Last week I took the metro to Parc Jean-Drapeau. I had planned to go and shoot the Autumn colours around the little lakes with the Monet styled white bridges below the Levi tower, but I ended up walking directly to Île Notre-Dame.

I was hoping that there would be a nice sunset, but as the afternoon wore on, I had the sense it wasn’t going to be very colourful. Fortunately my trip wasn’t going to be in vain though. As I neared the far western side of the Gilles Villeneuve race circuit the sun was casting rays through a line of clouds above the Farine Five Roses sign.

Farine Five Roses under sun rays
ISO 100 – 220mm – f5.3 – 1/200 sec

For the next shot I attached a ND filter to take a long exposure so as to smooth the fast flowing Saint Lawrence in the foreground. In post I pulled back on the shadows and blacks to create the silhouette.

Farine Five Roses in silhouette
ISO 100 – 70mm – f6.3 – 25 secs

Farine Five Roses
ISO 100 – 260mm – f5.6 – 1/60 (-2ev/0/+2ev)

There was a brief moment when the sun appeared from behind the clouds and literally illuminated the line of trees along the rivers’ edge and a soft light fell on Mount Royal.

I had just enough time to grab a standard shot and a long exposure before the magical light disappeared.

Montreal skyline
ISO 100 – 70mm – f4.5 – 1/80 sec

Glowing trees beneath the Montreal skyline
ISO 100 – 70mm – f4.5 – 30 secs

While I was on Île Notre-Dame I took a quick detour through the gardens near the Casino. I did think of going to the beach, but I was running out of time, so that will have to wait for my next trip (maybe next week while there is still some autumn colours). The colours and reflections were quite nice from one of the bridges near the Jamaican Pavilion of the 67 World Expo.

Autumn reflections on Île Notre-Dame
ISO 100 – 35mm – f3.2 – 1/100 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

I stumbled on a spot I had not come across on previous visits. It looks like you can probably hire kayaks here in the summer, although by the look of it, I’m not sure if you still can.

Sun Chairs on Île Notre-Dame
ISO 100 – 35mm – f2 – 1/1250 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

Kayak mural
ISO 100 – 35mm – f3.5 – 1/160 sec

I will revisit this spot again soon and spend more time wandering through the Floralies gardens on Île Notre-Dame and shooting the numerous works of public art that I have yet to photograph.

With the clock ticking, I decided it was time to head back to Île Sainte Hélène. I stopped to take a few pictures of the Biosphère (I’ll be sharing those in a future post) before heading to the path that runs alongside the Saint Lawrence river. While I was in the vicinity I wanted to get a few evening skyline shots of Montreal. I’ll post the results in another post, but to keep with the theme of this post of the Farine Five Roses, here is a long exposure taken from the waters’ edge. I waited until a bus drove across the Concorde bridge so as to have some trail lights.

Farine Five Roses at night
ISO 100 – 165mm – f11 – 15 secs

Hopefully I will get the opportunity to revisit Parc Jean-Drapeau next week while Autumn still makes this a must visit spot at this time of year.

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.

– Martin

Montréal in Pictures

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