Tag: people photography

Categories
Graphic novels and comics

The graphic novel “Magnum Generation (s)”.

The graphic novel "Magnum Génération (s)".
The graphic novel “Magnum Génération (s)”.

Through drawings and superb photographs, this graphic novel recounts the events that contributed to the creation of Magnum, the famous international photography agency.

Before Magnum, there were only photographers trying to make a name for themselves and earn a meagre living in the face of media giants like Time. These big companies reframed original images, did not recognize copyright and made gigantic profits on the backs of photographers like Robert Capa, David “Chim” Seymour, Gerda Taro, Henri Cartier-Bresson and George Rodger. It was in reaction to this abuse that these photographers created the new agency.

The book makes us aware of the enormous risks involved in bringing back images of the world’s various conflicts. Robert Capa and Gerda Taro lost their lives in the heat of the action.

A page from the graphic novel "Magnum Generations".
A page from the graphic novel “Magnum Generations”.

Magnum’s evolution, its internationalization and the change in its primary vocation are brought to life. From an initial focus on war coverage, photographers gradually turned to diversifying their activities, to accommodate the specific needs of both the media and film productions.

The agency now protects them from abuse. However, photographers remain mindful of the need of support from contractors to survive financially. Still, they reserve some leeway for pure creativity, depending on each photographer’s personality and the mood of the day.

Keeping this agency alive, made up of professionals with different ambitions, is no small task. There are crises, schisms and reinventions, all essential to the evolution of this internationally renowned institution.

For those who know nothing about Magnum, this graphic novel offers a very accessible first approach.

Click on the link for other graphic novels and comics on my blog.

Title: Magnum Generation (s)

Scenario: JD Morvan

Drawings: Arnaud Locquet, Scietronc, Rafael Ortiz

Colours: Hiroyuki Ooshima

Edition: Caurette, ©2022

ISBN: 978-2-38289-028-8 (French version)

Categories
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.

Categories
International airmail

People in aviation postcards.

A few years ago, I started a collection of postcards related to aviation that include people, so as to show not only the different cultures but also the fashion and sometimes the habits of people during the last decades. Postcards can be as much a photo as a commercial design.

The collection, still in development, covers all continents. Below are some samples; the other cards can be found in the section “People in aviation postcards” of my website.

Ladies and Air Jamaica DC-8 Super 62 on aviation postcard
Ladies and Air Jamaica DC-8 Super 62 on aviation postcard
Wardair B-747 and crew on aviation postcard
Wardair B-747 and crew on aviation postcard
King's journey in Congo on aviation postcard
King’s journey in Congo on aviation postcard
Ariana Afghan's DC-10 on aviation postcard
Ariana Afghan’s DC-10 on aviation postcard
Swissair aircrafts and people in Switzerland on aviation postcard
Swissair aircrafts and people in Switzerland on aviation postcard
Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia on aviation postcard
Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia on aviation postcard

Enjoy!

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

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 crowd on the Plains of Abraham during the Quebec Summer Festival 2018

The crowd on the Plains of Abraham, in Quebec City, during the 2018 Festival d'été de Québec.
The crowd on the Plains of Abraham, in Quebec City, during the 2018 Festival d’été de Québec.


The Quebec  Summer Festival draws huge crowds every year to each one of its shows. I decided to use the crowds to compose a photo in which there are only two subjects. In the foreground, one of the trees on the Plains of Abraham.  I use the tree to create a diagonal that crosses the picture and, at the same time, helps balance the colours in the picture.

In the background, the crowd,  without any other distraction. The people fill every available corner of the picture. They are the ones bringing the picture to life. It is also because of their presence every year that the Quebec Summer Festival is a success.

The picture was taken with a Canon 5DSR camera equipped with a Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM lens. The focal length was 200mm and the shutter speed 1/250. Despite a 200mm focal, the people were still too far to be clear enough.

The goal being to crop the picture enough to enlarge the people, the ISO had to be quite low. It was set at 640. Once those priorities were established, the aperture could only be set at 5.0, which was good enough for the result I was trying to obtain. The 50.6 megapixels full frame sensor of the Canon 5DSR helped a lot.

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