Montreal In Pictures

Feb 16 2012

Today marks the beginning of the 13th edition of Montréal en Lumière (MEL) that runs through until Sunday the 26th February.

The festival is touted as one of the largest winter festivals in the world and includes a diverse program of activities and events that combine performing arts, gastronomy and free outdoor family activities.

The festival culminates in the Nuit Blanche (9th edition) on the 25th, inviting locals and tourists to some 180 mostly free activities, all linked by a free shuttle service. Montreal in Pictures plan on sharing some of the sights from the evening here.

Anyway, back to tonight. Being opening night, I headed down to the Place des Festivals to try and catch some of the light projections and activities that will be on display in the free outdoor site for the duration of the festival.

Out of the many images I shot, this was the one selected for the shot of the day:

Ferris Wheel, Montréal en Lumière (MEL)

So you can have an idea of the places mentioned, here are the maps of the free outdoor site area and attractions.

MEL – Place des festival map

MEL – Place des festival esplanade map

The first attraction I came upon was the Ferris wheel. A good opportunity to experiment with some long exposures. In addition to single frame long exposures, I also worked on trying to do some 3 bracket exposure HDR’s but found the single shots were the best course when working on them in post.

Ferris Wheel, Montréal en Lumière (MEL)

After shooting the ferris wheel from what seemed like every angle possible, I popped over to the Urban Milk Slide.

Urban Milk Slide – Montréal en Lumière (MEL)

Lining up for the Urban Milk Slide – Montréal en Lumière (MEL)

I thought I would try to capture some sliders as the came hurtling down the track, but I need to go back as my shots didn’t come out as well as I had hoped…here’s the best of a bad lot.

Urban Milk Slide – Montréal en Lumière (MEL)

On the Esplanade de la Place des Arts next to the entrance for the slide there are a couple of interactive activities for the kids…The Milk girls were pretty cute 😉

Montréal en Lumière (MEL) kids activity area

Some shots from around the festival zone.

Montréal en Lumière (MEL)

A silhouette show – Montréal en Lumière

One of the great things about festivals in Montreal is that the City seem to relax their opposition to “street meat” vendors within the festival area. The Grumman 78 burrito green van is now a common sight at many festivals held during the year in Montreal.

Lining up for some tasty Grumman Burritos

Appears that Brasserie T still have their Christmas decorations up outside and so thought I would try to get some nice bokeh shots.

Attempt at some Bokeh outside Brasserie T

Brasserie T on the Place des Festivals

The final shot of the night was taken behind the F Bar en extérieur looking towards the Place des Arts Metro entrance.

Behind the F Bar en extérieur

Despite getting a picture of pretty much everything in one outing, I’ll likely head down there again before it ends.

Before signing off, just want to give a shout-out for two of my favorite tattooed girl singers who will be appearing during the festival:

Béatrice Martin (AKA Coeur de Pirate) who is appearing at The Metropolis on Feb 24th – Sold Out 🙁
Brigitte Boisjoli who is appearing at Club Soda on Feb 23rd – tickets still available as of writing

Here are the images in gallery view.