Yesterday afternoon I took a trip over to Île Sainte-Hélène for a walk around Parc Jean-Drapeau. It was a beautiful clear day but a bit on the cold side. I had hoped some clouds may roll in for a nice sunset, but mother nature didn’t submit to my wishes.

It was late afternoon when I arrived and I started my tour at the main car park not far from La Ronde amusement park. At this time of year the car park is deserted and since there was a light fresh covering of snow I thought it would make for a nice image with the Jacques Cartier bridge in the background.

Car Park on Île Sainte Hélène
ISO 100 – 10mm – f4.5 – 1/8000 sec

Next, I made my way up the hill to the Levis tower.

Tour de Lévis
ISO 100 – 10mm – f4 – 1/320 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

The sun was still pretty high in the sky as I made my way back down to the edge of the Saint Lawrence river. I paused to grab a shot near the sculpture – La Ville Imaginaire (1997) by Charters de Almeida. I thought the stop sign would make for a nice spot of colour in the shot.

Arrêt
ISO 100 – 85mm – f7.1 – 1/800 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

Since it was still very bright, I attached my ND filter in order to get some long exposure images down by the river. I had hoped there would be more ice given the recent cold spell, but there was only a narrow band of ice next to the bank.

Although it looked pretty thick, given the fast flowing river I wasn’t going to risk stepping too far from the bank. This time of year always reminds me of when we were snow kitesurfing a few years back and we had a lucky escape of managing to scramble ashore just as the sheet of ice we were on broke away from the shore…I wasn’t wanting to re-live the experience of being up to my neck in fast-flowing freezing water.

Ice beach
ISO 100 – 85mm – f10 – 4 secs

I wanted to get a close-up shot of a block of ice and with a long exposure having the water blur in the background. Shooting into the light it was nearly impossible to see the back screen of the camera, so it was a bit hit and miss. Of the few attempts I made this was the sharpest I managed.

Water and Ice
ISO 100 – 85mm – f3.2 – 1 sec

Ice land
ISO 100 – 85mm – f8 – 4 secs

I would have liked some larger chunks of ice to photograph as a foreground to the Montreal skyline, but I only came across this one that had some interesting shape to it and the semi translucent parts that had a nice glow to them in the fading light..

Clock Tower
ISO 100 – 85mm – f8 – 4 secs

There was hardly a cloud in the sky, except for one that appeared directly above Habitat 67. It didn’t stay for long, so I was glad I had happened to see it when I did and get a shot.

Habitat 67 smoke signals
ISO 100 – 125mm – f8 – 1/500 sec

One of my favourite spots along the shore is beside the Concorde bridge.

Montreal Skyline beside the Concorde bridge
ISO 100 – 20mm – f5.6 – 1/160 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

And from a slightly different angle…

Montreal Winter Skyline
ISO 100 – 20mm – f5.6 – 1/160 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

My fingers were beginning to lack feeling, so rather than hanging around to get some night shots of Montreal from across the Saint Lawrence, I decided to call it a day and head back to the metro.

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.

– Martin

Montréal in Pictures

Your virtual guide in and around Montréal

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