rusty.  From looking around their website, I did notice that they have won 16 different competitions over the years.  The theme for the show was "Let's Dance" and featured various popular tunes from Chuby Checker, Elvis Presley, The Bee Gees and Michael Jackson.  I chose one of my favourite locations to shoot these photographs as I wanted to get there before everyone on vacation ends up packing the place.  I love that spot because it offers a great view of the fireworks, but also a nice view of the Jacques Cartier Bridge in the background, and some nice reflections of the fireworks in the water along with any boats who happen to be floating around.  Depending on how wide I end up cropping the finished photograph, some of the buildings of downtown Montreal can be seen, as well as the Cross on Mount Royal.  To be sure I had a good spot, I  left home at 8:00PM and there were still several people already there.  The closer we got to 10:00PM, the more people there seemed to be. My little 'secret' location is obviously a secret no more.  The first photograph was taken at f/16, 25sec, ISO 100 at 27mm and the second photograph was taken at f/16, 15sec, ISO 100 at 27mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took during the show.

f/16, 20sec, ISO 100 at 27mm

f/16, 13sec, ISO 100 at 27mm

f/16, 13sec, ISO 100 at 27mm

f/16, 25sec, ISO 100 at 27mm

Those are some of the best shots of this batch, but there are still several more shows to come so get ready for more explosions in the weeks to come.

Lighting Up The Television

As seen in the previous update, it is fireworks season!  In addition to having large explosions in the sky, I decided to do my best AC/DC impression and help everyone blow up their video.  I sent one of my photographs to CTV News Montreal as part of their Weatherpix segment and thankfully, it was selected and aired on the newscast for all to see.  As for the photograph itself, the trick with these shots is to get a large explosion early on because the lights on the Jacques Cartier Bridge turn off when the fireworks begin.  So, I began taking the photograph just before the 10 second countdown began, and kept my finger on the trigger as all of the white fireworks went off near the base of the bridge.  After what seemed like an eternity, there was finally a large blue burst in the sky and I could close the shutter.  I immediately check my screen and was pleased with what I saw.  All of the fireworks were nice and clear, the lights of the bridge were on, and we even get a nice view of the iconic cross that sits atop Mount Royal.  A success all around.  I quickly cleaned it up a little bit once I got home, sent it off to CTV and there it was on the news.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 93sec, ISO 100 at 27mm.  Thanks once again to Lori Graham and everyone at CTV News.  Next update, more explosions for the show.

Montreal International Fireworks Competition - ABBA

Mamma Mia!  Yes folks, it is that time of the year once again.  It's time for the sky of Montreal to explode with colour as the annual L'International des Feux Loto-Québec is here.  Sunday was the opening of the annual contest, but I ended up running out of time to properly set-up as we were at a family dinner before to celebrate my brother's birthday (Happy Birthday Little Brother).  I got back in time for the show, but ended up having to choose a spot close to home to grab some photographs.  That's not really an issue as there are some good close locations, but I forgot to open my eyes wide enough while setting up and failed to notice a No-Parking sign just next to me.  All wasn't lost as I was able to crop most of the photographs to 12" x 4" or 12" x 6" and get rid of the offending sign, but it still served as a lesson to pay better attention to my viewfinder.  The fireworks were provided by Royal Pyrotechnie, probably the best fireworks company in Canada if you can judge such a thing by the fact that they are the only Canadian company to have won three Golden Jupiter awards at this competition.  This year they handled the opening musical tribute show, and the honoured artist was the Swedish supergroup of the 1970's, ABBA.   The conditions were perfect as there were no clouds in the sky and there was a strong enough breeze to blow the smoke away from the explosions.  The first photograph was taken at f/16, 13sec, ISO 100 at 51mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/16, 8sec, ISO 100 at 51mm and the third photograph was taken at f/16, 15sec, ISO 100 at 51mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took during the show.

f/16, 13sec, ISO 100 at 51mm

f/16, 13sec, ISO 100 at 51mm

f/16, 15sec, ISO 100 at 51mm

f/16, 8sec, ISO 100 at 51mm

With that, the month of July got off to a bang!  Hopefully the weather will continue to be cooperative.  The shows go on rain or shine, but Your Friendly Neighbourhood Photographer doesn't really like to take his gear out in the rain.  Only time will tell, but if Mother Nature approves, you'll likely see some of these over the next few weeks.

Matt Lang In Greenfield Park

Ladies and gentlemen, this will be our final act for the evening.  After some celebratory fireworks, Matt Lang became the fourth act to grace the stage during the Canada Day party held in Greenfield Park.  Another graduate from the television show La Voix, Lang, then known as Mathieu Langevin, recently spent some time in Nashville.  He was in the heartland of country music to record an album called Love Me Some You which should be appearing in the fall.  The music was great as Lang played several of his own tunes, and some great covers from country and rock greats like The Eagles and Johnny Cash.  As an added bonus, with the oppressive sun finally gone, the full effects of the lights could be seen, which allowed me to play around with some different shutter speeds to get some different effects.  Though many people left after the fireworks, those who stuck around were treated to a rocking performance from a band that was obviously having a good time.  It's hard not to like a show where everyone on stage is performing with huge smiles on their faces, and most of the crew and previous performers are also dancing along to the tunes in the VIP section next to the stage.  One good thing about the smaller crowd, I was able to stray away from the spot I had claimed near the right of the stage and get a spot dead center.  It allowed to me to get many of the cool head-on photographs that you will see below.  It's very cool to see the difference some light and a little theatrical smoke can make.  Turning the drab black backdrop from the earlier concerts into a colourful and exciting addition to the show, and these photographs.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/125sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm, the second was taken at f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 62mm and the third photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm.  Here are several more photographs that I took during the concert.

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 3200 at 63mm

f/2.8, 1/100sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 32mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 3200 at 80mm

f/3.2, 1/320sec, ISO 3200 at 123mm

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 125mm

f/2.8, 1/125sec, ISO 1600 at 88mm

f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 1600 at 95mm

f/2.8, 1/100sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/100sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 1600 a 70mm

f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 165mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 115mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 115mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 95mm

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 115mm

If you'd like to find out more about Matt Lang, feel free to visit his website for all kinds of additional information.  The final tally: 4 shows, over 1000 photographs taken and several bottles of water consumed. If you're also just getting to this series for the first time, you can see the photographs I took of the other Canada Day performers (Justine Blanchet, Oliver Charles and Geneviève Leclerc) by clicking on their names.  Many thanks once again to My Lovely Assistant who fetched me enough cold water to make sure that I didn't pass out, and for sitting through all of the noise even though she isn't much of a music fan.  Time to recharge the camera batteries, because we're about to enter a very busy time of the year.

Geneviève Leclerc (with Patricia Bernier) In Greenfield Park

We are up to group number three of our big Canada Day Bash.  We are still in boiling hot Greenfield Park, and the next artist to take the stage is Geneviève Leclerc.  At this point, the crowd was at maximum capacity, which is still rather cool considering that it was over 40 Celsius out there once the humidity was factored in.  This is another performer who has been entertaining since a young age, Geneviève first began to perform at the age of 13 and then rocketed to fame back in 2016 as a contestant on La Voix, the Québec equivalent of The Voice, which is a major television show here.  Though she did not win, she did make it to the semi-finals, wowing the crowd with a version of Je suis malade, a song by Lara Fabian, which was considered to be the highlight of the entire season for many viewers.  She played that song for us in the steaming parking lot, as well as other cover songs and some originals from her album Portfolio, which was released in early 2017.  Joining her on stage was another member of the La Voix Class of 2016, Patricia Bernier.  She got the crowd moving with some cover songs, including a high energy version of It's Raining Men, though some of us in the crowd might have been happy with some rain, period.  The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 135mm and the second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 123mm.  Here are several more photographs that I took of the performance.

f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 100mm

f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 3200 at 155mm

f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 90mm

f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 3200 at 145mm

f2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 125mm

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

f/2.8, 1/200sec ISO 3200 at 182mm

f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 135mm

f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 135mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 95mm

f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm

f/2.8, 1/100sec, ISO 3200 at 75mm

f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 142mm

f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 125mm

f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 88mm

f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm

f/2.9, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 88mm

f/4.5, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 88mm

It was about this time when I realized that there was a new problem about to unfold  After three shows, I suddenly found myself with almost 700 photographs on my memory card.  Space was not an issue, but I was rather thinking about all of the time that would be spent going through them to find a good selection for the blog.  So far so good, but there's still one more show to go.  To find out more about Geneviève Leclerc and Patricia Bernier, feel free to visit their websites where you can find their music.