I took this image a long time ago, in Valleyfield, fencing qualifications for the Quebec winter games of 2011.

As many other images in my reserve, it was sleeping there until today, it clicked, I finally got the processing figured out in my head.

Camera: Nikon D90

François Meehan

During the last Quebec winter Games, while I was assigned at the women’s weightlifting competition (girls between 13 and 17 years old), there was one aspect of the technique that fascinated me.

During a lift, for a fraction of a second, their bodies were leaving the ground, amazing considering the weight they were handling.

Camera Nikon D90

François Meehan

Lucky me, I had the privilege of being assigned to 2 weightlifting competitions during the last Quebec winter games. What a pleasant discovery for me, photography wise. During a trial, it is amazing to witness the scope of emotions and the athletes expressions, in such a short time span.

Kudos for the magnificent display of determination and courage!

Here is a link to my images that we posted on the official Games Web site, from pages 5 to 8: weightlifting day 5

Caméra Nikon D90

François Meehan

My first day, first photo assignment as volunteer photograph for the Quebec winter games, is over. What an experience.

I shot 5 games of Women hockey. The started at 6:00 to travel to Sainte-Martine arena and ended at 23:00 to upload my selection. I estimate having taken about 1500 images. On the lot, I gave about 40 to the game committee and kept 5 for my blog.

It was cold and humid in the building, I am a wreck this morning, what a great this has been. It is not easy ligthing conditions, we can’t use flashes. You feel a great shot coming, you freeze the golden moment just to realize a player passed in front of the lens at the same time Still, I have some great shots out of it.

A million thanks to my friend John-Robert who lend me his Nikkor 80-200 2.8 lens, that is “PRO” material, unbelievable quality, wow!

How do you like my Cerberus?

I be back at it Wednesday and Friday, this time, Men’s hockey.

By the way, here are my images that were selected by the games committee (the first 6 pages)

http://hiver2011.jeuxduquebec.com/galerie_officielle/index.aspx?m=11-2&cat=9&subcat=28&page=1

Camera Nikon D90

François Meehan

Nice ride on bike this afternoon, well wrapped with “tuque and winter gloves” as what maybe the final ride for the year.

This is why, I want to take a moment, call it a pause and thank my best buy of the year: “my Bike”.

I bought it on impulse while searching for a bike in the category “cool and sturdy” like, able to resist to Montreal streets. It was love at first sight.

I have done many kilometers this season, it was a blast, a fun way to keep the shape as well as a wonderful tool to explore new places in terms of photography.

It is a real image machine. I have done a couple of modifications on it, such as new grips, rack-bag system,

I also added a Cat Eye mini computer ride system. As far as training stood for, on average I was doing 3 rides of 26k (around Ile-Perrot) and a long ride during the weekend.

By August, rides of 100 k a day, became accessible.

Nikon D90
Location: Under the bridge of road 20 at Pincourt-Dorion level
Exposure : 1/500
Aperture : f/2
ISO: 400
Focal length : 50 mm (75 in DX)
Aperture, PhotoMatix HDR, Topaz Denoise 5, ColorEfex pro

And here, shot during our last vacation, one of my best ride of the year, from Sainte-Luce-sur-Mer to Rivière Mitis, approximately 60 kilometers along the Saint-Lawrence see shore.

It’s gonna be a long winter…

And here, shot during our last vacation, one of my best ride of the year, from Sainte-Luce-sur-Mer to Rivière Mitis, approximately 60 kilometers along the Saint-Lawrence see shore.

It’s gonna be a long winter…

Nikon D90
Location: Mitis sur Mer
Exposure : 1/125
Aperture : f/2
ISO: 200
Focal length : 50 mm (75 in DX)
Aperture, Topaz Denoise 5, ColorEfex pro

François Meehan

Sunday last, Valérie was invited to play with the Vaudreuil senior woman team. Valérie is 18 and the “senior” ladies aged from 19 and up.

Really nifty caliber, girls showing extremely strong technical skills. Vaudreuil won the game 4 – 1, it was a great game.

Valou played beautifully…

Photo side, it is not that I have become lazy in changing my lens on the D90, I am seriously in love with the 50mm 1.8. Can’t get it off.

Nikon D90
Exposure : 1/100
Aperture : f/2.8
ISO: 1000
Focal length : 50 mm (75 in DX)
Aperture, Topaz Denoise 4, ColorEfex pro

François Meehan

Experimentation night, while assisting to my daughter Val’s most recent soccer game, my idea was to create artistic sport photography via motion blur, while using the iPhone as the camera, which is the last thing you want to use for fast moving subject.

I took a ton of shots to keep only 2 and then I had a great time in post production.

By the way, Val scored a beautiful goal with her head, a gem. Her team won 4-2.

Camera iPhone

François Meehan

While coming back from a long solitary bike ride on the canal de Soulanges , I noticed a strange scene. A group of young persons were working on a wooden ramp right beside the water and another guy was preparing to launch his small BMX cycle (fitted with pieces of foam) toward the ramp.

Wow! Wait for me please!

There is just one little problem. As a personal photo challenge, I sometimes like to go for an outing with only one lens. Whatever happens I will have to live with the results. That day, I selected the LensBaby composer, cool lens but its totally manual, no autofocus and I have 1 minute to get ready.

This is really not the lens for this type of job.

All right, I’ll shoot by instinct with a little prayer to the photo gods.

Finally, I think this was just the right lens for the job

Nikon D90
Exposure : 1/1250
Aperture : f/2.8
ISO: 160
Focal length : 50 mm
Lentille LensBaby Composer
Aperture, Topaz Denoise 4 and Adjust 4, Nik ColorEfex pro

François Meehan

This picture was taken in Valleyfield, a few weeks ago, during the qualifications for “les jeux du Québec”.

As the organizer allowed me to get close to the action, I choose to use my faithful 50 mm lens. That way I had plenty of light and was able to use a decent shutter speed (1/500 of a second) to freeze the movement.

Nikon D90
Exposition : 1/500
Ouverture : f/2.4
ISO: 1000
Longueur focale : 50 mm (75 en DX)
Aperture, Topaz Denoise 3 et Detail, Nik ColorEfex pro

Bad news… My D90 is in a bad shape, the rough landing on the sidewalk was damaging. The base of the body is cracked. No DSLR for at least 3 weeks. And the invoice might be hard to swallow.

As I said before, photography is a dangerous sport, this time the wallet will be the victim.

François Meehan