The photography team at the Montreal Gazette takes hundreds of photos every year, and not all of them land on a printed page. Here, they look back at 2020 with a selection of their favourite previously unpublished images.
Sept. 10, 2020: A lone artist, Martin Regouffre, practices an aerial rope routine at Les 7 Doigts in front of two windows that would allow fans to appreciate his performance.Photo by Pierre Obendrauf /Montreal GazetteMarch 27, 2020: During the first wave of the pandemic, these two neighbours — Ronald Ouimet and Laurine Martin — shared a conversation from their respective balconies at a Blainville retirement home. The red brick wall separating them and the railing keeping them back emphasized the distance we knew we should be keeping from each other.Photo by Pierre Obendrauf /Montreal GazetteAug. 13, 2020: Pierre Senechal’s 18-month-old Parson Russell Terrier was loving the water at Square Victoria in Montreal. What a champ this dog was — the water cold, but he just loved running through the fountain.Photo by Dave Sidaway /Montreal GazetteJuly 1, 2020: This father and daughter were chilling on the water in Lachine, to my photographic fortune. Often when I’m on the West Island, I will take a cruise along Lakeshore Blvd. because you never know … you just never know.Photo by Dave Sidaway /Montreal GazetteApril 10, 2020: During the early days of the first lockdown, people made trips to St-Joseph Blvd. in Lachine to build inukshuk along the shoreline. The Inuit traditionally stacked stones in the form of humans as landmarks.Photo by Dave Sidaway /Montreal GazetteSept. 15, 2020: One of the responsibilities of photojournalists during the coronavirus pandemic is to document the many and varied ways it has affected society. In September, while bars and restaurants were still open, I photographed dancers wearing masks while working at Cabaret Les Amazones. In addition to photographing Aiko onstage, I was able to photograph her and her colleagues in the club’s dressing room.Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal GazetteAug. 29, 2020: I had left a Black Lives Matter demonstration to file photos and wasn’t present when protesters pulled the statue of John A. Macdonald off its pedestal in Place du Canada. As soon as I heard what happened, I raced back to the downtown square and photographed the statue’s head reflected on the rainy ground.Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal GazetteMarch 30, 2020: During a COVID-19 outbreak at the Tosh Jewish community in Boisbriand, all streets into the area were barricaded as the community was put into quarantine. It was a rainy day, but with the synagogue closed, members of the Hasidic group came outside to pray. This man walked down the street under an umbrella speaking on the phone while wearing a mask and gloves.Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette
