Montreal

[Andrew O'Neill]

If you've never been, you should go. I've been here since Thursday. What a great city! Photographic possibilities abound. Great food, great vibe. I'm living in the wrong city!!

[Jody_S]

Montreal is also one of the safest cities in the world.

[bob carnie]

Not for Maple Leaf Fans.. go leafs go.
Montreal is also one of the safest cities in the world.

[Greg Y]

"Montreal is also one of the safest cities in the world."... not if you were Pierre Laporte...

[Pierre 2]

Montreal is indeed a very safe, colourful, vibrant city :-)

Andrew, looking forward to your pictures !!!

Pierre who will still very soon if only shortly visit one or maybe even the greatest destination of them all...

[mrred]

Montreal is also one of the safest cities in the world.

Unless you have to deal with drivers....

[Jim Andrada]

Or try to use GPS on a rental car (if you can afford the Canadian rental car rates)

Re the GPS problem - there are some duplicate street names and addresses in the city and it's easy to wind up at the wrong one. As we pulled up in front of a warehouse instead of our hotel the damned thing announced that we had reached our destination. So we called the hotel and they stayed on the phone for 45 minutes and talked us to the right address. They said on occasion they have to go and drive a guest back because the guest is so stressed by winding up in a seedy commercial area late on a dark rainy night. Only place I've seen where GPS is more useless is Boston.

But it is indeed a great place with wonderful food and lots of history.

[Tim Meisburger]

I was there last month with my daughter looking at universities; alas with only a 35mm. I developed that film this morning before I went to work, and will scan it tonight. I enjoyed Montreal, but hear it is cold in the winter...

[Oren Grad]

Unless you have to deal with drivers....

I'm in Montreal now. The drivers do seem to be a bit impatient, even as far as waiting for pedestrians making permitted crossings... there are signs all over the Ville-Marie arrondissement (downtown) warning drivers and cyclists to watch out for each other.

Good town for photographing graffiti!

On the off chance that any other Forum folk from some other place might be visiting within the next few days, there's a Horst show at the McCord (Rue Sherbrooke Ouest, just across from the main quad at McGill), that runs through the end of this week. I skipped it, though - not a huge Horst fan myself.

While a cousin was showing us around the neighborhood where his dad grew up - east of Mont Royal - we stumbled across a hole-in-the-wall, old-style used camera store - cases overflowing with film cameras and lenses, mostly vintage '40s-'80s. Lots of 35mm, but also some medium and large format and movie equipment. It's called "Cinemonde", located at 113 Ave du Mont-Royal E, near the intersection with Saint-Urbain.

[Michael R]

Andrew, glad you're enjoying the visit, but don't draw any conclusions as a tourist.

Best,
Michael

[Fred L]

compared to Toronto and area drivers, I like Montreal traffic better. I find the drivers have a more European sensibility when behind the wheel. It may appear to be bedlam but everyone has a feel for what other drivers will do. In Toronto, it's a crapshoot as many drivers simply have no clue. No right on reds does suck tho.

and hit the Mile End for great bagels (Fairmount get my nod)

[cikaziva]

i am in Montreal last 9 years its really nice place to be but hard place to earn money, specially when you are in visual arts...
@ Oren Grad place you talk about is also known as Mike's. Owner is a really nice fellow and he actually shoots and shoots 4x5
@ Tim Meisburger its really cool that McGill and UCAM Universities still have running foto labs for students and non student who pay 25$ a year. i find it really nice that they offer this to kids, to have fully functional photochemical laboratory to explore.

[Fred L]

...McGill and UCAM Universities still have running foto labs for students and non student who pay 25$ a year...

McGill has darkrooms for non students ? How did I not know this ? Would be great to process film on the road if this is still available.

[cikaziva]

@ Fred L : lab is bit run down but still working. its located in basement of Student building, on a main campus. chemistry is fresh and there is a lot of BW stuff. they have two 4x5 beselers but everything is dirty and misaligned. as for a film processing there are several rubber tanks with frames, 3010 and bunch of metal tanks... nothing to write home about but when you are a kid its rally more then bunch of us had. i will dig out contact for person in charge BTW i think he is a forum member as well. if you are in MTL and you want to process 4x5 stop by my place :)