Montreal In Pictures

July 6 2012

Following yesterday’s colorful post of stairs, doors, windows and balconies on Le Plateau, the majority of today’s pics seem rather dull in comparison.

I found myself on rue de la Commune in the old port late this afternoon where many of the old warehouses overlook the Saint Lawrence seaway. Although now the home to restaurants, boutiques and lofts, the numerous faded signs hint to their previous owners’ businesses. For a while I have thought about photographing each sign for prosperity, today became that day.

But before I bombard you with bygone days and faded company signs, I’ll start with some pictures of trapeze artists.

I was fortunate in my timing to be in the area as a free trapeze demonstration was taking place as part of the Montréal Complètement Cirque festival that opened on Wednesday. I missed the beginning of the show, but managed to grab a few shots of the trapeze artists doing their thing high up in the air.

Flying Trapeze artist
ISO 400 – 180mm – f8 – 1/1250 sec

Silhouette of Trapeze artists
ISO 400 – 195mm – f9 – 1/3200 sec

Ready to take flight
ISO 400 – 300mm – f8 – 1/800 sec

I have room, grab hold of this
ISO 400 – 80mm – f8 – 1/1000 sec

Where’s Superman when you need him?
ISO 400 – 220mm – f8 – 1/1000 sec

It was fun shooting the flying trapeze and I hope they perform regularly during the festival so I get the chance to photograph them again.

Okay, back to earth so to speak and some old signs…

Old business signs on rue de la Commune
ISO 400 – 34mm – f11 – 1/1000 sec

Racine sign on rue de la Commune
ISO 400 – 80mm – f5 – 1/400 sec

61 Country Shipping
ISO 400 – 34mm – f11 – 1/250 sec

Old business signs on rue de la Commune
ISO 400 – 24mm – f11 – 1/160 sec

The Standard Paper Boxes old business sign
ISO 400 – 21mm – f11 – 1/200 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

Old business signs on rue de la Commune
ISO 400 – 18mm – f9 – 1/200 sec

85
ISO 400 – 45mm – f9 – 1/320 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

Import
ISO 400 – 70mm – f8 – 1/100 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

Navigational Supplies
ISO 400 – 80mm – f5 – 1/400 sec

Old Oil Lamp Business Sign
ISO 400 – 78mm – f5 – 1/400 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

Old business sign on rue de la Commune
ISO 400 – 70mm – f5 – 1/320 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

Currie and Co business sign
ISO 400 – 90mm – f5 – 1/1600 sec

Another Curry and Co sign with modern addition
ISO 400 – 70mm – f5 1/320 sec

Old Business sign on rue de la Commune
ISO 400 – 42mm – f5 – 1/1250 sec

Old Montreal has different designed street signs compared to other parts of the city. I’m happy the city actually made an attempt to have street name signage that matches the environment.

Rue de la Commune street sign
ISO 400 – 180mm – f5 – 1/640 sec

For those interested, here is a standard Montreal street sign.

I managed to catch a couple of street shots between looking for and shooting the signs. The mother and daughter passed by me and I noticed they both were wearing striped dresses….and bargain, I got to include another sign 😉

Striped mother and daughter
ISO 400 – 85mm – f5 – 1/320 sec

Enjoying a beer and a good book
ISO 400 – 70mm – f5 – 1/80 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

FedEx driver with his feet up
ISO 400 – 100mm – f5 – 1/800 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

Matching Orange Vespa’s
ISO 400 – 26mm – f25 – 1/40 sec

Not sure why I took the Vespa’s at f25, but I was kneeling in the middle of the road on a blind corner and think I panicked when I was nearly hit by a bike and turned the wrong dial by mistake.

Okay last shot of the day. I noticed a nice sailing ship setting out from the harbor toward the Saint Lawrence seaway with Habitat 67 in the background, so of course had to grab a photo. But also worth noting is the big motor yacht parked up in front of Habitat 67.

Sailing boat, Habitat 67 and Luna the Mega Motor Yacht
ISO 400 – 48mm – f32 – 1/160 sec

The 115m mega yacht is called the Luna and is owned by Russian Billionaire Roman Abramovich…and this is just one of his yachts 🙁 If I was to get an invite to visit the yacht, I might just become a fan of Chelsea football club ;-).

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