It's been a while since we've done one of these, so how about we take a little moment to look up at the sky. I've been slowly introducing The Heir Apparent to cloud watching during the moments when I actually find myself outside. She's a little more active than I am, so out sessions don't last very long, but it is something she seems to find fun. I still remember watching the clouds with my Grandmother. We would sit on the front porch and describe to each other what we saw flying by in the sky. It's always fun to see a bunny rabbit, frog or elephant in the clouds, but my humour tends to go a bit dark from time to time, on on this occaision, I saw an evil clown opening his mouth wide open. You can see where the eye would be, followed by the exaggeratedly large nose with an opening just below, which would be the mouth. It's just unfortunate that there wasn't a small cloud in the area for him to gobble up, or even better, an airplane. The photograph was taken at f/9, 1/640sec, ISO 100 at 200mm. Don't forget to look up at the sky every now and then. There might be clown up there waiting to eat you. Or, maybe just a fuzzy bunny. Let you imagination run wild.
Tuesday, 28 May 2024
Open Wide
Tuesday, 21 May 2024
Matt Lang At MTelus
It’s good to be The King. Québec’s King of Country, Matt Lang, kicked
off a Summer long party at the MTelus in Montreal on May 9th. It was the first show of a tour that will see
him play all over Québec in the following months and was also a launch party
for his brand new album, All Night Longer, which was released the next
day. The show sold out shortly after
being announced and there were cowboy hats littered over the entire building as
more than 2000 fans packed the MTelus in their finest attire to pay homage to
Matt Lang. Country music has become a big hit in La Belle
Province over the last several years.
Québec has several Country music festivals lined-up every summer, with
the Festival Western St. Tite and Lasso Montréal, where Matt Lang will also be
performing in August, being some of the biggest
Country events held in North
America. Through this resurgence, Montréal
has earned the nickname of Nashville North and leading this wave of renewed
popularity has been Matt Lang. All Night Longer is the third album for Matt
Lang, and his production team, headed by Vickye Morin and Joelle Proulx of
Agence Ranch, pulled out all the stops to make the evening into a party none
would forget. Picture booths, exclusive
merchandise, wrist band lights and even a beer pong tournament where the winner
would get a trip to Nashville could be found all over the floor. Up on the stage, the fireworks were in abundance
and an unlimited number of high fives were shared as Matt Lang performed and
shared the moment with his loyal 
subjects, only to happy to grab a cell phone
or 10 for some quickly selfies with the fans. All of the songs from All Night Longer were
played, with the previously released singles ‘All Night Longer’ and ‘Sweet On
You’ getting the sing-a-long treatment from the crowd. A killer medley of songs he remembered
hearing with his grandfather and other Country songs that had an impact on him
as well went over well with the crowd who also exploded to life when the band
broke into Matt Lang’s breakout song from 2019, ‘Love Me Some Of You’. Etienne Joly, Matt Lang’s lead guitarist and
stage-right hand man, who also has performed with several other of Québec’s
crop of Country artists, was on fire.
I’ve seen them perform several times and this duo could one day be
spoken of in the same rarified air as other famous singer/guitarist
combos. The first photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/500sec, ISO 2000 at 67mm. The second photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/1600sec, ISO 4000 at 67mm and the third was taken at f/3.2, 1/1000sec, ISO 4000 at 28mm. I had no restrictions shooting this show, and since there was no opening band, this will be a larger update than usual. Mind you, we're all here for to see photographs, so I don't suppose a few more to look at will be a problem.
Monday, 20 May 2024
Victoria Bridge Day
It's mid-May and the first official holiday of the Summer Season is upon on us. Sure, the calendar may still say it is Spring, but the 30 Celcius weather that we had today says something else entirely. Since this particular holiday kind of has some mixed meanings that not everyone on any side can seem to agree on, I have decided to dedicate the day to something everyone in the region appreciates, The Victoria Bridge. It is still standing and rock solid after 264 years, though it has had a few makeovers during that time. The Victoria Bridge is still my first choice when I have to make the trip in to the big city, and will probably continue to be for a good many years to come. It also looks great next to a sunset, like it does in this photograph here which was taken at f/7.1, 1/200sec, ISO 100 at 38mm. Happy Victoria Bridge Day! Go out and take a ride.
Friday, 17 May 2024
Spring Bird
The old classic rhyme goes "Spring has sprung, the grass has riz', I wonder where the birdie is?" I, of course, know the answer to that little rhyme. The birdie is hiding out in my backyard cherry tree. I can't really say that I blame him. That tree is looking like a pretty nice place to hang out right now. It is in full bloom at the moment and the mix of white flower buds and red leaves is quite the site to behold. It only last a very short time, but I look forward to this time of the year every Spring. It's been a particularly fun time for bird watching this Spring as The Crown Prince has gotten in on the act, welcoming all of the birds that visit us to the yard. He does it in a rather loud way that probably frightens more than welcomes, but it's the thought that counts, and I'm sure our fine feathered friends will understand in time. This photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/1000sec, ISO 100 at 200mm. The weather is perfect for bird watching right now, get out there and have some fun.
Saturday, 11 May 2024
A Fortunate Sneeze
There's something about flowers that just catches my eye. I'm sure that I'm not alone when it comes to this and with it being Mother's Day, I'm sure that there are a lot of flowers that will be making the rounds today. My Lovely Assistant is not as big a fan as I am, but Grandmaman will very likely be getting some flowers from The Heir Apparent and Crown Prince. There's no time to photograph and post those photographs, but we can post up a virtual flower for my Mom, and what better than my personal favourite, the Day Lily. This one in particular was donated by my Mom to be planted in our yard a few years back, but last year it was particularly spectacular. Rather than it's usual red and orange hue, it was a darker red than usual with a little hint of purple. As usual, I tried to get as close as possible to get a good shot, but that's when my allergies kicked in and I may have sneezed a few times. I guess that I didn't do a very good job of covering my mouth, because when I looked back, the yellow pollen of the flower and flown all over the petals. It ended up giving my Day Lily an even more unique look. The photograph was taken at f/9, 1/50sec, ISO 100 at 70mm. Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there. I hope you all have a very colourful day.
Wednesday, 8 May 2024
The Black Crowes At MTelus
It certainly seems like there is less out there
to be happy about these days.
Thankfully, The Black Crowes are on tour to help us celebrate those
moments that truly make us happy. For
example, I am truly happy when in a photo pit, shooting a show. My friend Louie would be truly happy seeing
the stack of amps and cases of guitars that Rich Robinson brings with him on
the road and for the more than 2000 people who sold out the MTelus on Tuesday
night, happiness was seeing The Black Crowes back in town for the first time in
16 years. As the band slowly made their way, one by one,
on to the stage as some AC/DC blared from the speakers, the collective
happiness in the building continued to build and rise until, at last, singer
Chris Robinson strutted out on to the stage as the crowd finally erupted and
the festivities began.
They opened with
two tracks from their latest album, Happiness Bastards, which was released just
a little more than a month ago. It is their
first album since reforming the band back in 2019 and of new material since
2009. Before the third song, Chris
Robinson mentioned how they have some new songs to play, but also some old one
as well, before The Black Crowes broke into ‘Twice As Hard’, the first track from their
debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, from 1990.
It’s the album that I remember first getting as a kid and I won’t deny
that some goose bumps appeared as that familiar slow fuzzy guitar intro began
to play. With all that said, what exactly is
happiness? Happiness is a positive and
pleasant emotion, ranging from contentment to intense joy. Everyone leaving the MTelus on Tuesday night
will tell you that happiness can be found at a Black Crowes concert. The first photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/1250sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm and the second photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/1000sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm. Here are several more photographs of The Black Crowes performing on stage.
