German Christmas market stands in Quebec City (2016)
The German Christmas market is back again this year in Quebec City, for the ninth consecutive year. The market is located near the City Hall and the activity is an initiative of the German community of Quebec. European German Christmas markets have existed for centuries and have kept virtually the same formula throughout the years.
Amateur of delicacies and handicrafts always find something interesting when stopping by the sixty little wooden houses located in the City Hall’s gardens.
German Christmas market in Quebec City (2016)
My family and I always stop for an evening meal at the heated chalet where we find an excellent white beer and many choices of meals. The site is ideal for photography enthousiasts and the thousands of multicolored lights add a very special atmosphere. If you visit the market when there is a snow shower, this will add even more interest to your pictures.
The photos shown here have been taken with a Canon 5DSR full-frame camera equipped with a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM fixed lens, which allowed me to walk around the site without carrying a tripod.
German market at Christmas in Quebec City (2016)
I would like to offer my condolances to the German people with regards to the terrible challenge they went through in December 2016 when many citizens visiting the Berlin Christmas market were killed or hurt by a madman from Daesh.
For other photos on the province of Quebec and also Quebec City, click on the following links from my blog:
Quebec City in winter, in the Cap-au-Diable area (2016)
The picture above was taken in December 2016 at Cap-au-Diable, in Quebec City, with a Canon 5DSR full-frame camera equipped with a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L US telephoto lens. A polarizing filter was not really needed here due to the soft light and the sun being in line with the lens. The exposure was still corrected by +1/3.
At this time of the year, the temperature is not too cold for the photographer’s bare hands and the light intensity is ideal throughout the day. The temperature hovering around 0 °C favors wet snow showers. This snow lightly sticks to the tree branches and, as long as the wind does not increase too much, it is possible to take interesting winter pictures. But it is necessary to act quickly
For the photo above, I was able to profit from a St-Lawrence Seaway that was still unfrozen, which allowed to capture the winter sun reflection. I had to proceed rapidly since there were clouds moving from the west, visible to the right of the picture. One minute later, the sun and its reflection were no longer visible.
The photos below were taken during in the same park.
Parc du Cap-au-Diable, Quebec City (2016)
A house in the Cap-au-Diable park, Quebec City (2016)
For other photos on the province of Quebec and also Quebec City, click on the following links from my blog:
The Queen Mary 2 comes twice a year in the Quebec Harbour during the autumn. It obviously always attracts a lot of onlookers. The vessel carries 2620 passengers who are prompt to visit Old Quebec upon arrival.
In order to take a picture of this superb ship and the architecture of Old Quebec’s houses, it was worth waiting until evening, when the colours were more subtle. I could have chosen to do a close-up of the Queen Mary 2, but by doing so the photo would have lost some of its dynamism since the quartier Petit-Champlain’s alleys and its pedestrians would have been absent from the scene.
There is only a small portion of the sky visible in the picture and this is voluntarily since it does not present any interesting details, especially when compared with the rest of the scenery. The front of the Queen Mary 2 has wilfully been located in the superior right corner of the photo since it is toward this part of the image that the eye ends its initial inspection.
There were quite a number of viewers installed on the Dufferin Terrace, most with a portable camera, trying to capture the scene. All those onlookers and photographers constantly moving on the wooden terrace were nevertheless creating vibrations: a tripod, usually the perfect tool to prevent any shaking of the camera, was only useful here providing that there was a shorter exposure time. The ISO had to be increased accordingly to respect the shorter exposure and avoid a blurred picture at low speed.
Still, the photo taken with a Canon 5DSR full-frame camera successfully portrays the mood in Old Quebec on that evening of autumn 2016.
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Autumn colors in the Jacques-Cartier National Park
The picture above was taken at the Jacques-Cartier National Park, in the Province of Québec, in 2016 with a Canon 5DSR full-frame camera. You can find this exact location by heading towards the “kilometer 10” inside the park, immediately behind the service center.
Even if the autumn colors were beautiful and would have deserved a close-up, there was also a possibility to include an interesting foreground. The natural shapes and alternance between the strips of land (1-3-5) [see the picture below] mixed with the water and sky (2-4-6) helped form a virtual diagonal that was used as a lead-in line until the eye meets the superior right corner of the photo.
The rule of thirds was easy to apply here and no compromise was necessary. I decide to cut most of the sky since the time of the day was not ideal as the light was too bright. But I also wanted to give precedence to the geometric shapes of the foreground. The skyline was relocated in the first third of the scenery, immediately at the base of the mountains. The main interest of the picture, which was the colorful forest, now rested in the upper right portion of the frame.
Jacques-Cartier National Park in the Province of Québec and photography theory
For other photos on the province of Quebec and also Quebec City, click on the following links from my blog:
This photo was taken in Stoneham, in Québec, during the autumn 2016. I considered it an interesting scene due to the trees and all the branches that seem to cut the photo in multiple parts, at the same time as the colour variations of the maple leaves give the impression of an explosion from the center of the picture.
The scene was taken using a Canon 5DSR full-frame camera equipped with a fixed Canon 14mm 2.8L telephoto lens.
Click on the link for more autumn photos on my blog.
There is a persisting rumor about the fact that policemen like to stop at Dunkin Donuts and Tim Hortons restaurants to indulge on donuts and coffees durant their daily breaks. This photo taken in Quebec seems to confirm the rumor. There is not enough parking in front of the restaurant to accommodate all the motorcycles side by side.
In fact, this photo is the result of a pure coincidence. During the Francophonie Summit that was held in Quebec, several motorcycle policemen had to park close to the Quebec Jean-Lesage international airport while waiting for the limousines carrying dignitaries from around the world. They had chosen the local Dunkin Donuts parking for its proximity. Appearances are sometimes misleading…but they prove handy for street photography.
For other street photography pictures posted on my site, click on the following link:
Official opening of the Pierre Lassonde Pavilion, which is part of the Musée National des Beaux-Arts de Québec, seen from Grande Allée on June 24th 2016
Pierre Lassonde Pavilion (Musée National des Beaux-Arts de Québec) intercommunication stairway on the day of official opening in June 2016
On June 24th 2016, during the National Holiday of Quebec, the new Pierre Lassonde pavilion of the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (MNBAQ) on Grande Allée in Quebec City was inaugurated. This pavilion, that has been expected for a very long time, will allow the Museum to expose art that had to be stored, up to now, due to lack of floor space. This new pavilion will double the exibition space.
Artwork exibited in the Pavillon Pierre Lassonde du MNABQ on June 24th 2016
Many political personalities were present, among them the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau and Quebec’s Prime Minister Philippe Couillard, as well as the MNBAQ director Line Ouellet. International actuality caught up with the Canadian Prime Minister during his presence in Quebec and he had to comment on United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (Brexit) which was voted on the precedent day.
Part of a sculpture located outside of the Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec in 2016
June 24th 2016 in the MNBAQ’s Pierre Lassonde Pavilion
The Pierre Lassonde pavilion architectural project, valued at about $103 millions, was the result of an international competition won by the American architectural firm OMA from New York. Fifteen thousand people were expected to show up for the inauguration. Instead, thirty thousand people visited the pavilion to get a glimpse of the creation directed by the architect Shohei Shigematsu.
Pierre Lassonde Pavilion’s intercommunication stairway on June 24th 2016. Photo taken with a Canon 5DSR equipped with a 14mm 2.8L fixed lens.
MNBAQ’s Pierre Lassonde Pavilion’s stairway on June 24th 2016
Lots of compromises to limit the expenses had to be made, like in all serious projects. Nonetheless, the pavilion is a success and I am eager to see what kind of atmosphere will be generated this coming winter when the light shines through the glass panels and colors the snow around the pavilion. This new building, with its original architecture and the light that emanates from it, already adds a new dynamic when night falls on Grande Allée.
MNBAQ’s Pierre Lassonde Pavilion on the evening of official opening. Photo taken with a Canon 5DSR on June 24th 2016
Intercommunication staircase in the Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the MNBAQ on the day of official opening (June 24th 2016)
For those of you who are interested in photography, here are some details about the photographic equipment used for my photos : they were all taken with a DSLR Canon 5DSR camera. The Canon lenses that were used were : EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM, EF 50mm f/1.4 USM and telephoto lens EF 70-200 mm f/2.8L IS II USM. The use of a flash being forbidden inside the museum, I had to carefully adjust the ISO, speed and aperture settings, especially where the use of a tripod was not authorized. For those occasions, the EF 50 mm f/1.4 USM was of great help.
Visitors on the roof of the MNBAQ’s Pierre Lassonde Pavilion on June 24th 2016
For other photos on the province of Quebec and also Quebec City, click on the following links from my blog:
Coming back from Old Quebec after a photo session, I took the opportunity to stop in the area around the Hotel Le Concorde Québec. Restaurants on Grande Allée are particularly well lit which is ideal to capture colorful pictures.
Pot de vin restaurant, Quebec City 2016
The photos show the Pot de vin restaurant, which replaced the Voo Doo Grill and is now associated with the Maurice Nightclub. It is also possible to see part of the Cosmos restaurant located just below the Pot de vin.
Grande-Allée restaurants in Quebec City 2016
A huge banner has been installed on one of the Hotel Le Concorde Québec’s wall announcing the coming Série Cubaine 2016, several baseball games between Cuba’s team and the Capitales de Québec’s team, during Summer 2016.
Hotel Le Concorde Québec and the Cuban Baseball Challenge 2016
The photo below, showing a black vehicle in movement, was a bit more touchy to take since it was already quite dark outside and I still wanted to capture the local population clearly enough. A shutter speed adjusted too slow would have made the people almost invisible as they would have been too blurred. But too fast a shutter speed would have frozen both people and vehicule, taking away the photo’s dynamism. This would have also demanded an exaggerated ISO setting, thus degrading the shot’s quality by increasing the digital noise to an unacceptable level.
Grande-Allée Avenue in the evening, Quebec City 2016
Here are the camera settings that were necessary to obtain the desired effect: an ISO at 5000, which is already high enough, an aperture set at 5.0 to get an acceptable depth-of-field and a shutter speed at 1/13, which allowed to see that the vehicle was in movement but was slow enough to freeze the people waiting at the red light. A few seconds before, I had tried a shot while people were walking near the street’s corner, but everything went blurred. Waiting for the appropriate green light allowed the vehicule to move while forcing the pedestrians to stand still.
The pictures were taken with a Canon 5DSR DSLR camera mounted on a tripod, with a remote trigger and the mirror lock-up function active to reduce the camera vibrations. Liveview and manual focus were also used to ensure the image sharpness during that night photography session.
For more articles in the category « Photos of Canada », click on the following link : Photos of Canada
A Bombardier CL-415 water bomber, property of the Government of Quebec, is being prepared for its flight towards Fort McMurray, May 2016
Quebec’s CL-415s helping out in Fort McMurray
On May 5th, 2016, according to what had been announced by the Government of Quebec, four CL-415s took off from the Quebec Jean-Lesage international airport (CYQB) heading to Fort McMurray, Alberta, to help in the fight against widespread forest fires in that province. It is the worst natural disaster that Canada has known in its history.
Preparing flight crews and aircrafts for such a long cross-country trip naturally demands much coordination from the SOPFEU (Society for the protection of forests against fires). Once they will have landed at the Fort McMurray airport, the pilots of those CL-415s will be under the direct command of the Albertan authorities in charge of fighting the wildfires, since the latter are best positioned to know exactly what the local needs are.
I figure that the flight service specialists (FSS) of the Nav Canada flight information center (FIC) in Edmonton must have quite busy days with the increased aerial activity associated with the numerous fires…
Crew members are walking towards the Government of Quebec CL-415; they will soon be airborne and heading to Fort McMurray in Alberta, to fight the forest fires (2016)
The picture above shows crew members heading towards their assigned aircraft. Once they start working in the Fort McMurray region, they will not only have to directly fight the forest fires but also head to sectors that have not yet been touched by fire and water the area thoroughly to prevent new wildfires.
A Government of Quebec CL-415 number 245 is taxiing at the Quebec Jean-Lesage international airport to take-off towards Fort McMurray, in Alberta, to help fight the out of control forest fires in that province during May 2016.
Taking pictures of propeller-driven aircrafts
A Bombardier CL-415 water bomber takes off from the Quebec Jean-Lesage international airport heading to Fort McMurray, in Alberta, to help fight the forest fires (2016)
It is a bit touchy to photograph propeller-driven aircrafts while making sure that there is a sensation of movement. In a natural reflex to want to avoid blurred pictures, the photographer uses a shutter speed that corresponds to the focal used for the shot. In the case of the picture above, the focal was 400mm. But if a shutter speed of 1/400 had been used, the propellers would have been totally immobilized and the aircraft would have looked like its climbing while not using its engines.
It was necessary to reduce the speed to 1/160, thus increasing the risk of obtaining a blurred picture. In order to get both image sharpness and moving propellers visual effect, the photographer has to follow exactly the movement of the aircraft with the camera so that it looks totally immobile in the viewfinder. This asks for a bit of practice but allows for more realistic photos.
The CL-415 in a black and white photo
Black and white photo of a Bombardier CL-415 (C-GQBG) flying over Quebec City in 2015
The government of Canada helping out Alberta’s citizens
The government of Canada, under Justin Trudeau, has promised to match the amounts of money offered by all Canadians to the Red Cross society toward helping the Fort McMurray population.
Obviously, its contribution will not stop there (in fact, far from it), but the message is for the whole Canadian population to contribute generously to support the efforts of the Red Cross. It is already estimated that the material damages will reach at least nine billion dollars and that numerous years will be required to rebuild everything. The Liberal Party of Canada had built its political campaign around the need to invest for the renewal of infrastructures. With the Fort McMurray fires, there will be plenty of new unplanned expenses ahead.
More than 1,400 firemen are fighting the wildfires. So few, there has been very few lives lost, although “very few” is always too much. The crisis is, according to everyone, well managed by the government of Alberta.
At the time of writing, there was still no rain forecasted for days to come and the drought was also extending to the southern half of Saskatchewan and part of Manitoba. The winds were expected to increase, which would mean that even more resources would be needed in the near future to bring those wildfires under control.
It seems to me that the government of many Canadian provinces would benefit in acquiring new water bombers like the CL-415 to give them an increased margin of manoeuver that would allow them to react more quickly, if we take into account the tendency for the ever growing number and size of forest fires. In the picture below, the government of Quebec CL-415 number 247 is just airborne from Quebec to Fort McMurray.
A Bombardier CL-415 C-GQBK airborne from the Quebec Jean-Lesage international airport heading to Fort McMurray, Alberta, in May 2016
The CL-215s will not head to Fort McMurray
While several CL-415s are leaving for Alberta, few water bombers, like the two Canadair CL-215s shown below, stay at the Quebec Jean-Lesage international airport in case of forest fires in the province and also to be used for the seasonal rehearsal needed for every pilot before they are dispatched across the province of Quebec.
Two Canadair CL-215 water bombers parked at the Quebec Jean-Lesage international airport in May 2016.
Global warming
Some people can say that global warming is not responsible for the increasing number of extended wildfires. They might be right, but I prefer to adopt a wider view than only what is going on in Alberta. Heat transfer between the north and south are now more extreme in order to equalize the temperatures around the globe. All means to reduce the difference in temperatures between the equator and the poles are at work and this causes increasing problems to particular regions.
The Kamloops region in British-Columbia, when numerous forest fires were raging 2014.
A powerful El Nino phenomenon, repetitive Omega blocks, the air circulation in different cells (Hadley, Ferrell, polar, Walker) all participate in the heat exchange. At a more reduced scale, we also regularly hear of cold and warm fronts in the meteorological forecasts.
It is certainly not local warm fronts that are responsible for the fact that a thinner layer of permafrost is unable to ensure the stability of Arctic runways anymore. Nor are fronts responsible for the fact that houses on stilts do not have a stable foundation anymore. Many heat records have been established these past years in northern Canada. There will certainly be large amounts of money to spend to rebuild the Nordic infrastructures.
Brush fires as soon as April in Alberta
This year, as soon as April, there were widespread brush fires in a region as north as Fort McMurray in Alberta because winter has not brought much snow to humidify the land during Spring. I thus wondered what would happen once in July. Albertans did not need to wait that long to get the answer.
Western Canada forest after a fire (2014)
The modelization of climatic changes indicates that, in the Fort McMurray region, the forest fire season is already fifteen days longer that it used to be. More heat might favor more droughts. But an increase in temperature also favors the development of thunderstorms and with them comes lighting that will start up new fires.
One thing is sure: insurance companies will not lose time with the different theories on global warming. The reinsurers (those who insure the insurance companies) have the obligation to limit their losses to stay afloat and premiums will quickly increase to answer to the thousands of claims following an increasing number of natural disasters.
Photos of the local air traffic in Quebec, just after the CL-415s departed to Fort McMurray
FedEx ATR 72-202F C-FTAR and Air Canada Express Bombardier DHC-8-Q-402NG (C-GIJZ) at the Quebec Jean-Lesage international airport in May 2016
At the Quebec airport, between the take offs of the four Bombardier CL-415 towards Fort McMurray, I was able to take few pictures of the local air traffic. In the photo above, it is possible to see a FedEx ATR 72 (C-FTAR) taxiing toward the ramp after a landing runway 06. An Air Canada Express Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q-400) (C-GIJZ) was also being towed for is imminent departure.
ATAC’s Hawker Hunter N339AX
Being in luck, I was able to capture a Hawker Hunter (N339AX) belonging to the American company ATAC, just airborne from Quebec. As for any military jet, it is difficult to ignore them on take-off: the reactor’s noise is there to remind you of their presence…
A Hawker Hunter belonging to the american company ATAC is airborne from the Quebec Jean-Lesage international airport (CYQB), May 2016
A Hawker Hunter, from the american company ATAC, is airborne from the Quebec Jean-Lesage international airport (CYQB) in May 2016
The pictures above have been taken with a Canon 5D MKII camera, equipped with a telephoto lens Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM with a polarizing filter and a Canon Extender EF 2X III which brought the focal length to 400 mm. Even then, more cropping was necessary to enlarge the aircraft since I was quite far away from the runway.
Wishing to ensure that the image was sharp (a blurred picture is more probable with a 400 mm focal length while the photographer attempts to follow a fast flying jet), I adjusted the shutter speed to 1/1600 and made sure that the automatic focus was set on AI servo.
I now realized that a slower speed could have worked a bit better since it would have allowed showing a blurred forest in the background while keeping the aircraft sharp. But it is not often that you have the opportunity to see a Hawker Hunter in flight these days and I played safe with the shutter speed. The ideal shot will be for another day…
CL-415s and CL-215s together in Quebec (2012 photo)
CL-415 and CL-215 water bombers belonging to the Gouvernment of Quebec. Quebec Jean-Lesage international airport (CYQB) 2012
A last picture, taken few years ago, during autumn 2012, shows numerous water bombers CL-415 and CL-215 parked at the Quebec Jean-Lesage international airport (CYQB). During the off- season, the water bombers are brought back to Quebec City from the different bases were they have been in operation during summertime.
For other articles on aviation and photography, click on the following link: Aviation photography
The hot air balloon C-FNHP is being inflated at the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu festival in 2012
The Nav Canada flight service specialists (FSS) working at the flight information center (FIC) at the Quebec Jean-Lesage international airport (CYQB) regularly receive telephone calls from hot air balloon pilots preparing their next flight. Actual and forecasted wind conditions are important, be it on the ground or in the air. But the FSS must also take into account the slightest possibility of a rain shower that would wet the balloon’s envelope, the variation in the convection according to the time of the day which would then affect the winds, the local effects, etc.
Although it is interesting to brief a hot air balloon pilot on the telephone, it is far better to witness their activity when getting ready for a flight. And the effect is even more striking when you position yourself in the middle of a field where more than a hundred hot air balloons lift altogether.
A first group of hot air balloons are autorized to lift at the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu festival in 2012
Summer 2012. A beautiful day was expected in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Blue sky and calm winds were forecasted for the evening. There would certainly be photo opportunities (Canon 5D MKII).
The field where the balloons were being prepared was fenced, but there were here and there openings and it seemed possible to enter the area without attracting too much attention. I made an attempt and could rapidly live the frenzy associated with the preparation and launch of more than one hundred hot air balloons.
Rising hot air balloons in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu in 2012
The balloons progressively took shape and it became possible to see their designs and superb colours. Each team was taking care of the last details that ensure a synchronized launch when the signal would be given. The organizer eventually gave the go ahead signal and the hot air balloons all lifted up within a very short time span. This was a magnificent show!
Hot air ballons at the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu Festival in 2012
Visitors at the 2012 St-Jean-sur-Richelieu hot air balloons festival
Few years earlier, during summer 2005, a hot air balloon had flown over our house in Quebec City at about one hundred feet. This was not a normal situation to witness that balloon slowly lose altitude and get closer to electrical wires. I had taken my bike and followed the balloon since it became obvious that the pilot was trying to land, possibly short of propane gas.
The pilot did not have an easy task, flying low over the city streets, close to the wires and other obstacles. The passengers must have been wondering what would be the issue of that flight. Arriving near a school, the pilot had seen a small parking lot and tried to land there, avoiding the church steeple on the other side of the street.
We were few citizens to hang to the basket and immobilize it while the balloon’s envelope was slowly deflating. I was able to take a shot of that unusual balloon’s approach…
Hot air balloon landing on a Quebec City street in 2005
