At a yard sale, a few years ago, I found a coffee table book about Montreal's Expo 67. I'd leafed through it at the time (for the pictures), but finally decided to read it last week.
L'Expo is a mythic part of our history. It's widely considered a defining moment—for Canada as a whole, but also for Quebec and, more specifically, Montreal. The project, through its offshoots and global success, expanded our horizons, instantly transforming our society. It propelled us, kicking and dancing, into modernity and a vastly wider world. There was a before, and an after Expo 67.
Those are pictures of my dad's Expo "passport", a piece of memorabilia I dug out of a box a while back. So, my dad was there. Which means my mom was surely there as well. And since I'm frickin' old...mayyybe I was there too (this would’ve been in a stroller—I'm not fully decrepit).
I'll never know, but I do remember visiting the "remains" of Expo 67 (Terre Des Hommes/Man and His World) every summer, on regular family trips to La Ronde (the amusement park built near the site as part of the event). I remember the monorail passing through Buckminster Fuller's Biosphere, a lasting symbol of the exhibition and one of the few pavilions still standing. I remember how futuristic and otherworldly the whole place seemed, even years later. Magical.
There are many interesting backstories in the book, but what's most fascinating—and in hindsight a little sad—is its optimism. Like most world's fairs, Expo provided a platform on which countries offered, not just a glimpse of who they were, but a vision of where they believed to be headed. Architecture and design, film and art, all showcased as vanguard, the rising movements that would alter how we built, how we expressed ideas...and how we lived. Wide-eyed and filled with hope. 1967 was our country's centennial; it was also the Summer of Love, the Age of Aquarius...anything suddenly seemed possible.
Some of it came to pass, as we know. A lot of it didn't, as we also know. That new world did emerge, filled with fantastic advances no one had imagined...and terrifying setbacks. Predicting the future is a risky business.
And yet there's an energy in those pages that remains contagious and exciting. Sadness, sure. Knowledge will do that. But reading it still feels like you’re opening a bookfull of dreams.
A testament to what humans can accomplish.
...
So why am I writing about this? Well, I've been grabbing my cameras a bit more lately and, a couple of days ago, that Expo book gave me a jolt. I switched on Multiple Exposure mode on the X-Pro3—something I hadn't done in a long time—and just had a bit of fun.
One note: the first two images below aren't double exposures: I was looking through the viewfinder when the afternoon sun accidentally crashed into my lens, generating the lens flares you see. I merely "placed" them by moving around.
Never stare directly at the sun? Bah.. ;)
P.S I’m writing this on Tuesday November 3rd, 2026—to be published at 1 AM on November 4th. I know nothing of the state of our world. Just closing my eyes today, and wishing for the best.
