Every spring, I look forward to see Montreal burst with life. This city enter an amazing growing process of great visual orgasms presented week by week until summer strikes.
Every summer, Montreal is alive. The World comes to Montreal to celebrate and loves it. I love it too.
It is no wonder why I feel very attached to this city more than the fact that I've lived next to it for the past 24 years and will live there for probably the rest of my life; more than the fact that I haven't been into other big cities around the world aside from Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles (can we count Cancun into this?).
Let me take you on a photographic journey to a summer in Montreal.
April: Nature's festival
It the time of the year where I can witness the rebirth of nature and celebrate it.
Outside, millions of buds grow at great speeds. Some turn into flowers and gracefully fill the landscape. It's amazing to walk outside too because the weather is usually always sunny with blue skies.
Inside, the Botanical Garden lets thousands of butterflies go free in one of its many greenhouses and I usually go there with my macro lens to capture some floral pieces as well as the butterflies themselves.
PYKtures suggest: Use a lens that has a short minimum focus distance and a high focal length to get close to the objects and blur the background. Or a wide angle lens to shoot some amazing urban landscapes.
May: Rebirth of Street Life
The people of Montreal just fill the streets. It's amazing to witness the neighbourhoods on the Plateau or Miles End where buildings live in harmony with the natural vines that grow on them. The sun sets a lot later by then. Going for late evening snack and drinks with friends after sunset is quite relaxing. Bike rides to the south shore from my place in Brossard bring me to a spectacle no 514 people can admire.
PYKtures suggest: Bring a small lens like a prime lens to capture some discreet and intimate street photography. Or a wide angle lens to shoot some amazing urban landscapes.
Picnic Electronik (Every Sunday from May to August) Base Price: 10$
International DJ's come to set Jean Drapeau on a rhythm every Sunday for all summer. Just go there, relax, party with good friends. Outside. Voilà. Good times.
PYKtures suggest:Don't bring your dSLR. Just keep a compact camera close with a wide angle, enjoy time with your friends and shoot yourself with them on some occasions and relax.
June to August: The Endless string of Festivities
In June begins the endless string of Montreal's festivities. If you are staying there, it is difficult to get bored with what Montreal has to offer aside from just taking it easy, wearing light clothing, sandals and relaxing and admiring sunrises and sunsets.
After taking a look at what Montreal has to offer this year, I feel this summer is going to be epic. The key here is to get there in ADVANCE and NEVER COME LATE TO A PARTY.
PYKtures suggest: Street or Performing Arts photography is super cool. Shooting this will require a fast lens (something of f/2.8 and lower) and some medium to high ISO values. STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT NOISE! I will give more specific suggestions as we move on.
Grand prix celebrations (this year is June 10th to 12th) Base Price: Free
Almost every year, the Formula One world championship lands in Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Montreal celebrates it big. Being the first international visit Montreal receives, the urban population sky rockets for those three days. Many of the streets of downtown around Crescent street are closed to make way for lavish sports and luxurious cars to park and be exposed to eyes around. Playstation machines, free giveaways, concerts, pit stop competitions, celebrations of motorsports attract huge crowds. I usually go there to listen to the free concerts which are usually comprised of highly dynamic cover bands.
PYKtures suggest: it's also a great time to apply do some street and event photography again. You can also use a wide angle lens to get low on the street and shoot some exotic cars or use a high vantage point to capture the high crowds of people moving. Use a fast lens (low F number) to freeze the concert artist at some 1/125 shutter speeds.
Les Francofolies (June 9th to 18th) Base Price: Free
If you thought you've listened to everything about music being sung in French, listen again. The Francofolies is a huge celebration of music being sung in French. Even if you don't understand a word of what's being sung, your ears will be pleased by the tunes being played there.
The Francofolies is such a big event that you sometimes need to plan out your sortie. If there is an artist you wish to listen to, I suggest that get there some minutes earlier to have a decent view of the stage and stand within a good distance of the speakers to feel the artist's intentions. Every hour, the many stages has artists performing. Because you might not know the artist, it is best that you consult the website for the schedule. Usually the artist's MySpace website is accessible or you can look up his name on YouTube. If you like the artist, put it in the schedule. That way you can enjoy the music you enjoy played live in front of you and that's how I enjoy my Francofolies. Bring binoculars!
PYKtures suggest: Use a high vantage point to capture the high crowds of people moving or a good fast telephoto to get close with the artist. Bring a combination 2 lenses going from 17 to 200mm or a zoom and a prime lens. The point here is to use a fast lens (low F number) to freeze the concert artist at some 1/125 shutter speeds. Don't you dare try flashing!
St-Jean Baptiste (June 23th-24th) Base Price: Free
Québec's day of celebration. For two days, the people of the Québec province celebrate their identity. This day happends in two ways: either to go to Québec on the Abrahams plain and get drunk in celebrations (which I plan to do someday!) or you attend the many culture celebrating concerts around the many regions of Montreal, and get drunk in celebrations. It's a moment you want to spend with your friends to do something...
PYKtures suggest: DON'T BRING YOUR DSLR! Just keep a compact camera close with a wide angle, enjoy time with your friends and shoot yourself with them on some occasions.
Montreal Jazz Festival (June 25th to July 4th) Base Price: Free
Montreal's biggest music party ever. Right after the St-Jean, music artist around the world come to play in the Quartier des Spectacles and around the Place des Arts. Hundreds of amazing free concerts are given as long as paid ones for the better known artists. Last year, I went there for 9 straight days of free concerts and I've been well served by new discoveries and autographs.
Jazz fest is such a big event that you sometimes need to plan out your sortie out to look for the artist you want to listen to. I suggest you guys to NEVER ATTEND THE BIG SHOWS unless you plan to go there and wait in your spot an hour or two before the concert starts. Last year, because it was a highly advertized free concert, people waited 5 hours for the Stevie Wonder concert and those who came an hour before had to be put elsewhere in front of decent big screen with some questionable acoustics placed in other locations around the site. And yes, you will stand VERY CLOSE to the next person and will not be able to see a thing sometimes if you are small. Bring binoculars!
Sometimes, some of those big concert artists do something amazingly special, like Patrick Watson who played some songs in the middle of the crowd instead of on the stage.
I'd rather suggest you to attend the lesser known concerts, where you have a decent view of the stage and stand within a good distance of the speakers to feel the artist's intentions. Every hour, the many stages has artists performing. Because you might not know the artist, it is best that you consult the website for the schedule. Usually the artist's MySpace website is accessible or you can look up his name on YouTube. If you like the artist, put it in the schedule. That way you can enjoy the music you enjoy played live in front of you and that's how I enjoy my Jazz Fest.
PYKtures suggest: Use a high vantage point to capture the high crowds of people moving or a good fast telephoto to get close with the artist. Bring a combination 2 lenses going from 17 to 200mm or a zoom and a prime lens. The point here is to use a fast lens (low F number) to freeze the concert artist at some 1/125 shutter speeds. Don't you dare try flashing!
L'Internationnal des Feux Loto-Québec (June 12th to August 14th) Base Price: Free
A Fireworks world competition that happens in Montreal's little theme park, La Ronde. While the best spots to witness the beauty of those exploding rockets is on the LaRonde site, many of us don't want to pay to get in. So the other good spots to see the fireworks are: the Jacques Cartier Bridge, the Clock Tower of Old Port, or right under the bridge near Metro Papineau. It's also wise to check out in what direction the wind is going because you might just see the smoke and not the fireworks... Bring a radio with you too and tune it to the frequency of 105.7FM because the fireworks are supposed to explode in sync with the music. Those events happen every Wednesday and Saturday nights at 10pm.
PYKtures suggest: get as close to the fence as you can. Bring your tripod with a wide zoom lens and a remote (if possible). Put your camera on M mode and slow down the shutter till you hit BULB (manual shutter control). The trick is to open your shutter while a fireworks rocket explodes and close it when it's done. As for ISO and Aperture values, I'll leave that to you. I usually use the lowest ISO value with a very small aperture (f11) and let it rip.
Montreal Fashion Festival (August 4th to 7th) Base Price: Free
Invited DJ's dropping the beat next to music artists performing the music that produce the rhythms on which models walk the runway dressed in hopefully interesting attire. Thousands of cameras of all sorts come to populate McGill college street between Montreal Trust Center and Eaton Center. It's quite an interesting event because I usually go for the shows that display some cool stuff and listen to the cool and relaxing music that plays. It is also common that shows don't start on time and are delayed for more than 30 min. Fashionably late is a word that describes this philosophy perfectly.
The best spot to enjoy the fashion show ISN'T AT THE CAGE OF THE PRO PHOTOGRAPHERS (they have the job to mechanically shoot the walking model from a frontal point...), it's best to look at this from the side. To easily get to the side of the runway, I usually go into Eaton Center then take the escalator to the 2nd level and take the exit where the Starbuck Cafe is located. There, you usually have spots to stand above the crowd and get a nice vantage point. Enjoy the last big event of the summer then!
PYKtures suggest: YOU ARE NOT A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER! YOU AREN'T OBLIGED TO SHOOT EVERYTHING! (just what you like) Outside of this, you want to get a fast telephoto lens (something that has a focal length above 55mm). The best settings for this is to use continuous autofocus on a single point to track the subject's movement and take burst shots at 1/160 speeds with the lowest ISO possible... If your shot is too dark, use a higher ISO, get a faster lens. etc...
This happens if you are trying... too hard... (click on picture to see)
Seriously... A telephoto lens... WITH a flash?... WTF the model is like... super closed to you man...
now lets show the real shots I took...
Otakuthon (August 13 - 15) Base Price: Free (yes it's 20$ to get in but... ^^)
To sum this up, it's a Halloween costume party during the summer where many fans of cartoon culture dress up in the costumes of their favourite heroes. They are the cosplayers. The name "Otaku" defining an over hardcore anime fans might traumatise some of the common people around Montreal, but I was proven wrong last year.
Most of the costume and behaviours show a lot of enthusiasm and most of the costumed population wants to mimic their character well. If you stay out of the other Japanese culture habits and events being organised there (like some weird disco dance, karaoke competition...). You end up looking at a Cartoon Wonderland made out of real people. It's quite interesting.
The asking admission price is really off the charts though but I guess the organizer didn't received much submission to expose there... oh well.
PYKtures suggest: BE OPEN MINDED. Ask kindly the cosplayer to pose and they usually will help you on getting great shots (because they want to be shot too ^^ ). If you are cheap, you can catch the cosplayers outside the exhibition halls and shoot them outside. Bring your normal lens or a telephoto portrait lens with a fast aperture to take some great portraits.
here's a shot to show you how much Cosplayers love Photographers ^^
Aftermaths: Go Travel! Base Price: Your travel ticket
YEAH! My family and I usually escape Montreal to look for nature hikes elsewhere. It's also important to get some air... nature air to resource ourselves. Last year, I went to Cancun, Mexico and stayed a week in Toronto. The year before, I went to the West of Canada. So yeah, if you can, just travel.
PYKtures suggest: Carry CLOSE TO NOTHING. Seriously, you will not be doing any serious photography while you travel. You are there to live and enjoy the culture shock, not to view it. I usually carry a long zoom 18-105VR and a prime lens 50 1.4 (now 35 1.8) with me.
Although I've cited many things I attend throughout the summer, I've also:
So yeah, I hope you can enjoy your summers in Montreal as much I as enjoy them. They've been getting better and better each year so I wish it will be the same for you guys.
Now I'm going to finish my website! ah!
A Photographic Journey Across My Usual Summer (2011) :: PYKtures Spotlights
4 comments:
This is the most impressive blog post I've seen lately! Wow! Love the stories, the photos, the fun, everything!!!
Keep doing this kind of blog posts, they are unbelievable! :)
super crazzy cool pictures!
I loved this! I'm moving to Montréal this summer for university, and your pictures made me even more excited to live here!
The pictures of St-Jean Baptiste Day are especially great :)
Awesome post! I'm definitely going to use this as a reference guide to montreal's many activities! Great shots btw =)
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