I came to Montreal (Tiohti:áke) from Ho Chi Minh City during the summer of 2020 to start school at Marianopolis College. Whiles I had traveled to Montreal for 2 summers in the past it is only until now that I have actually experienced living here through all its seasons. Although, it has been an interesting journey to say the least, as it’s my first time living in a western country; Therefore I had to adapt to a new way of living quite quickly (Even though I had to spend most of my time indoors due to lockdown restrictions in 2020).
As a foreigner in Montreal, I had to adapt to the bilingualism, climate, social customs, and street life in comparison to those back home.
But as a photographer, these changes have completely changed the way I approach street photography and how it has changed me for the better!
So in this post, I’ll be talking about how it has affected me photographically and how I deal with these changes (and why I will probably move back to Asia).
1. Streetlife
The streets of Saigon were always very exciting to me, it’s always very hectic and fun to explore the city from morning through night.
But in Montreal, everything seems very distant and quiet in comparison.
There are way fewer stores, shopping malls are on the decline, and usually, they close very early (especially during winter). Therefore especially at night, things can pretty quiet unless you are at the heart of downtown.
The streets are also quite wide. making buildings and people feel pretty distant from each other, although I can’t deny it is great for social distancing and there is more space to breathe.
What this means for a photographer is that it is harder to feel more intimate with the human subject, and it is more challenging to get more emotional types of shots.
As I’m using a Ricoh GR, having a 28mm lens means that I have to challenge myself more to get close to the subject and have them stand out more on the image.
Therefore I often contemplate on getting a longer lens for a7ii (maybe 35 or 50) so that I can further separate my subject from their environment,
2. Languages
Growing up in Vietnam the only languages that mattered were Vietnamese and English, so I can say that I have proficient knowledge in those languages. It was only when I realise that I could go to Montreal to study, I took French lessons l. Although I was good with general writing, reading, and listening skills, it was hard to actually speak French fluently because I was honestly too shy to do so.
But coming to Montreal, being a bilingual city, I had trouble interacting with the locals because probably around 30% of the population can only speak French. Whiles that seem like an odd in my favor, it is enough to disincentivize me to try and talk to locals (especially of older ages) with my shyness and limited French-speaking level.
Interacting with the public is one of the many to approach street photography, as we may want to ask a stranger to take their photos; Like telling them how their clothes look nice or they have a cool look to their face.
Or even deal with confrontations; Like trying to apologize and telling them why you took their photos.
Most people would be okay to have their photos taken if you were to be able to talk and explain to them, therefore it’s not easy to do so if there’s a language barrier.
Although if they do catch you taking a photo, smiling and nodding usually works 🙂
3. Social customs
I’m used to shooting in the streets of Saigon, where the people usually don’t mind having their photos being taken.
But moving to a western country, I find that my experience varies more to the extremes. I’ve experienced a lot more confrontations and more weird looks when I take a photo of people. I think this just boils down to the different societal norms here, where everyone is a lot more individualistic and is more concerned about free speech and consent (which I have no problems with).
Needless to say, I experience a mild cultural shock!
But what this boils down to for a photographer who is not experienced with confrontation, especially not being able to speak the language, it’s less incentivized to just take photos of strangers. As people would just easily accuse you of invasion of privacy (even if we’re on public property), and threaten that they’ll call their lawyers.
Therefore, I had to take a different approach to my photographic style by taking photos from a further distance and being more candid about the way I use my camera. I had also switched from a Sony a7ii to a Ricoh GR so that it looks less intimidating for the subject and they would likely not notice me (although that’s just one reason for the switch).
4. Snowy Winters
I have only lived in a city with 2 “seasons”, a dry and a rainy season.
In Montreal, although there are technically 4 seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter), although it feels like snow falls right into the month of spring (from December right through April).
This may be because I’m Asian and used to the constant hot weather in Vietnam because I absolutely HATE when it’s snowing. Because of the extreme cold temperatures (down to -40 degrees), I have to wear extremely thick coats, gloves, and boots and try not to slip on an invisible patch of ice.
But as a street photographer, all these factors were detrimental to my photography in many ways: The thick clothing and slippery roads have restricted my movement, thereby I’m not as agile on the camera; Especially wearing gloves makes it difficult to press the shutter button.
The evening also gets very dark at well, where the sun sets at around 4:30 and in addition to the heavy snow it’s not easy to navigate through the city.
The extreme temperature also means that there are just fewer people and on the streets, which means there would be a lot less interesting activities that would be fun to photograph. People would also be covered up more, and with everyone wearing basically the same clothing the subjects have become a lot more monotonous.
As a result, I would not be able to go for hour-long photo walks, and to the point where I don’t feel motivated to go outside at all, for days.
I currently have no solutions to photographing in the winters, although it has given me more motivation to shoot during other seasons, as well as the appreciation of when it’s sunny outside.
Final Note
This whole article may seem to be of me complaining about Montreal because I’m a foreigner who loves his homeland.
Because it is, but it hasn’t always been that way. I always wanted to escape Vietnam because I was getting bored of living there for 16 years. But living here made me realize how much I took Saigon for granted because I was blinded by the negative.
But I think it was a move much needed, in terms of improving my views on Saigon, and my views on life.
I got to experience diversity at its fullest, benefiting from capitalism (Amazon next day shipping was a huge shock to me), and got to improve my confidence when interacting with the public. So for the remainder of my stay here, I will just try to take as many photos here, continue to go out of my comfort zone, and interact with strangers (whiles improving and preserving French);
And only when I am able to capture these beautiful memories, I would be content with my stay here.
Now to you: How is/was your experience living in Montreal as a foreigner? In terms of photography? And if you plan to live in Montreal, what are you excited about discovering?