Oddities and Whatnots

Things you might see around the city. A photo walk with an old friend on a beautiful sunny day.

All photos were shot with a Pentax K-5 DSLR mounted with a Sigma 17-50mm F2.8 EX DC HSM lens.

"Fast Money"

"Do You Believe In Signs?"


"From A Dog's Perspective"

"The Only Moose Crossing Guard's House In Town... Not Really"


"Oh! Yeah, That Old Place"

"Wall Tattoo"

"Shadow of a Doubt"

"Always Look At The Big Picture"


"The Orange Booth"


"Scews"

"On The Corner"

An Evening Golden Hour Photowalk

A "golden hour" photowalk in the city on a beautiful Monday... 'til later at night. For this walkabout, I had my Pentax K-5 mounted with the Sigma 17-50mm F2.8 EX DC (OS) HSM.

Photos edited in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

"The Man With Flowers" ― Phillips Square, Montreal.

The Hudson's Bay Company retail store (left), as seen from Phillips Square, Montreal.

"The Golden Towers" ― Phillips Square, Montreal.


Phillips Square, Montreal.


Christ Church Cathedral and Promenades de la Cathédrale, Ste-Catherine Street, Montreal.

Christ Church Cathedral (KPMG Tower in the background), Ste-Catherine Street, Montreal

"Matières à reflexion" ― A detail of the Christ Church Cathedral (with the
KPMG Tower in the background), Ste-Catherine Street, Montreal.

Nothing beats a good ice cold beer on a hot day ― at Restaurant Frite Alors!,

Ste-Catherine Street, Montreal.

"The Lonely Diner" ― at Restaurant Frite Alors!, Ste-Catherine Street, Montreal.

"Squeezed Box" ― somewhere on Place Phillips, Montreal.

"The Park Bencher" ― at la Place du Frère-André, Montreal.


"R2-D2... Where are you!?!" ― Somewhere along René-Lévesque Boulevard, Montreal.


St-Alexandre Street (at the corner of René-Lévesques Boulevard), Montreal.

A view of la SAT (Société des Arts Technologiques) from a parking lot, Montreal.


Clark Street, Montreal.

Graffiti on Clark Street, Montreal.

"Vacant lot no. 1" ― corner of Clark and Ste-Catherine Streets, Montreal.


"The Booth" ― Parking lot, Clark Street, Montreal.


"Urban Watercolor" ― Corner of Clark and Ste-Catherine Streets, Montreal.


La Maison Symphonique (Salle de l'OSM), Place des Arts, Montreal.

La Maison Symphonique (Salle de l'OSM), Place des Arts, Montreal.


La Maison Symphonique (Salle de l'OSM), Place des Arts, Montreal.


Complexe Desjardins seen from l'esplanade de la Place des Arts, Montreal.

The Lonely Diner

I was off today, so I went for a photo walk downtown Montreal. When I stopped to grab a bite at a restaurant, I saw this man eating by himself at the kitchen counter. The scene instantly inspired me. So I quickly grabbed my camera and took this shot, as fast and discretely as possible. I happened to have a wide to standard angle zoom lens on my camera at that moment, so getting the right framing was relatively fast and easy.

"The Lonely Diner" ― Restaurant Frite Alors!, Ste-Catherine Street, Montreal.

­‘‘I like this, it's like an indoor piece of street photography.’’ 

 ― kerrowdown, The Pentax Forum

I used to work on the road a few years ago and spent many weeks away from home traveling across the U.S.A. and Canada. Eating alone at diners was part of my everyday routine. The title for this photo, "The Lonely Diner", represents me in a way. I too was once a Lonely Diner.

Shooting wide... In The City

Plateau Mont-Royal and downtown Montreal

Being more of a (concert) portrait photographer, I rarely get a chance to shoot wide angle lenses. When I shoot portraits of musicians performing live, my usual "go to" lenses are the smc Pentax DA* 50-135mm f'2.8 and the smc Pentax FA-50mm f/1.4 lenses. So on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I decided it was time for a "wide to normal angle" downtown walkabout shooting.

The following pictures where taken on my first "photowalk" of the year. I used my trustworthy Pentax K-5 DSLR mounted with a Sigma 17-50mm F2.8 EX DC (OS) HSM. It's actually my first outdoors shooting with the Sigma lens since I got it in fall 2012. I've only had the opportunity to shoot with it a on some rare occasions at indoors concerts and in low light. In daylight, the lens performed a lot better than I expected. Auto focus was very fast and accurate. Pictures are sharp and well detailed. The lens produces some normal distortion at 17mm but things get better as you move towards the long end. The lens is a little on the heavy side, so it's not the ideal walk around lens if you plan on carrying it for many hours on a standard neck strap. I use a BlackRapid RS-Sport 2 (the slim model) slingshot strap and even with that I was tired from the weight at the end of the day. The RS-2 is not the widest at the shoulder, so a wider strap would've been preferable with the weight of the K-5 and this lens. The lens also suffers from zoom creep while walking. The lens has a zoom lock at 17mm to prevent the zoom from extending.

All in all, I'm very satisfied with the result of the Sigma lens. There's nothing bad to say about the image quality and the lens handles quite well.

Photos edited in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

Rue de Maline, Plateau Mont-Royal (near Sherbrooke metro).

A typical scene from Le Plateau Mont-Royal, rue de Maline (near Sherbrooke metro).

"Sooo Montreal" ― Plateau Mont-Royal (backstreet off of rue Drolet, near Carré St-Louis).

Graffitis on le Plateau Mont-Royal (backstreet off of rue Drolet, near Carré St-Louis).

Le Parc Jeanne-Mance, Plateau Mont-Royal.

Le Parc Jeanne-Mance, Plateau Mont-Royal.

Downtown Montreal seen from le Parc Jeanne-Mance, Plateau Mont-Royal
(walking South on l'avenue du Parc).


A nice walk through le Parc du Mont-Royal, Montreal.

The traditional lineup at the world famous Schwartz's Deli
 (3896 Saint-Laurent Boulevard, Plateau Mont-Royal).

Nothing better than an iced latte to finish it off at Café Dépot on Ste-Catherine Street
(Complexe Desjardins - Montreal).