When I travel by myself for the singular pleasure of taking photographs for no good reason I always try to put together a "wish list" or "tentative agenda" for each day. I rarely put more that five things on my list but I'm generally happy if I get around to actually completing three. Sometimes the first thing on your list turns out to be a gold mine of fun and visual stimulation and in those cases I think you'd be a bit insane to want to abandon that and compulsively move on with your check list.
The list is more a motivational device meant to move you from that quiet moment of enjoying a just delivered latté from the balcony of your hotel room out onto the streets and, if you are in a hurry, into the Metro. My list for one day in Montreal might include: 1. Marché Jean-Talon. 2. Climb up Mt. Royale. 3, Go to the big plaza called The Esplanade. (It's a vast outdoor space that connects all of Place des Arts' show venues at the Quartier des Spectacles. It's an immense public gathering space at the heart of the Quartier des spectacles) . 4. See all the Metro stations. 5. Have dinner at Au Pied de Cochon (I skipped the "duck in a can" and ordered the pork shank....).
But the understanding is that I'm not wed and bound to go to all of the spots on the list. They are by way of suggestions. One that particular day I did the first two things on the list and then went totally off script and explored neighborhoods. But the list was there if I came up short.
I did go out one day to see Metro stations. I was inspired by a young YouTuber/Photographer named Yvonne Hanson who went around to see which Metro stations she thought were most architecturally interesting. Seemed like a good project to me so I gave it a try. Since the entirety of a morning would be spent traveling through tunnels, corridors and medium sized stations I thought I'd ditch the M240 and depend solely on the Q2 for the morning. It was a good choice. I guess "wide" is generally a good choice for the interior spaces of industrial locations.
Since the whole Metro/Mass transportation thing is mostly novel and unknown to Central Texans, who are near wholly dependent on their cars and trucks I didn't have a real handle on how to shoot this particular topic so I did what photographers everywhere do; I winged.
Traveling around with just the Q2 is really freeing. The 28mm takes some getting used to but it's a sweet lens and sharp everywhere. With a nearly 50 megapixel sensor and the crop lines for 35mm, 50mm and even 75mm you can punch in and see how your composition will look and then, in post your can crop down to the exact parameters you saw initially in the finder. Sure, cropping to the 15 megapixels of the 50mm frame or the 7.5 megapixels of the 75mm frame isn't going to be optimal for the making of large prints but for web use, and when under composition duress, it's nice to have options --- or at least guides. Optical "training wheels?"
I've been on Metros in Rome, Paris, Berlin, London and NYC and I think Montreal has the very best system. No trash, no graffiti, no bad smells, no pushy crowds and very helpful staff. Every ride was perfect. I will admit I don't think I'll ever sneak shots of people in the train cars. Doesn't seem fair. Like shooting fish in a barrel. Not my cup of cappuccino.
The Q2 and the M240 with the 50mm make a nice combo. Just wish they both took the same battery type. That would be so cool.
