TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY

I could see these pictures being part of a free touristic brochure or magazine on Montreal. The adjacent area of the Musee des beaux-arts with is collection of sculpture who invites you to come inside. Lively Chinatown, where you can immerse your senses in colors and smells. The classics and typical Montreal foods that you can’t find anywhere else.

Travel 01

From an early morning walk, trying to capture the artistic surroundings. Taken at, f/11, 1/200.

Travel 02

Taken in Chinatown with a 10-20mm wide angle at f/5.6, 1/800, ISO 200. Notice the freshness of the products that makes it look like to be arrange for a publicity shot.

Travel 03

Taken at”La Belle Province” on St.Jacques west.  Told them that they better make it nice because I’m going to take a picture of it for a school project. So they arrange it in a breakfast plate instead of the usual plastic for lunch. I used an 85mm prime at f/1.4, 1/160, ISO 200 to get that shallow depth of field.

A decisive moment ?.....Lachine FC U17F last game (EVER)

Lac St.Louis Region U17F Gold medal game march 25^th 2013

Lachine FC last game EVER

A decisive moment if there was ever one.  Because of the lack of players willing to register for the upcoming summer season the management of the Lachine Football association decided that the U17F team was folding at the end of winter. At that point the team had already clinched first place and was preparing to move to the playoffs.  On the 18^th of March they beat DDO 2-0 to move to the finale, the girls always hoping that enough players could be found to save the team.  But then the official announcement came, the championship contest would be the last game ever for the team.

On the 25^th of March 2013 in an emotional and hard fought game the Lachine FC U17F beat the LaSalle Rapide 4(1)-2(1) in shootout to close the book on their history with a gold medal.

The following celebrations we’re full of mixed emotions for the girls and their parents. Joy and sadness, laughing and crying, all the players hugging each other for the last time.

There will be a huge party this summer to celebrate the achievement.

For those who still want to play they have to find themselves another team, going thru try-outs.  My daughter Melanie was picked by the Dollards Dragons AA team.

The soccer life goes on.

The game was played inside at Catalonia in low light situation. I could not use my flash during the contest so shooting f/1.4 at high ISO was the norm. For the after game I used my flash. It was the type of fast sport photojournalistic situation. Even the team photo with the medals had to be taken in less than a minute. You see that when for example the Stanley cup is won. Players are everywhere; things are happening all around you and nobody wants to stay in place. As for permission, I was asked to shoot the event and post the result on the internet.

The 3 old ladies and the hungry guy

For the street photography I was shooting with a wide angle from the hip. It’s stressing but fun because you are never sure of the results. I saw the guy eating chips approaching in my direction but I was not looking at him when I push the shutter. The 3 old ladies never noticed that I was taking their picture. Both pics taken with a 10-20 wide angle lens at f/5.6 1/800 ISO200

Extra

A montage created with the cup photo

ALP1-A2 ARCHITECTURE INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR

The stats.:

Raymond Nardozza-01.jpg    :  Concordia University

Nikon D90 manual mode / Nikkor 18-105mm                                   f/18.0      0.3       ISO200*

Raymond Nardozza-02.jpg     :  Maisonneuve Fire Hall 

Nikon D90 manual mode / Sigma 10-20mm Wide Angle                     f/7.0     1/400     ISO200

Raymond Nardozza-03.jpg    :  Westmount library interior 1

Nikon D90 manual mode / Nikkor 18-105mm                                   f/22.0      4.0       ISO200*

Raymond Nardozza-04.jpg    :  Westmount library interior 2

Nikon D90 manual mode / Nikkor 18-105mm                                   f/22.0      1.6       ISO200*

*Composite of several bracketed exposures

Concordia University : GE-Research Centre

Concordia University  : GE-Research Centre For Structural and Functional Genomics building

7141 Sherbrooke West, Montreal

The Richard J. Renaud Science Complex has changed the face of Concordia's west-end campus. This state-of-the-art teaching and research facility is a lynchpin of the Loyola Campus revitalization. The $85 million purpose-built complex includes teaching facilities, offices, and laboratories for various science departments. The avant-garde design promotes interdisciplinarity and innovation in one of the top university sciences facilities in Canada. The award-winning building also features energy-efficient sustainable architecture. The Complex includes the former Bryan Building (built in 1968), which has been completely renovated and fully integrated into the new structure.

Two exposures we’re required to balance the exterior natural light and the interior artificial light. The blending was done in Photoshop using layers and masking.  A straight on and level position of the camera on the tripod kept the straightening work to its minimum.

THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT INFLUENCE PART I & II

THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT INFLUENCE PART I

Maisonneuve Fire Hall, 1914

485, avenue Létourneux, Montréal

MARIUS DUFRESNE

Because Marius Dufresne was running the then municipality of Maisonneuve, he could allow himself such architectural amusement as this fire hall à la Frank Lloyd Wright. Dufresne must have been impressed with the novelty of Wright’s Unity Temple (1906) in Oak Park, Chicago. The fire hall is basically the same design, except that the main auditorium has been doubled with the halves joined together by the tower needed for drying the fire hoses. The hall now houses the Théâtre Sans Fil, a troupe specializing in giant puppets. 

The only way to get a full shot of a long building like that on a narrow street was to use my ultra wide angle lens. For this shot I tried to get to the higher available point of view to minimize distortions. Still a lot of post production was required to straighten up lines and removing modern artifacts, returning the building to somehow its original look. 

THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT INFLUENCE PART II

The Westmount Public Library Interior

4574 Sherbrooke West, Montreal

Robert Findlay : original building, 1899

Peter Rose : renovations and extensions, 1990-95

The Westmount Public Library celebrated its centennial in 1999. In the 100 years since architect Robert Findlay’s vision was made reality, his building has been restored and expanded. A children’s pavilion was added to the original building in 1911, and a south addition was constructed in 1924. The interior was refurbished and modernized in the mid-30s and the Annex, which would later house the children’s collection, was built in 1959.

A major restoration and expansion project was completed in 1995, which returned the Library to its former glory. The Library retained its physical link to the Greenhouse and Conservatory. This link was extended west in 1999 to Victoria Hall.

Robert Findlay (1859–1951) was a Canadian architect. He was born in Inverness, Scotland, and moved to Montreal in 1885. He won the competition for the first Sun Life Building, and was the architect for the project, which he began in 1890. The Sun Life company left this building for its current location in 1913.

Findlay cultivated an extensive practice, working in later years with his son, Frank. He designed many homes for Montreal merchants and businessmen, including the Bronfman family and the Molson family. Many of these homes were in the "Golden Square Mile" and in the city of Westmount. Many of the Golden Square Mile homes he designed were later purchased by McGill University, including theMortimer Davis House (now Purvis Hall). He also designed the Calvary Congregational Church in Westmount (1911), located at the intersection of Greene Street and Dorchester Boulevard, but was demolished in 1961. He was also responsible for Mull Hall (1916), (later known as Stewart Hall) on Lakeshore Rd, and for the Hallward House (1925), later the Martlet House, now home to McGill's Faculty of Medicine administrative offices.

Certainly not Robert Findlay’s responsibility but rather Peter Rose conception, the interior feel of this reading room is definitively Wrightian. To me the wood furniture of this room is an integral part of the surrounding architecture and I tried to integrate them in my compositions.  The Images are a dynamic composite of several different exposures. On the first one I shot to the corner to give a sense of space. On the second one I integrated the table into the composition as a leading line to the window.

Extras

These pictures didn’t make it to the final cuts for various reasons but I would like to share them with you anyway.