During my brief walk around the Old Port of Montreal the other day when I took some pictures of the cruise ships – Crystal Symphony and AIDAbella – I was stopped in my tracks by the clouds that were developing over the Montreal skyline.

At the time I was walking across the large open space on the Jacques-Cartier Pier. As is normally the case here, there were plenty of seagulls milling around and it so happened that while I was taking a shot with the wide angle lens one flew into shot. Unfortunately it didn’t consider my depth of field setting and so wasn’t in focus, but I liked the resulting shot, particularly after giving it some tweaks in Lightroom and blowing out the sky for a more sinister look…

I could play with this image quite a bit more, but here is another rendition, more gritty and without blowing out the sky in the background providing a bit more detail in the skyline.

 

Another bird wanted in on the action, but not wanting to get quite as close  – for all I know it may have been the same bird, but this time trying to be accomodating and be a little more in focus…

Another shot from the same angle (this time with no birds getting in the frame) with some yellow tinting – guess with Halloween approaching, I’m entering a dark phase in my post editing style.

 

It had rained in the morning and there were quite a few puddles of water on the quay. Like a duck is drawn to water, photographers often are drawn to puddles…I am no exception to the rule and I was happy to find a large enough puddle that allowed me to shoot the skyline reflection, although it entailed me lying down and getting the camera as close to the water as I dared…

 

 

The final shot for today is of the elevated walkway on the Quai Jacques-Cartier. What I particularly liked about this shot was the lonely figure looking at the distant clouds gathering.

Despite all the dark clouds it didn’t actually rain, which was good since I was able to stay and shoot for longer – shots I will be sharing in the next few days.

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.

– Martin

Montréal in Pictures

Your virtual guide in and around Montréal

 

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