June 28 2012
First, apologies for the late posting of yesterday’s images due to getting back late from the opening night of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. This year the opening act on the main TD stage was none other than Montreal’s own Rufus Wainwright.
Anyone not familiar with Rufus, he is a member of a musical dynasty that includes his mother Kate McGarrigle (who died of cancer aged 63 in 2010), father, aunts and sister Martha Wainwright. Martha and other family members joined Rufus on stage mid-way through the set.
There was a large crowd (as always for the opening show) present that filled to overflowing the Esplanade de la Place des Arts from the start of the concert at 9.30. Although I got there about 15 minutes before the show began, I was only able to get to about 100 feet in front of the stage before hitting a solid mass of bodies. Still, I managed to get a few reasonable shots using the 300mm lens, despite being grainy due to high ISO required.
Rufus Wainwright at the Montreal Jazz Festival
ISO 2500 – 300mm – f5.6 – 1/125 sec
Rufus Wainwright at the 2012 Montreal Jazz Festival
ISO 2500 – 300mm – f5.6 – 1/200 sec
Rufus Wainwright at the 2012 Montreal Jazz Festival
ISO 2500 – 260mm – f11 – 1/200 sec
Rufus Wainwright at the 2012 Montreal Jazz Festival
ISO 2500 – 230mm – f5.6 – 1/125 sec
Rufus Wainwright at the 2012 Montreal Jazz Festival
ISO 2500 – 200mm – f5.3 – 1/100 sec
Rufus Wainwright at the 2012 Montreal Jazz Festival
ISO 2500 – 300mm – f5.6 – 1/1000 sec
Backing singer performing with Rufus Wainwright
ISO 2500 – 300mm – f5.6 – 1/320 sec
Rufus’ sister Martha Wainwright
ISO 2500 – 270mm – f6.3 – 1/160 sec
Prior to going to the TD stage to see Rufus, I did have time to check out Haitian/Quebec singer Marie-Christine performing on the Rio Tinto Alcan stage.
Marie Christine at the Montreal Jazz Festival 2012
ISO 1250 – 10mm – f4.5 – 1/80 sec
Marie Christine at the Montreal Jazz Festival 2012
ISO 1250 – 82mm – f4.5 – 1/320 sec
Before calling it a night, I headed over to the far side of the festival site to the Scène Bell to see Hess is more. Danish musician Mikkel Hess covers a wide range of styles from Scandinavian folk to electronic. The few tracks I caught were pretty cool and I plan checking out his music more.
Hess is more at Montreal Jazz fest
ISO 2500 – 220mm – f5.6 – 1/800 sec
Hess is more at Montreal Jazz fest
ISO 2500 – 185mm – f5.6 – 1/1600 sec
Hess is more at Montreal Jazz fest
ISO 2500 – 240mm – f5.6 – 1/400 sec
I plan to make a few visits over the next week, not only to hear some great music, but to work on my technique of shooting concerts.
To view images in gallery format, simply click on one of the images below.
Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.
Martin
12 Comments
Saw Rufus at the Royal Opera House in London last summer, his family joined him onstage then, too. A pretty great performer, I hope you liked it! I’m actually off to the Ottawa Jazzfest tonight — you’ve got to love summer music fests!
Lovely shots — you capture the sparkle of Rufus’ shirt pefectly 🙂
Thanks Katie – Rufus at the Royal Opera House must have been a great show. He was on top form last night. Hope you had a good jazzfest in Ottawa. I plan visiting Ottawa for a day trip in a couple of weeks 🙂 Any hidden photo gems I should know about 😉
Hmm hidden photo gems, eh? Parliament Hill is pretty beautiful from any angle (I think!), but you can get a lovely view of it with the river if you just cross of the bridge to Quebec (near the Museum of Civilization). If you’re staying late enough (the show starts at 10pm) I would really recommend seeing “Mosaika”, the sound & light show on the Hill. It would probably be fun to photograph and it’s pretty cool to see! (http://www.mosaika-sl.ca/) Hope you have a great day trip!
Thanks Katie. Parliament Hill is definitely planned and I will check out the location you suggest. Probably will have left before Mosaika starts, but will make sure not to miss if still in town 🙂
Ooh — go to the National Gallery as well if you can! I think it’s my favourite building in the city. Have a great time!
Your favourite building….now I will certainly make that a priority on the agenda 🙂
Great shots here Martin, very professionally done, keep up the great work, have a good weekend;-)
Thanks Steve. I’m enjoying the many opportunities to shoot concerts (for free) at the moment, so good time to work on my technique. It’s a long weekend again here so it should be a good one…Wishing you a great one and hope the weather is being good for you…I’ve been hearing complaints from over the pond.
Ah! I was so sad I missed this! Thanks for the photos!
My pleasure Elyse, sorry to hear you missed Rufus. I really need to get back down there and shoot some more shows, time seems to be going so quick for the Jazz fest this summer 🙁
Hi! Tom here from Ghostly Tom’s Travels, one of the other blogs on WalkedThru. You seem to be doing for Montreal what I do in Manchester. Have just been looking through your blog and I think it’s awesome. I have seen Rufus Wainwright when he came to Manchester. Great artist. And he premiered his opera here as well as part of the Manchester International Festival. Coincidentally the Manchester Jazz Festival starts today. Hoping to get some pictures while it’s on. Nice to find you. Great blog, beautiful pictures. I am in awe of the the firework ones!
Hi Tom. Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments. I’ll be sure to check out your blog, been a long time since I visited Manchester – though was mainly attending meetings at Sharp UK offices. Sadly the jazz fest has finished here now and I didn’t get down to it as much as I had hoped to, but now we have the comedy festival, so no dull moment here….and lot’s more firework displays to enjoy 🙂