Rain Day

Today started off in a flurry of excitement. As Nalin and I stepped out for her morning walk, there was a small raccoon taking a nap on our front steps. The chase was on. Thankfully, I have learned from experience and didn't try to grab the nylon leash as it was spooling out like fishing line in Jaws. I got a bad burn last year when we first got the leash. She got the critter up a tree by the time I caught up with her. It couldn't have been more than a year old. But it was ready to take Nalin on. After I had pulled the dog 15 feet down the street she finally turned and fell in line with me - for ten seconds. Two squirrels came zipping out of a front yard just ahead of us and she was gone again.

We had some really intense weather last night and it was clouding over to get ready for some more. I finished the walk quick and took the camera bag back to the house. Ran back out to get a few groceries and stop at the thrift store a block over. That is where I usually buy my books. Two fifty a paperback and three fifty for hard covers. And the selection is always turning over because the place has seven locations and they do swap outs.

Today as I went in and started combing the shelves, I noticed that the paperbacks had all been reduced to $0.99. Score! The hardcovers were down a buck too. I got 9 books for twelve dollars and all of them were authors that I have ongoing collections of.

By the time I had trucked over to the supermarket, the rain was starting and the wind was coming up. Time to make a coffee, grab one of the books and go find a big chair.

Orange Maple with Shoots

This photo was one of those instances where taking more shots was better than taking one. I took three shots in Aperture Priority mode and they had great coloring and detail on the foreground leaf. I toggled the f stop up and took one more.

I have gotten used to being a better safe than sorry type, and make a habit of taking a couple of pictures in Manual and one in full Auto if my subject is reasonable still. It takes 10 seconds if you already have your Manual settings ready.

In the case of this photo the depth of field AV shot was nice, but the new shoots budding from between the leaves was not fully in focus, and the shadow of the shoots was lost. The Manual shot was much better and balanced the scene closer to what was intended. As usual, click on the photo for a larger view.

Crimson Sappling

One of my favorite times of day is early morning, before the sun has burned off the dew, before the grass has started to stand up straight and before the two legged destroyers have brought their wrath upon spiderwebs. You are never truly awake until you become victim to the old eight legged money shot.

I always take my camera along on early morning dog walks. I pick my battles and don't even think of taking it out of the bag before the 1km mark when she calms down a bit. And trying to steady the lens with a big plastic leash in your hand has its challenges. Do all of the shots turn out? Not even close. But if I stick with it I can usually get one or two good photographs before the dog decides to turn for home. As always, click on the photo for a larger view.

The Marble Game

My in laws have an interesting coffee table game. It is a game called Solitaire that is played with marbles. it's official name is the Duke of York Solitaire game and the rules are explained here.

I have always wanted to get a nice photo of it because the marbles are really colorful and the contrast with the wood and glass is nice. A couple of weeks ago I finally got the shot I wanted. Taken in Aperture priority mode with the camera sitting directly on the table next to a set of sliding doors for lighting. Another one that makes me happy. Click for a larger view.

The Church on Church.

For me, one of the focal points of the Verdun borough on the Island of Montreal, has always been Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs church on the corner of Wellington and De l'Église streets. One of the tallest non residential building in this part of the city, its two bell towers are always the silhouette highlight of colorful sunsets. I managed to get out yesterday and get a couple of exterior shots of this landmark and, as they have open houses often, I hope to return in the future to catch the evening sun coming in through the stained glass panes.


The following history of the church was borrowed from:
http://www.uquebec.ca/musique/orgues/quebec/ndsdouleursv.html

The church

The parish of Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs (Our Lady of Seven Sorrows) is detached from St. Paul parish in 1899 after the church has been destroyed by fire. In the prospect of paying for rebuilding a chuch that is located far from their home, some parishioners requested a new parish be established and to build their own church. Bishop Paul Bruchési, archbishop of Montreal, agreed with their request within one month.

The parish commissioned Joseph Venne, a well known architect for his excessive enthusiasm, so that he will, one more time, show his talents. According to the style of the day, the church is huge and magnificent. The architect, who is known for mixing various architectural styles, builds a Baroque styled interior and a Néo-classical styled exterior.

The barrel vault was painted by Louis-Euatache Monty. The altars, in Carrara marble and stucco, were produced by Daprato at the cost of $32,000, a huge amount of money for the time. The high altar measures 42 feet (12.8m) high by 25 feet (7.6m) wide and weighs 10,000 pounds (4536kg). The Virgin statue and the angels are also made of marble. The Last Supper and the chapiters of the pillars are of the same gilded and engraved bronze used on the doors of the tabernacles. The mosaics are made of Florentine glass and Vatican enameled glass.

The construction debt was completed repaid by 1924. On the same year, a drive to cover the cost of acquiring and installing bells in the towers yields an extra $15,000. The bells were cast by Paccard, in France. An 18-bell carillon is installed in the bell towers.

In 1929, magnificent glass windows depicting the mysteries of the Rosary were installed in the sanctuary.

The front steps are a regular congregation place of locals out for a stroll or running errands any day of the week. I really hope I do get the chance to photograph the interior soon.

Depth of Field

One of the things that has always amazed me about photography is depth of field. Once I had a handle on how to manipulate the different elements of the camera in Manual mode, my goal was to to learn to take depth of field photos not just by accident, but on purpose. The first couple of pictures are examples of getting depth of field pictures in Auto mode by getting a tight focus on an object and hoping it turned out.




By the third month with the camera I was ready to start trying to take some shots in the AV mode, adjusting the aperture value to get the desired amount of depth of field.
This little bird turned out OK, but the color is washed out. I should have gone up a couple more stops from 8 to 11 or so.


And finally five months in, the first Aperture priority shot that turned out exactly as I envisioned it. Not the most interesting subject matter, but it made me happy.





Now that this last element was in place I was ready to start taking photos confident that I knew how to tell the camera what I wanted them to look like.

Wellington Sidewalk Sale

I will continue with the learning curve posts soon, but I had to take advantage of some great weather and a Sidewalk sale a block away. Most of these were taken in Manual mode, ISO 100, 5.6 f stop and just playing with the shutter speed to adjust for shots in the shade. The first one was taken ƒ/ 7.1 to bring out the blue in the sky.







I will probably have more new stuff this weekend as it is supposed to be another stellar day tomorrow and the Tour De L'Ile bike race is taking over the island on Sunday. Should be good practice for the Sports mode and telephoto lens.