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Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Ephemeral creations in old quebec

Old Quebec,autumn 2018
Old Quebec,autumn 2018

Ephemeral creations are part of the constantly changing portrait of Old Quebec. The public art installations are visible only for a few weeks at a time. The photography lover must stroll through numerous areas of the city in order to find and immortalize an installation before it definitely disappears!

Click on the link for other photos of Quebec in Autumn on my blog.

Categories
Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Photography in the rain in Old Quebec.

Two Quebec pubs on the St-Jean street, in Old Quebec.
Two Quebec pubs on the St-Jean street, in Old Quebec.

Photography under the rain often allows for fairly decent results, even if it is a bit less comfortable for the photographer.

In the picture above, I first considered a close-up plan of the St-Alexandre English pub (Pub St-Alexandre ) and of the Chez Murphy’s Irish pub (Pub Chez Murphy’s) on St-Jean street, in Old Quebec. Both pubs belong to the same owner; this is an excellent way to curb the eventual competition.

I then waited for pedestrians holding colorful umbrellas to show up in front of the pubs. That took some time since today’s fashion is all in for black: black cars, black clothing, black hats and …. black umbrellas!

Water reflections on the sidewalk and an appropriate light completed the scenery.

For other pictures of Quebec City, click on the following links of my blog :

Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Autumn
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Winter
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Spring
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Summer
Categories
Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec Street photography

Street photography in Old Quebec.

Playing with the fountain in Quebec City.
Playing with the fountain in Quebec City.

The boy tests the water temperature before running across the water jets located beside Quebec City’s City Hall.

The light in the water jets required an exposure correction of + 1/3. The shutter speed was set at 1/80 which allowed to see the boy clearly at a time when he was not moving too much. This shutter speed also allowed to visualize the water jets effects while limiting the ISO to 1250, even with such a low light. The aperture was only 6.3, just enough for what had to be photographed.

The picture was taken with a Canon 5DSR full frame camera equipped with a Canon EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Click on the link for more on street photography on my blog.

Categories
Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec Street photography

A dog’s life in Old Quebec.

A dog's life in Old Quebec.
A dog’s life in Old Quebec.

There are dogs that have a more difficult life than the dog above. For many years, this dog has accompanied his master who works as a coachman in Old Quebec.

This picture was taken with a hand held camera using a shutter speed of 1/60, which is very little considering the 200mm focal length. Normally, with 200mm, a photographer would have to use a speed of 1/200. But the light was not ideal and the ISO already at 3200. I stabilized my position as best as I could by using one of the Château Frontenac’s wall, which is solid enough!

The lens used was a Canon EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM mounted on a Canon 5DSR camera.

For other pictures of Quebec City, click on the following links of my blog :

Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Autumn
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Winter
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Spring
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Summer
Categories
Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec Street photography

Acrobatic performance in Quebec City.

A female acrobat in Québec.
A female acrobat in Québec.

The strange composition of the picture above was only possible because the lady was suspended in the air by a rope surrounding her body. The interaction between the two people is vertical: the young woman observes the man who looks somewhere else.

In the picture below, a woman stands in equilibrium upside down on one hand. Both pictures were taken during RDV Quebec 2017, while an impressive crowd was visiting Quebec City lower part of the town for the tall ships rendez-vous.

Acrobatic performance in Quebec City.
Acrobatic performance in Quebec City.

For other street photos, click on:

Street photography

Categories
Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

The blue light in Old Quebec.

Beautiful evening in Old Quebec.
Beautiful evening in Old Quebec.

The light is always interesting when a picture is taken just before the nightime or the sunrise. The scenery above was captured in Old Quebec during Summer 2018. The use of a lens requiring very little light, like the Canon EF85mm f/1.2L USM mounted on a Canon 5DSR made the task easier.

I wanted to ensure that the people were not mere shadows and that the water effects in the fountains were visible. The shutter speed was adjusted to 1/50 and the ISO set at 6400. The aperture was limited to 4.5 to respect the shutter speed. Photography is always a matter of compromise…

For other pictures of Quebec City, click on the following links of my blog :

Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Autumn
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Winter
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Spring
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Summer
Categories
Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

The 2018 Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec.

The 2018 Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec took place on September 7th on a beautiful day. The cyclists had to repeat a 12,6 km pattern across Old Quebec and the Battlefields Park sixteen times, which amounted to 201,6 km.

The circuit’s height difference from start to finish was 186 meters, for a total difference of 2976 meters. It is the Australian Michael Matthews who won the race during the final sprint.

Here are a few photos that I took with a Canon 5DSR camera. I used a Canon 14mm 2.8L ultra wide angle lens and a Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II USM telephoto lens.

The Grand Prix Cycliste Québec 2018. The cyclists are passing under the St. Jean Gate.
The Grand Prix Cycliste Québec 2018. The cyclists are passing under the St. Jean Gate.
The Grand Prix Cycliste Québec 2018. Turning on St-Louis street.
The Grand Prix Cycliste Québec 2018. Turning on St-Louis street.
The Grand Prix Cycliste Québec 2018. Turning on Côte de la Fabrique.
The Grand Prix Cycliste Québec 2018. Turning on Côte de la Fabrique.
The Grand Prix Cycliste Québec 2018. The cyclists are passing under the St. Louis Gate.
The Grand Prix Cycliste Québec 2018. The cyclists are passing under the St. Louis Gate.
The Grand Prix Cycliste Québec 2018, in front of Place d'Armes.
The Grand Prix Cycliste Québec 2018, in front of Place d’Armes.
The Grand Prix Cycliste Québec 2018. The car from each team is never far behind the racers.
The Grand Prix Cycliste Québec 2018. The car from each team is never far behind the racers.
A few official photographers at the UCI World Tour Quebec 2018.
A few official photographers at the UCI World Tour Quebec 2018.
The Grand Prix Cycliste Québec 2018. The winner, Michael Matthews, from the Sunweb team, raises his fist.
The Grand Prix Cycliste Québec 2018. The winner, Michael Matthews, from the Sunweb team, raises his fist.

Pour d’autres photos de la ville de Québec, cliquez sur les liens suivants de mon blogue :

Ville de Québec et Île d’Orléans en automne
Ville de Québec et Île d’Orléans en hiver
Ville de Québec et Île d’Orléans au printemps
Ville de Québec et Île d’Orléans en été
Categories
Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

The Château Frontenac and Dufferin Terrace.

The Château Frontenac and Dufferin Terrace 2018
The Château Frontenac and Dufferin Terrace 2018

This picture of the Château Frontenac and Dufferin Terrace was taken during the Quebec Summer Festival 2018. From where I stood, near the Citadel, I could hear the crowd present on the Plains of Abraham during Patrice Michaud’s performance.

The picture was taken with a full frame Canon 5DSR camera equipped with a Canon EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM. The focal length was set at 70mm. As the sun was setting, an ISO set at 200 would have caused the moving persons to be blurred. It was thus necessary to set the ISO at 4000.

Working without a graduated filter to attenuate the background light, I had to correct the exposure at +1, otherwise the middle ground would have been too dark and it was the main subject of the picture. I then slightly reduced the clear tones of the sky with Photoshop for a more balanced result.

The focus was done manually while the camera was installed on a tripod. The aperture was limited to 4.5 to limit the exposure time so that a compromise could be found between an acceptable depth of field and the moving people. This allowed for a shutter speed of only 1/15 sec, even in a relatively low light.

For other pictures of Quebec City, click on the following links of my blog :

Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Autumn
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Winter

https://francoisouellet.ca/en/photo-galleries/quebec-city-and-ile-dorleans-in-spring/

https://francoisouellet.ca/en/photo-galleries/quebec-city-and-ile-dorleans-in-summer

Categories
Street photography

The boy with the man’s face.

In Canada, we cannot take the picture of someone who is the main subject unless we have obtained her permission. This is even more important with a child, where the authorization of the parents is required. But in the case of the picture below, it is different: it is a child whose face seems to belong to somebody else!

The child with a man's face. Terrasse Dufferin, Quebec City.
The child with a man’s face. Terrasse Dufferin, Quebec City.

I took this picture and enlarged it in the camera to understand what I was seeing. I realized that the child was holding the image of an adult man directly in front of his face.

The child with a man's face (enlarged photo)
The child with a man’s face (enlarged photo)

There was a group of adults that were standing nearby. One of the man called the child, who rapidly stepped down from the statue. They told me that the picture held by the child represents the sensei of a karate club that came all the way from British-Columbia for a national competition of Shotokan style karate being held at Laval University in Quebec City. The mystery was solved!

For other street photos, click on:

Street photography

Categories
Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Tom White at work on Easter eggs, in Old Quebec.

Tom White designing Easter eggs in Old Quebec (2016)
Tom White designing Easter eggs in Old Quebec (2016)

While I was walking in Old Quebec, I stopped to watch Tom White, a local artist, work on his hand-made Easter eggs. We talked for a few minutes and he agreed to let me take a picture of him at work.

For other photos on the province of Quebec and also Quebec City, click on the following links from my blog:

Province of Quebec Photos
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Autumn
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Winter
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Spring
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Summer