Une voiture de collection Chevrolet Belair 1956 à Québec en 2022.
At the 2022 Quebec City classic car show, the owner of the 1956 Chevrolet Belair above had the idea of including a tray with a meal and bill, as was done in those days. He could have filled his car with gas for the amount we pay today for the same meal and dessert.
Exhibition of antique cars in Quebec City. Chevrolet 1940 Coupe Special Deluxe 2 Doors.
A very nice retired teacher from Saguenay has owned this 1940 Chevrolet Coupe Special Deluxe 2 door for decades. Below, a close-up view showing the details of the wheels. The green color of the neighboring vehicle is reflected on the chrome.
Details of a Chevrolet 1940 Coupe Special Deluxe’s wheel.
Study on reflections on a Chevrolet 1940 Coupe Special Deluxe
I used the reflections on this 1940 Chevrolet Coupe Special Deluxe for the last picture of this series on the old cars of Quebec in 2022. You can see both the walkers in the reflections on the side doors and the photographer at work in the back of the car. It is not a face superimposed on the fender thanks to Photoshop or other software, but the quality of waxing and maintenance that made this result possible.
Cyclists turning for côte Gilmour in Quebec City in 2022
An interesting vantage point to photograph the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec is at the intersection of Grande-Allée and the avenue leading to the famous Gilmour hill. The cyclists are riding at high speed and must brake hard before making a sharp left turn to begin the descent to the portion that will take them along the St. Lawrence River. There are no obstructions for the photographer at this point.
2022 Quebec City Grand Prix Cycliste
To capture the effect of the cyclists’ movement, the shutter speed must not be set too fast, preferably between 1/125 and 1/160. Otherwise, everything looks immobile, even the wheel spokes.
Quebec City Grand Prix Cycliste in 2022
Positioning yourself immediately after the curve allows you to capture a long line of bicycles. You can focus on the cyclists on the right in the viewfinder and leave the line of cyclists around the curve out of focus. To do this, make sure that the chosen aperture will blur the background. It is also important to follow the movement of the cyclists with the camera. If you stand still, all the riders will be out of focus, as the shutter speed is too slow for the high speed of these riders.
Cyclists racing on Grande-Allée in Quebec City 2022
An occasional close-up obtained through cropping allows us to see details that we would otherwise miss. In the case of the photo above, it is clear that not only is the rider in the front relaxed, but he has also recently crashed, with his right arm still in recovery. Sometimes we also see the result of deformities in the knees of cyclists following numerous surgeries.
Quebec City Grand Prix Cycliste 2022
The cyclists want to maintain their position in this tightly packed group that must maneuver in a small space. With a telephoto lens, one can see the facial expressions change as they approach the turn for the Gilmour hill. Note the concentration on the faces of the cyclists in the foreground…
Grand Prix Cycliste in Quebec City in 2022
Following moving cyclists with a camera remains a difficult art to master. Several pictures are taken before a successful one is achieved. Fortunately, film photography is behind us and we don’t worry as much about missed shots. The important thing is to have fun and try to get a little better with each photo session!
Motorcycle policemen lead the convoy bringing the Pope to Old Quebec in 2022.
If you don’t have privileged access, the main difficulty in photographing the arrival of Pope Francis in Old Quebec in 2022 lies in the vague and sometimes contradictory information offered to journalists in an obvious effort to protect the itinerary of the head of state.
You also have to deal with the strong police presence and the barriers that open and close according to the mood of the moment, blocking bicycles and pedestrians long before the Pope has crossed the Saint-Louis gate. As a photographer, you don’t want to find yourself suddenly stuck in a place of no interest.
Other aspects to consider are purely photographic, such as the ambient light and the distance from the subject at the time of the photo, which will influence the choice of equipment carried.
The official convoy arrives on Saint-Louis Street. It is important to know that in the afternoon, the sun crosses directly the axis of the Saint-Louis Street in its slow descent towards the west. If you position yourself along this street to take the picture, there is no physical obstacle, but you photograph against the light a convoy which passes at full speed. The camera sensor does not appreciate backlighting, because it has difficulty evaluating which light takes precedence. The choice of a straight line on Saint-Louis Street is therefore not very interesting.
The crowd greets Pope Francis on his arrival in Old Quebec in 2022.
The Pope’s driver sits on the left (at least in Canada). The Pope will therefore be on the right, whether forward or backward. If one stands in the Place d’Armes, one gives priority to the driver rather than to the Pontiff.
As the sun travels progressively from the axis of St. Louis Street to the west, the tall trees of the Place d’Armes will create a natural veil blocking the effects of backlighting. This will increase the chances of successful photos.
On St. Louis Street, the convoy is moving quickly in a long straight line. The chances of getting a good picture decrease. When the security cars reach the end of Saint-Louis, they have to brake because of a sharp curve near the Château Frontenac. If you position yourself immediately after the curve, the chances of getting an acceptable picture increase greatly.
As for photographic equipment, a camera lens that requires little light will help optimize shutter speed and depth of field, especially in the late afternoon. The Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens offers more flexibility.
A camera with a full-frame sensor will also allow the cropping necessary to magnify the photo without loss of quality. For the photos included in this article, the camera used was a Canon 5DSR.
The riskiest technique which therefore requires a little more experience is to take the picture of the head of state in his car in focus while leaving the outside blurred, to show that the car is moving fast. You follow the car with the camera’s viewer. The closer it gets to you, there is an obvious feeling of acceleration. It is thus necessary to increase the rotation of your body to adjust to the car’s relative speed change. The autofocus does its job as the vehicle approaches.
There is only a fraction of a second where you get a completely clear view of the head of state. A second too early and you only see a portion of the face with a piece of the car, a second too late and you get a three-quarter rear view. A continuous shooting mode becomes absolutely necessary.
Pope Francis arrives in Old Quebec on his trip to Canada in 2022.
An adequate shutter speed captures the face of the head of state accurately and keeps the background blurred. A shutter speed that is too fast makes the whole scene clear and sharp, and the photo loses its dynamism. Too slow a speed and the face lacks definition. There is only one chance to get it right.
So, those were a few ideas to remember if you want to photograph important events in Old Quebec. A prior knowledge of the terrain and of the sun’s position at specific times remains essential if you want to increase your chances of success.
A young girl dances through the water jets near Quebec City’s city hall.
The water fountains near the Quebec City’s City Hall Gardens attract crowds during the summer season. The changing colors of the lights offer many opportunities for night photography.
Patience becomes the first rule when it comes to capturing the scene that will stand out. Usually, children run indiscriminately left and right. But there are exceptions, like that evening when a young girl started dancing through the programmable fountains. She moved quickly, adding more dynamism to the scene. I had to take a chance with a night photo.
As far as the photography technique is concerned, the challenge was interesting. I wanted to capture the feeling of movement in her dance. But this demanded a high shutter speed to avoid too much motion blur. On the other hand, the low ambient light called for a slow shutter speed. Those two requirements were completely opposite.
A Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens mounted on a Canon 5DSR camera was part of the solution. A recycling garbage can positioned near the scene also served as a support for the portable tripod. Both Canon lens and tripod allowed for more light to be captured while avoiding unnecessary vibrations.
However, those two actions would not have been enough to allow the scene to stand out. There were still too many contrasts between light and shadow. A digital image processing software facilitated the use of the essential data included in the RAW file of the photo, revitalizing the background while diminishing the foreground’s highlights of the water jets.
Some purists lose sleep over the idea that contemporary photographers use digital processing software to get a better picture. When a RAW file contains 50 million megapixels and you refuse to use its data on principle, it’s a bit like Charles Leclerc deciding to drive his Formula 1 car using only the settings of the ’60s, for nostalgia’s sake.
Click on the link for more night photos on my blog.
Tonight, the weather is too nice to stay at home. Thousands of people are already walking in the streets of Old Quebec on this day of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, the national holiday of Quebecers.
The fontaine de Tourny in Quebec City on June 24th 2022.
People are positioning themselves early around the Tourny Fountain and on the Parliament grounds in anticipation of a multimedia show whose images will be projected on the façade of the National Assembly.
The Grande-Allée in Quebec City on June 24th 2022.
Once the show is over, it’s the rush to Old Quebec or the restaurants of the Grande-Allée. The photo above was taken from the top of the St. Louis Gate.
North sector of Quebec City Summer 2022.
I love this view of the northern sector of Quebec City in the late evening. Normally, a filter would be needed to neutralize the intense light generated by a setting sun. But tonight, the clouds act as a natural attenuator and the sensor of the Canon 5DSr camera can do its job well.
The last picture below is of St-Jean Street, in Old Quebec, in the late evening of June 24, 2022. This street is being revitalized and new businesses and restaurants have recently settled there. During the summer, a section of the street is reserved to pedestrians and the strollers have access to many terraces.
Winter view of the houses on Couillard street in Old Québec in winter. The photo was taken in the middle of the afternoon. The light is still good enough to illuminate all buildings without creating reflections that are too strong in places where the sun hits the houses directly.
This is what a Demag AC435 all-terrain telescopic crane looked like before it received the colors of the Quebec company “Grues Guay“:
Demag AC 435 crane
This all-terrain crane was recently at work in Old Quebec, on the Côte de la Montagne. The coast has a fairly steep slope and it was necessary to create an artificial horizontal surface using pieces of wood to make the work safe.
Stabilization of a Guay crane at work.
The crane operator used a stepladder to get in and out of his vehicle as needed:
Stepladder provided for the Guay crane’s driver at work in Old Québec.
So this gave the following result, once the crane was at work:
All-terrain Demag AC 435 crane at work in Old Québec
With the telescopic arm fully extended:
All-terrain Demag AC 435 crane from Guay at work in Old Québec in 2021.
In the last photo below, you can see a person in a basket that is suspended at the end of the telescopic arm, confident that the tens of thousands of pounds of counterweight will keep the crane from tipping over. The calculation had to be very precise. Everything had to remain stable throughout the day! And since the work on the building lasted several days, the same operation had to be repeated every morning …
Guay crane at work in Old Québec on Côte de la Montagne in 2021.
As I process these photos taken in February 2020, we are in full confinement because of COVID-19. It’s strange how life has changed in such a short time. Just a few weeks ago, I was freezing in Old Quebec and in the surrounding area while doing winter photography. There were lots of residents and tourists all around, and I could warm up in the cafes of my choice. There was no question of social distancing, masks, closed restaurants and daily press conferences of the federal and provincial governments!
Un chien attend son maître dehors durant une tempête hivernale en 2020.
The photo above was taken on rue St-Jean, around supper time. Citizens went out to have a bite in one of the many restaurants and cafes on this popular street, while others quickly went to specialty stores to get missing ingredients for the supper to be prepared. Dogs are not allowed inside the shops, so they have to wait a few minutes outside in the snowstorm for their owners.
Multicolored buildings near Old Quebec winter 2020
I enjoyed the digital processing of these multicolored dwellings. Indeed, although they are interesting, the original colors of the buildings were still less vivid than what I wanted to obtain for this winter scenery near Old Quebec. The saturation was therefore slightly increased to obtain the desired effect.
Crossing the Honoré-Mercier avenue in Quebec City winter 2020
Traffic time on Honoré-Mercier avenue. Pedestrians have just enough time to cross this very busy avenue before the numerous buses and cars block the passage again. The icy and sloping roadway, the wind and the snow make it more difficult than usual, but the time allowed to cross remains the same. Hurry up!
For this photography project, I used a Canon 5DSr full-frame camera with a Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens.
February 7th 2020 snowstorm at Place d’Youville in Quebe City.
The photo above shows Place d’Youville, in Quebec City, during the February 7, 2020 snowstorm.
The original color photo practically showed only a general white veil. The processing in black and white photo helps to accentuate the effects of blowing snow in this winter scene. Transformation into black and white is a very useful photography technique when it comes to highlighting elements that are difficult to detect.
The subsequent enhancement using an image processing software also helped to highlight otherwise secondary elements.
Between the snow bank in the foreground and the buildings on the right, the cars are moving slowly along what is still visible of this entrance to Old Quebec.
The St. Louis street and the La Bûche restaurant in Old Quebec.
The scene
above shows St-Louis street partially obstructed by snow. On this Friday
evening, the Quebec carnival has just started. However, not everyone is
celebrating. The driver of the snow blower in the background is immobilized.
The trucks in which he would normally blow snow have been delayed.
In the foreground, the restaurant La Bûche. I’ve been there a few times since it opened. Always the same excellent recipes, impeccable service and an extra kilo after the meal. A very good restaurant in Quebec, near the Chateau Frontenac. And for those interested, what is happening in the kitchen is visible to some of the customers. (No I am not paid for this advertisement!)
A cyclist in a snowstorm in Old Quebec on February 7th 2020.
For the bravest, winter cycling is an alternative way to travel in extreme weather. The reduced visibility forces the cyclist above to use the sidewalk for his own protection. However, beware of walking down sidewalks at the corner of streets where ice sometimes accumulates. Having often been in Old Quebec to do night and day photography, I witnessed spectacular pirouettes that would make the elastic acrobats of Cirque du Soleil jealous.
The photos were taken with a Canon 5DSr full-frame camera.
