MONTREAL IN MAY
Back in March I had thought it would be a good idea to take another workshop with Patrick Laroque whom I've been studying on and off with over the last year. May seemed like a long way off in March. But here it was, May 5th. There was so much going on at work, at one point I was going through my head how could I possibly cancel this thing.
This time though, Alice and I were going with Maximilian and Solomon. Max was just back from his first year at Quest University and while I was going to be tied up in the workshop during the day, it would still allow all of us to be together as a whole family again. Regardless of my uncertainty, this trip was going to happen. So we piled into the Tesla and off we went.
This was also our first road ride in Alice's new Tesla S. It would be fun to experience the Toronto-Montreal journey driving in an electric car. I have to admit some nervousness as we went out. What would happen if we didn't calculate the battery life properly? I didn't want to get stuck in Timbuktu with the Tesla charging for 12 hours using some strangers 110V home outlet. Thankfully that didn't happen. We "filled up" in Kingston, then an extra stop in Cornwall which seemed prudent when the car's display informed us that we needed to drive under 110km/hour to make it to Montreal. Better safe then sorry (our trip back to Toronto we drove the whole way at 110km/hour and only had to stop once in Kingston).
The next morning Patrick arrived at our hotel, Hotel Alt in Griffintown, with his trusty Fuji X100T hanging around his neck and an X Pro2 in his camera bag just in case I could be tempted to give it a try (oh yeah).
First order of the day was an espresso so off we went to find a café and yes, it was already my second one of the day. It was probably 10:30 before we finally hit the road but it felt good to be outside, have my camera in hand and talking life and photography with Patrick.
I explained my recent disinterest in picture taking to Patrick and of course he understood fully. The need to make pictures just seems to come and go in me. I think it's my fear of not having anything unique to say in photography. There's just so many images today, does the world really need another amateur posting their images?
Perhaps I'll always feel that way, only time will tell. After a couple of days though I did feel re-energized. Being able to see is such a gift and like most gifts it needs to be nurtured. There's nothing automatic about it for me, it's just like working out, the more you do it the better your results. That's my take-a-way. I just need to remember it.
SHOT WITH FUJI X100T, X-PR02
