Montreal Fireworks
Each summer, Montreal fireworks appear for an international fireworks competition. I thought a photograph of a gorgeous pyrotechnic display against the Montreal skyline might make a delightful photograph for next year’s Edgar Cayce Calendar.
Montreal Fireworks. Photo from the Jacques-Cartier bridge. Copyright 2008 Carol Chapman
The fireworks competition is called the L’International des Feux Loto-Québec. Last night, we saw Austria’s magnificent production which also includes music. I am happy to say that I managed to get at least one excellent photograph, or so it seems, looking at the play-back screen of my Nikon. When I get home and check out the photos on my computer, I’ll know just how well focused they are.
It was a great experience. About 10,000 people attend the event, many of them perched on the Pont Jacques-Cartier (bridge) which spans the mighty Fleuve Saint Laurent (St. Lawrence River).
I loved mingling with all the people. Enjoyed the slightly heighted sense of excitement because of the many police in both cruisers and on-foot who are there for crowd control. Plus the touch of helicopters circling the site for protection against terrorists.
A sudden downpour slowed our progress to the bridge after debarking at the Jean-Drapeau Metro stop on L’ile St. Helene, the location of the fireworks demonstration which is on an island in the middle of the river.
Fortunately, a kindly Montreal couple allowed me to set up my tripod and camera beside their fold-out chairs. John and I arrived an hour before the fireworks but already thousands of people had set themselves up at prime viewing spots against the metal bars which serve as suicide control along the side of the bridge facing the fireworks. I maneuvered the lens between the metal bars disturbing a spider which spent the rest of the evening rebuilding its web between the lens of my camera and the metal bars. I’m afraid I disturbed its efforts when I took the camera and tripod away and packed them up. Fortunately, the arachnid is such a tireless worker.
After the fireworks, we loved the two-kilometer jaunt across the six-lane bridge–with the St. Lawrence beneath us–to the Papineau subway station. Because we were in the last group of pedestrians crossing the bridge, we were escorted by three police cruisers making sure the roadway was clear before opening it to vehicular traffic.
The firewords? Magnifique!!! The volley of explosions creating the last bursts of the finale created canon-fire volume that reverberated through my chest. I hear that the lift-off of the Shuttle reverates through your body. Well, I’ve been on the beach watching the Shuttle take off. Maybe it was because I was closer to the fireworks that I was to the Shuttle, but the fireworks had more of an impact.
Copyright 2008 Carol Chapman All Rights Reserved
