Category: Photos of Canada

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Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Sailing through ice on the St. Lawrence River.

Two ferries across the ice in front of Quebec City and Lévis winter 2024
Two ferries across the ice in front of Quebec City and Lévis winter 2024

The photo above shows two ferries shuttling between Quebec and Lévis through the ice in winter 2024. It doesn’t take much to immobilize a ferry in ice, but this year the layer is fairly thin due to a very mild January.

Practicing for the canoe race at the Quebec City Carnival 2024
Practicing for the canoe race at the Quebec City Carnival 2024

Taking advantage of a ferry crossing that has cleared a section of the St. Lawrence River, a crew is training for the Quebec Winter Carnival’s ice canoe race, which takes place every year between Quebec City and Lévis.

Ferry crossing the St.Lawrence Seaway near Quebec City in winter 2024
Ferry crossing the St.Lawrence Seaway near Quebec City in winter 2024

Above, the ships continue their work at dusk. The routes recently taken by the vessels can be seen. I took the photo from the Dufferin Terrace   with a tripod-mounted Canon 5 DSr camera.

Click on the link for more Winter photos of Quebec City and Île d’Orléans on my blog.

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Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Photography in the Jacques-Cartier national park.

First accumulation of snow and ice of the river. Jacques-Cartier national park, Québec 2023.
First accumulation of snow and ice of the river. Jacques-Cartier national park, Québec 2023.
Jacques-Cartier National Park during a light snow shower, Québec 2023.
Jacques-Cartier National Park during a light snow shower, Québec 2023.

Every week brings a slight change in the vegetation and snow cover of Parc national de la Jacques-Cartier. Earlier this week, I was there as a light snow fell on the region. The ice doesn’t yet completely cover the river, but you can see in the first photo that it now surrounds the rocks in the middle of the stream.

Click on the link for other pictures of the province of Quebec on my blog.

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Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Pointe-au-Père and L’Islet 2023

Musée maritime du Québec in l'Islet 2023
Musée maritime du Québec in l’Islet 2023

While in L’Islet, a stop at the Musée maritime du Québec is a must. Above, the icebreaker Ernest Lapointe, responsible for clearing the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Trois-Rivières for 37 years.

The Bras d'Or hydrofoil at the Musée de l'Islet
The Bras d’Or hydrofoil at the Musée de l’Islet

Also on the grounds is the famous HMCS Bras d’Or. This hydrofoil was created in Canada during the Cold War to monitor Canadian waters against possible Soviet submarine intrusion. As this museum boat explains, “it was compulsory to have a dual pilot’s licence for aircraft and navigation in order to operate this self-supporting winged craft“.

HMCS Onondaga submarine museum in Pointe-au-Père, Québec 2023
HMCS Onondaga submarine museum in Pointe-au-Père, Québec 2023

A little further east, we reach Pointe-au-Père, in the Rimouski region. Here you’ll find Canada’s only submarine museum.Visitors can tour the interior of the HMCS Onondaga, used until 2000. Travelers pass through 17 stations to learn about life aboard a submersible.

Inside the canadian submarine HMCS Onondaga in Pointe-au-Père
Inside the canadian submarine HMCS Onondaga in Pointe-au-Père

The mechanic worked for periods of two months at a time, monitoring the engines in this noisy, diesel-smelling environment. A German spy disembarking from a submarine at night in Gaspésie was spotted in a bus because it smelled strongly of diesel.

Empress of Ireland museum in Pointe-au-Père, Québec 2023
Empress of Ireland museum in Pointe-au-Père, Québec 2023

Above, a shot of one of the rooms in the Museum of the Empress of Ireland. Her sinking in the St. Lawrence River was the second most costly in human lives after the Titanic. Among all the objects recovered from the wreck is this porcelain skeleton that one of the passengers had in his cabin.

Skeleton head found in the Empress of Ireland
Skeleton head found in the Empress of Ireland

Click on the link for more photos from the province of Quebec on my blog.

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Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

November in the parc national de la Jacques-Cartier.

Parc national de la rivière Jacques-Cartier, province of Quebec 2023
Parc national de la rivière Jacques-Cartier, province of Quebec 2023

In November, in downtown Quebec City, green still predominates on the grounds of properties, even if the trees have lost their leaves. But a short twenty-minute excursion north to the Parc national de la Jacques-Cartier reveals the arrival of winter.

Jacques-Cartier river, November 2023.
Jacques-Cartier river, November 2023.

Fifteen centimetres of snow already cover the ground and, after kilometer 10 in the park, the road becomes inaccessible to cars. At the main kiosk, there’s a large parking area for those wishing to continue on foot along the surrounding trails. You’ll come away more relaxed, and with a few photos.

Click on the link for more photos from the province of Québec on my blog.

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Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Rivière-du-Loup region 2023

Kamouraska and the St.Lawrence river 2023
Kamouraska and the St.Lawrence river 2023

The photograph shows a view of the fertile land along the St. Lawrence River in the Kamouraska region. A public observatory allows visitors to admire the panorama.

Sea kayaking on the St.Lawrence Seaway near Rivière-du-Loup
Sea kayaking on the St.Lawrence Seaway near Rivière-du-Loup

In the evening, in Rivière-du-Loup, these two kayakers enjoy the tranquility of the St. Lawrence River as they indulge in their favorite sport.

The St.Lawrence Seaway seen from Rivière-du-Loup
The St.Lawrence Seaway seen from Rivière-du-Loup

This HDR shot of a unit at the Auberge de la Pointe in Rivière-du-Loup features seven superimposed photos, for a total of 354 megabytes of data. This ensures that the sky is correctly exposed and that the rooms in the foreground are not completely obscured.

Orange rocs in Rivière-du-Loup
Orange rocs in Rivière-du-Loup

Near the Rivière-du-Loup – Saint-Siméon ferry, the rocks here and there take on an orange hue. It’s a nice contrast to the blue sky.

Ferry towards St-Siméon in the province of Québec 2023
Ferry towards St-Siméon in the province of Québec 2023

The journey takes us to Saint-Siméon on a calm seaway. A Canon EF 11-24mm F/4 USM wide-angle zoom lens captures the scene without exaggerated distortion.

Île-aux-Lièvres and the St. Lawrence river, Québec 2023.
Île-aux-Lièvres and the St. Lawrence river, Québec 2023.

Above, Île-aux-Lièvres from the ferry. The multiple cloud layers create streaky effects on the St. Lawrence River.

Auberge la Châtelaine Saint-Laurent, La Malbaie 2023.
Auberge la Châtelaine Saint-Laurent, La Malbaie 2023.

Here’s a shot of one of the corridors of the Auberge Châtelaine, in La Malbaie. One of the reasons to stop by is the excellent breakfast included after a good night’s rest. No fat bacon or greasy potatoes here: just homemade bread and jams.

Click on the link for more photos from the province of Québec on my blog.

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Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Photos of Quebec City in summer

The bar Ste-Angèle in the evening in Old Quebec.
The bar Ste-Angèle in the evening in Old Quebec.

On a late summer’s day, these citizens from Old Quebec chat peacefully under the Ste-Angèle bar’s wall-mounted luminaire.

Citizens of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste district en route to the opening of the Festival d'été de Québec 2023
Citizens of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste district en route to the opening of the Festival d’été de Québec 2023

As the day draws to a close, many residents of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste neighbourhood head to the Plains of Abraham for the 2023 Quebec City Summer Festival.

The Scott grocery store in Old Quebec.
The Scott grocery store in Old Quebec.

The setting sun hits the side of these Quebec City buildings, creating two areas of very distinct luminosity. Such extremes pose challenges for the camera. By using a Raw file rather than a JPEG, it’s much easier to correct the brightest and darkest areas.

Relaxing in Old Quebec.
Relaxing in Old Quebec.

In the summer of 2023, a South Korean tourist takes a short break in Old Quebec after a busy day of walking inside the ramparts of the old city.

Click on the link for more photos of Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Summer on my blog.

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Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Old Quebec in Summer.

Summer 2023 in Old Quebec.
Summer 2023 in Old Quebec.

Some companies organize themed guided tours of Old Quebec at dusk in summer. The guides dress up in costume and regularly follow the same routes. With a little patience, a lantern-wielding person can be included in a photo, as well as the old stone houses and the Château Frontenac. This adds another interesting detail to the scene.

The picture above presented several challenges, some of which have been solved. Ideally, the HDR method would have provided a better control of luminosity, but the hostess holding the lantern would have disappeared in the process carried out by the Photomatix software. This person played an important role in the scene, so I decided to take just one shot, but in RAW format to optimize the sky light correction in post-processing.

I wanted to use the smallest aperture possible to get a precise focus from the foreground to the Château Frontenac. But due to the lack of adequate light and the movement of people towards the camera, I had to maintain a sufficient shutter speed, even at ISO 6400. Unfortunately, the aperture suffered a little.

So, this is a photo full of compromises, where you do the best you can with the situation and the photographic equipment available.

Click on the link for more Summer photos of Quebec City and Île d’Orléans on my blog.

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Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Video game characters in Old Quebec.

Something new in Old Quebec.
Something new in Old Quebec.

During a photography session in Old Quebec, at Place d’Youville, I met this group of young people dressed as characters from a video game they like. I find it quite charming and entertaining. It’s important to think outside the box and not be afraid to express what drives you the most.

I saw them a few hours later at the Dufferin Terrace as tourists insisted on having their picture taken in their presence.

Click on the link for more photos of Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in the Spring on my blog.

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Photos of Canada

A vintage Cadillac in Victoria

The two pictures below show advertisements for cars that were found at the time in various magazines.

Old advertisement of a big american car
Old advertisement of a big american car
Old advertisement of a Pontiac Bonneville american car.
Old advertisement of a Pontiac Bonneville american car.

These old representations of a new car favored very bright colors to catch the reader’s eye and increase the chances of a sale. In the two photos above, red and orange are found on cars, buildings, dresses, faces, etc.

Vintage Cadillac parked in Victoria, British Columbia
Vintage Cadillac parked in Victoria, British Columbia

When I spotted this old Cadillac in 2018 in Victoria, British Columbia, the two previous photos came to mind. Again, several elements of the same red and orange colors are found in the photographic composition: the Cadillac, the motorcycle, the umbrellas, the post office box, the chairs and tables, and even part of the menu. It almost looks like an artificial set-up for an upcoming advertisement!

Click on the link for more photos of Canada and Québec on my blog.

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Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

The end of Fall in Quebec City

End of Fall forest in Québec City
End of Fall forest in Québec City

There are only a few leaves left in the trees of this clearing in Quebec City, but the scene retains all its charm. The broken tree cuts the landscape diagonally and guides the eye to the center of the photo where a small pond reflects part of the blue sky.

For me, this peaceful place represents the opposite of what we keep seeing as a standardized representation of autumn, without losing interest.

Click on the link for more pictures of Quebec City in Autumn on my blog.