Snowstorm

Just a quick post on the snowstorm that's been throwing things out of gear here in Montreal and the surrounding areas over the last couple of days.  I decided to work from home because I had a really hard time driving back in the snow last evening.  The car skidded a number of times and once I got home, I had an even harder time trying to get the car into the parking spot.  There was way too much snow and it felt like I was driving into a snow bank.  I was nervous as hell, this being the first major snowstorm I've driven in, and I just didn't want to risk driving back and forth today, especially after a freezing rain warning.

 

I had wanted to get to the last row of trees you see in the background.  The white field of snow beyond that row of trees is actually the frozen river :)

My bedroom blinds were pulled down, so I hadn't a clue what was happening outside since the morning, till I got up to go to the kitchen to grab something for lunch.  Lunch was forgotten when I saw that the snow was coming down in humungous flakes.  I donned my protective clothing, packed up my camera, picked up my tripod and headed out into the snow.  

I was optimistic about being able to get close to the river, because I wanted a shot of the Champlain bridge across the river in the snowy haze.  But no such luck!  The snow was at least 6 - 8 inches deep, and there was no way I could go in there.  I didn't have a lot of time, since I had to get back to my work, so I just put down my tripod any where I could and shot off a few frames.

I'm not totally satisfied with the compositions for a couple of reasons - I had to hurry back, and you cannot really do a lot when you are strapped for time.  I was using my 17 - 50 mm lens, but the snow prevented me from going further back to be able to get more of the scene.  So, I just mostly stayed in one place and did what I could.  Additionally, the snow was getting on my lens and it just didn't feel safe.  So, I packed up after about 10 shots or fewer, and headed back home.  I got some curious looks from the occasional drivers who were brave enough to be on the road - I just smiled back at them, knowing what they might be thinking - what a crazy woman she must be! ;-)

The white blotches in this image is snow on my lens :)

Flying Over Montreal

It was a fabulous surprise when a friend sent me an email asking if I wanted to fly over Montreal with one of their friends, Thierry Zibi!

Thierry is the CEO of his aircraft manufacturing company H. A. I. M. Aviation (http://haim-aviation.com/) , and also flies for pleasure from time to time.  He's designed an ultra-light aircraft that most people can fly for recreational purposes.  Getting a license for flying these birds is much simpler than getting licenses for flying other types of aircrafts.  Thierry's design is soon going into production, he very enthusiastically told his eager and excited audience.

Well, this time Thierry had a couple of available seats in his plane, and I jumped at the offer and went flying with a couple of other friends on a Sunday afternoon.

We were originally going to fly in the early evening, and I was really excited as I thought that I might be able to see the sun set over Montreal.  However, the weather changed, and we had to fly earlier.  Thierry was monitoring the weather very closely, and it was really interesting for me to see him roll down the window every so often to check the cloud cover, enroute to the Lachute airport from which we were to take off.

The sun went behind the clouds, and stayed there for most of the time.  That made the flight better (read cooler and more comfortable since the cooling system in these aircrafts aren't that efficient), and I didn't have to battle the sun flaring through my camera lens.  But I did have a hard time photographing the city below which looked pretty dark, with all the clouds hovering over the city.

But the flight went off beautifully - Thierry educated us on how the radio works, what route we'd be taking, and what we would need to do in order to have a pleasant flight, etc. and we were soon lifting off the ground, for my maiden flight in a light aircraft.

He was a fantastic pilot, and he let one of our friends, Midhun, co-pilot the aircraft with him.  Midhun actually flew us back to the airport and that was pretty neat.  He was an excellent co-pilot, despite this being his first time flying, and we all returned alive, back to the airport.  :=) Jokes apart, the flight was smooth and a dream come true!

More pictures in my Flickr Photostream, if you're interested.

Day 191 - By the Old Port again

I was scoping out the Old Port area to see if I could find any interesting spots for tomorrow's photo shoot.  I know that most of the club members won't show up as they'll be away on a team outing.  But there will be a few who will.  And we're having good weather after a very, very long time and I thought that we should definitely make the most of it.

It was extremely windy and my fingers were frozen.  I didn't have a very thick coat, and neither did I have a hat or a scarf.  However, I still spent a good 45 mins. outside and got a few shots I liked.  the only problem I had was that I wasn't carrying my 18 - 55 mm lens and therefore missed a few more I thought could be interesting.  These shots were handheld and were taken using a C-PL around 3:00 pm; the sun was already pretty low in the sky by then.

They Port Authorities have already moved these piers into storage, I think.  I am certain I saw them out in the canal during the summer.  

55 mm, f/9.0, 1/6s, ISO 100, Manual Mode

I was fascinated by those black.. umm.. thingies.  So, I used my lens as binoculars, but I still can't tell what they are.  However, I got beautifully saturated colours because of the C-PL and I liked the windswept white reed-like flowers in the foreground. 

131 mm, f/10, 1/20s, ISO 100, Manual Mode

55 mm, f/18, 1/100s, ISO 100, Manual Mode

Incidentally, I love these blue tiles and I had been wanting to do this shot for a long time now, but the light or the time I checked it out earlier were never right.  Today it just seemed perfect!  The dappled light really makes the blue pop!  

55 mm, f/4.0, 1/30s, ISO 100, Manual Mode

This image was taken through a glass window.  The C-PL wasn't good enough to cut out all the reflections, so I put the lens right up against the glass and took the shot.

55 mm, f/4.0, 1/13, ISO 400, Manual Mode

I was really pleased with this one as this was handheld on a really slow-shutter and I only added a little bit of sharpening in post.  The colours and exposure are as they were in the original.  I'm pretty proud of this one. 

55 mm, f/4/0, 1/2s, ISO 800, Manual Mode

Day 182 - Breakfast time!

I spent a good half hour photographing sparrows and pigeons at the bird feeder this morning.  Obviously, at the cost of my breakfast.  But it was fun.  I shot these images through the window, but despite the dirt and spider webs on it, I got pretty clear shots. 

I initially started to shoot from a long distance, not wanting to spook the birds.  My balcony is west facing, and therefore doesn't receive much morning light.  Therefore, I had pretty poor light to work with.  On top of that, the brighter background wasn't helping me at all, despite high ISO and slower shutter speed.  So, although I was worried that the flash might bother the birds, I still went ahead and used it - the birds didn't even move a hair!  That was nice!  

Then I got bolder, and sneaked through the kitchen and planted myself within 2 or 3 feet of the window.  The shots got better.  And the Fall colours in the park in front of my balcony really created a great background for the shots.   

I had a great time doing this.  I will now have to find out what winter birds I might get and prepare to feed them as well.  But I'm worrying about the background when the leaves are gone. :(

Day 154 - Fly me to the moon

Day 150 - Indoor portrait experiments

Another photo club meeting activity.  We had to stay indoors because of not-so-nice weather, so decided to use light from different sources to see how the photos turned out.  I have to admit that flash photography is probably not my forte, although I definitely mean to conquer that challenge.  I still prefer the use of ambient light and I hope for my own sake that I learn to use the flash.  Otherwise, winter is going to be a long and boring season with not much to keep me company.

Here are a few before and after shots. I used my on-camera flash at -2 stops to add a little fill light on one, and used a white foam board as a reflector on another.  I was using my 90 mm lens as well, hoping that the f2.8 would help with the low light inside the room we chose to experiment in.

The left frame is with the reflector and the right one is with on-camera flash.

This one was my favourite using just ambient light.  

The photos below are from the photo shoot we did recently with Jim Royal (in the first two pictures below). He was our instructor on how to use reflectors in portraiture.  The location in the first image was a covered area with light shafts coming in through the openings.  We used a silver reflector to catch the sunlight and then used a foam board to catch the reflection bouncing off the silver one to direct it to the face.  This helped soften the strong reflection of the silver one and created a beautiful smooth light.  

The one below was taken with the subject standing with the sun to the right of the camera, and a reflector to the left of the camera.  I didn't really like the yellowish cast which I found too strong, and therefore decided to change this to B&W.  I think I like this much better.

This one was with the subject facing away from the sun, with a reflector held just below the face, outside of camera frame.

Day 93 - Another spectacular dusk, but I was in a hurry

Taken with the 55 mm end of my telephoto lens.  Missing the wide angle view.

I tried to blur the main subject her and kept a small part of the foreground in focus.  

Day 79 - Panning

I have to admit these photos were taken yesterday, but I took so many of them, I figured I could cheat for a day.

Practising this for my flying bird shots - I clearly need to spend a lot more time on this.  Ambient light was very low, since these photos were taken in the lengthening shadows after 7:30 pm in cloudy conditions, so I had to use a very high ISO to be able to crank up the shutter speed.

I hadn't realized then, but now I see the reflections of this group of people standing and watching the birds.  Would have been nicer if my bird had been in sharp focus.

Day 78 - Looking down from Mont Royal

Day 74 - Night lights across the river

I didn't get very good shots this evening.  I didn't have my tripod and I'd just gone out to get a breath of fresh air after dinner.  I had to crank up the ISO very high since I had to hand hold the shot, but of course there's still a lot of camera shake besides a lot of noise in the picture.  Doing some night lights is on my agenda, but not quite sure when exactly that's going to happen.

And I also happened to notice the bugs on treetops when I was snapping the moon.

Day 73 - Playing tourist

Most noteworthy event for the day was that I finally managed lens flare and used it to create a star (photo #5)!  

Day 72 - Montreal at night

I'm really behind on my postings.  This is from last Saturday when I went and spent a couple of hours walking the streets of downtown Montreal around midnight.   I got a few buildings but I mostly found the storefronts really interesting.  All the shots were handheld, of course.