To kick off the new Project 52 (where I plan to take a picture at least once a week throughout the year), I ventured out yesterday (Jan 6) into another snow storm and grabbed some shots up on avenue du Parc and Parc Jeanne-Mance.

I’m pretty sure some people who are still waiting for the city to remove the snow from their street after the mega storm of December 27 were discouraged to have another 5-10cm, but for those who love the snow (me included) it made everything nice and white again.

For this week’s image I selected a traffic light on Parc avenue set against a backdrop of snow covered trees. With hindsight I should have shot the light when it was green to convey the start of a new project, but this was taken on my way to brunch and I needed my coffee badly 😉

Traffic light in the snow
ISO 100 – 230mm – f11 – 1/90 sec

As with my 365 Project, I will likely be posting more than 1 shot and despite the fairly heavy snow falling while I was out on my mini photo walk, I managed to get quite a few shots yesterday.

This next one is looking down avenue du Parc toward the city skyline. I’ve shot from this location a number of times, but I liked how the skyline was almost obscured by the falling snow.

Montreal skyline softened by snow
ISO 100 – 70mm – f9.5 – 1/125 sec

The next shot was taken out of focus on purpose 😉 I’m keen to experiment with taking pictures that are out of focus which provide the viewer with enough context of what the image is of, but allows for some ambiguity. I’m not sure this really does that, but I still quite liked the outcome.

Walker in the blizzard
ISO 100 – 300mm – f5.6 – 1/350 sec

Given there was a mini blizzard at the time, I was happy that a shot I took of the Hospitalières de Saint Joseph dome on avenue des Pins actually came out quite clear.

Hospitalières de Saint Joseph dome
ISO 100 – 185mm – f5 – 1/500 sec

This kid was certainly happy to see more snow. I didn’t make it as far as the hill on the corner of Parc and avenue du Mont Royal, but I guess there were a lot of other kids (and adults) enjoying a sunday out with their toboggan’s.

Playing under the gaze of the George Étienne Cartier monument
ISO 100 – 165mm – f5.6 – 1/180 sec

I thought I would try to capture some of the colourful playground apparatus on Parc Jeanne-Mance against the almost monochrome backdrop of snow and trees.

Playground in the snow
ISO 100 – 135mm – f4.8 – 1/350 sec

Playground in the snow
ISO 100 – 140mm – f4.8 – 1/250 sec

If you have followed the Montreal in Pictures blog for long, you will know I always jump at the chance to capture a bike. This one had obviously been left for a while as it was almost completely buried by the snow storm of the 27th. I may have to go back at night and re-shoot this when the street lamp is on.

Buried bike in the snow
ISO 100 – 70mm – f4.8 – 1/500 sec

For those who follow hockey (or not), you will likely have heard the BIG news yesterday that the NHL lockout is likely over following a 16 hour negotiation between owners and players representatives. Good news for downtown businesses that have been affected by drop in business from the lack of games…

Game on
ISO 100 – 70mm – f4.5 – 1/500 sec

To view images in gallery format, simply click on one of the images below.

It was good to be out shooting again after a few days off. Maybe this week I will head on over to the Ice Village which opened for business last weekend.

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.

– Martin

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