I’ve been a bit lapse posting blog updates recently, so today I’m playing catch up and have a number of shots taken during the last week of March – when we were still complaining about the snow. I’m glad to report that it seems like spring is finally deciding to arrive – albeit slowly. I’ll begin with some shots taken during my walk down in the Old Port on March 25.

Rue McGill
ISO 100 – 70mm – f9 – 1/320 sec

Montreal skyline from the King Edward Quay
ISO 100 – 18mm – f9 – 1/250 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

March 25 was a few days after Montreal received about 10-15cm of snow and the Old Port around Bonsecours Basin was looking particularly beautiful with the fresh covering of snow.

Montreal skyline from Bonsecours Basin
ISO 100 – 34mm – f6.3 – 1/250 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

Marché Bonsecours
ISO 100 – 18mm – f6.3 – 1/250 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

Marché Bonsecours
ISO 100 – 30mm – f6.3 – 1/250 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

Clock Tower
ISO 100 – 80mm – f5.3 – 1/2000 sec

Aldred building on rue Notre Dame
ISO 100 – 21mm – f9 – 1/40 sec

Winter wasn’t ready to quit yet though, and following a few nice days, we received a bit more snow on March 30…

Late spring snow – Rue Jeannne-Mance
ISO 100 – 195mm – f5.3 – 1/400 sec

Corner of rue Saint Urbain and ave des Pins
ISO 100 – 70mm – f5 – 1/250 sec

Keeping an eye on the alley
ISO 100 – 70mm – f5 – 1/200 sec

The Yellow and Blue house
ISO 100 – 26mm – f6.3 – 1/320 sec

Red Doors
ISO 100 – 70mm – f5 – 1/160 sec

A peak inside City Hall

I had never actually been inside Montreal City Hall until a few weeks ago.   Unfortunately I didn’t have my tripod with me (I’m not sure they allow them anyway – something to check for a future visit) so I had to shoot at a high ISO on this visit.

The City of Montreal Council Chamber
ISO 800 – 10mm – f4 – 1/400 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

At the back of the chamber are five wonderful stained-glass windows representing religion, the port, industry and commerce, finance, and transportation. Unfortunately you can’t enter the chamber itself, so I had to make do with shooting each from the doorway, so the angle wasn’t great…but you can at least make out the nice representations on each window.

Stained glass windows in City Hall

There was a small exhibition of work by the great Canadian artist, director and short film animator Frédéric Back in the Hall of Honour. Sadly Back died at the end of last year at the age of 89, but his amazing work will continue to be enjoyed long into the future. I only took one shot of the exhibition – some drawings from his 1987 Academy Award winning film The Man Who Planted Trees. I will need to revisit when there is no exhibition to get some shots of the hall of honour – hoping that they allow me to use a tripod to get some nice HDR shots.

Frédéric Back drawings
ISO 1600 – 18mm – f5.3 – 1/125 sec

In addition to The Man Who planted Trees, Back also won an Academy Award for his film Crac in 1981. I found them both on YouTube, so if you haven’t seen them (or been meaning to see them again), I encourage you go grab a coffee and enjoy some great ‘old style’ animation.

Crac

The Man Who Planted Trees

This has reminded me that I really must go and shoot the stained glass wall at Place des Arts Metro Station that was done by Frédéric Back in 1967.

I still have some shots to share from last week, but I hope to be caught up to the present day before the end of the week 🙂

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.

– Martin

Montréal in Pictures Your virtual guide in and around Montréal  

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