Tag: winter photography

Categories
Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

The Parc national de la Jacques-Cartier during winter.

Hiker entering the Jacques-Cartier National Park's forest, Winter 2024.
Hiker entering the Jacques-Cartier National Park’s forest, Winter 2024.

The province of Quebec offers in 2024 a free admission to Parc national de la Jacques-Cartier a few days a week. This means more visitors than ever before head for the park. Hikers seeking absolute peace and quiet should opt for the paid days.

Even so, if you look carefully, it’s always possible to spot a lone walker, as in the photo above. Most people take the marked trails for ease, but others, like the individual above, venture out on snowshoes near the Jacques-Cartier River, which is completely covered in snow at this time of year.

Jacques-Cartier National Park's landscape, Winter 2024.
Jacques-Cartier National Park’s landscape, Winter 2024.

Approximately three kilometres from the Discovery and Services Chalet is a bridge. From here, the hiker can capture some very beautiful scenes. In winter, an interesting effect can be achieved by positioning yourself close to the banks.

November in the Jacques-Cartier National Park in Quebec, 2023
November in the Jacques-Cartier National Park in Quebec, 2023

This scenery relaxes me so much, yet there are no spectacular elements. Rather, all the components are in perfect harmony: reflections in the water, some bluish snow here and there, brushes and a few leaning trees lit from the side by a soft late afternoon light. As the large trunks occupy the majority of the scene, I chose a vertical format for the photographic composition.

Photo of the Jacques-Cartier national park, Winter 2024.
Photo of the Jacques-Cartier national park, Winter 2024.

Above, the landscape attracts the eye with its combination of horizontal, vertical and oblique lines, as well as its alternating black and white in the foreground. I positioned myself to include in the scene a large branch that enters the photo from the top right-hand corner.

The foreground features open water, snow-covered ice, pure ice and snow-covered ice again. In the middle ground, coniferous and deciduous trees. In the background, a forest revealing the snow on the mountain floor. I’ve left only a hint of sky, as the latter offers no particular interest on this cloudy February day, other than to add some white to complete the alternation of colours.

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

Categories
Photos of Quebec

Students from Singapore in Jacques-Cartier National Park.

Students from Singapour visiting the Jacques-Cartier National Park during winter 2024
Students from Singapour visiting the Jacques-Cartier National Park during winter 2024

During my hike in the Jacques-Cartier National Park today, I met some French people, a Polish woman and seven students from Singapore. They are part of an exchange program with Canada and are currently studying at an Ontario university. They are taking advantage of their reading week to make a little trip to Quebec.

A group of students from Singapour on a trail in the Jacques-Cartier National Park winter 2024
A group of students from Singapour on a trail in the Jacques-Cartier National Park winter 2024

You couldn’t ask for a better day for the long excursion they’ve planned. It was -13C early this morning, but a new air mass entered Quebec and by the time I took these photos, we’d already reached +1C with beautiful sunshine and almost no wind. But I reckon they’ll have much walking to do to complete their excursion before the park closes for the evening.

Birds on a window at the Jacques-Cartier National Park winter 2024
Birds on a window at the Jacques-Cartier National Park winter 2024

Bird decorations are glued to the windows of the Discovery and Service Center at KM 10. I attempted a photo from inside the building, while including the forest in the background.

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

Categories
Photos of Quebec

Mild winter weather in Quebec City.

Grande-Allée in Quebec City just before nightfall.
Grande-Allée in Quebec City just before nightfall.

We’ve had some very mild weather recently in Quebec City. A rainy day in the middle of winter melts the snow at an accelerated rate and creates widespread fog over the region. Just before nightfall, this weather phenomenon combined with road traffic and the imposing trees on Grande-Allée prompted me to take a photo from the moving car. Digital processing was then applied to achieve the desired effect.

St. Louis street under rain in winter in Quebec City 2024
St. Louis street under rain in winter in Quebec City 2024

Here’s another shot of rue Saint-Louis in Old Quebec in the rain in the middle of winter. I took the photo at the end of 2023, when the Christmas decorations added a little cheer for lack of snow, which is fairly rare for Quebec City. Many tourists had to readjust their plans for outings with children during this period.

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

Categories
Photos of Quebec

Going out at Carnaval de Québec 2024.

Get out and move at the Québec Winter Carnival!
Get out and move at the Québec Winter Carnival!

This passer-by faces the high winds near Quebec City’s Dufferin Terrace. Behind her, the Québec Winter Carnival is advertised, taking place between January 25 and February 11, 2024. The ad invites people to get outdoors, using a local expression: “Déguédine pis sors“, which roughly translates as “Stop procrastinating and go play outside!

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

Categories
Photos of Quebec

Choir in Old Quebec.

Choir in Place Royale, Old Québec.
Choir in Place Royale, Old Québec.

A choir sings traditional songs on the Place Royale in Old Quebec, in front of the Notre-Dame-des-Victoires church. For the occasion, the singers wear coats and hats from another era. If there was by chance a representative of an animal rights association as a spectator, he probably had a little difficulty singing with the choristers…

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

Categories
Photography Photos of Quebec

Old Quebec in winter.

Old Quebec, winter 2023.
Old Quebec, winter 2023.

The Old Quebec in winter is always exciting to photograph. The continually changing weather presents new opportunities that must be seized. Moreover, for the same weather system, each hour that passes also offers a different luminosity. The photographer is spoilt for choice.

For the picture above, taken with a Canon 5DSr, I positioned myself in a place that is normally off-limits during winter. That’s why you can only see my footprints in the snow. But hey! The risk was minimal and the angle of view perfect to capture the Château Frontenac.

The street lamp emits a light that needs to be corrected in the camera. Instead of “AWB”, select “tungsten”. This adjustment allows you to reflect exactly what you see, rather than ending up with tones that are too contrasty. HDR photography allows for some correction of large contrasts in brightness.

The lights on the roof of the Chateau Frontenac illuminate the snow falling around the building. This snow makes for interesting sky tones, even though the blue hour has long since passed.

In terms of the photographic composition, the low wall and fence serve as the entry point into the photo. The lamp post is located at a point respecting the rule of thirds. The building on the right blocks the view and invites the eye to continue its exploration to the left of the photo, which leads the viewer to the Chateau Frontenac.

The photo below, taken a few minutes later, uses the stairs as an entry point into the photo to quickly lead the eye to the Château Frontenac. In this case, a vertical format lends itself better to the scene.

The Château Frontenac, winter 2023.
The Château Frontenac, winter 2023.

The snow on the railings and steps adds an alternating black and white effect. Otherwise, everything would be quite dark and we would lose a little interest. A nearby street lamp provides enough ambient light to illuminate the scene; however, I was careful not to include the light source directly in the photo, as it distracts the viewer from the main subject.

In winter as well as in summer, I use a tripod to reduce camera shake and improve resolution in low light conditions.

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

Categories
Photos of Quebec

The Old Quebec in colors.

Christmas decorations in Old Quebec
Christmas decorations in Old Quebec

A great way to add color to your holiday photos in big cities is to use store decorations. On this street in Old Quebec, a shopkeeper installed a small shrub filled with tiny white and purple lights.

You simply position your camera through the lights, taking care to focus on the main subject. By limiting the aperture of the camera, you get a decorative blur effect in the foreground.

You don’t need digital processing software to add color to photos. Use existing merchant setups!

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

Categories
Photos of Quebec

Place d’Youville, Old Quebec in winter.

Place d'Youville, Old Quebec in winter.
Place d’Youville, Old Quebec in winter.

In the foreground, on the right, the ramparts of Old Quebec. From this height, you can access the Porte St-Jean which is certainly more difficult to access in winter, but which offers a perfect viewpoint to photograph Place d’Youville. You can see the very popular skating rink. A section of the German village is located this year at the end of the rink, waiting for the work near Quebec City Hall to be completed.

The photo above includes several photos juxtaposed on top of each other to provide an HDR effect. The darker areas of the photo are better exposed, while the brighter lights are dimmed to provide a more balanced photo. As always, there is life in Old Quebec! Click on the link for more photos of Quebec City in winter on my blog.

Categories
Environment Photos of Quebec

Heat wave in Quebec City in December 2022.

Global warming affects everyone
Global warming affects everyone

End of December 2022. It’s hot in Quebec City. The city was first swept by a storm that left hundreds of thousands of Quebecers without power, some for more than a week. A heat wave then swept through the province of Quebec for several days.

One positive aspect of this warm air is that it melted the thick layer of ice and snow that had accumulated on the roofs of homes during the December 23 storm, resetting the clock for the remaining portion of the winter to come.

But when it comes to winter sports, it’s a different story. One had to walk around town on the last day of 2022 to see the changes in just a few days.

Passing by the public skating rink maintained by the municipality on the Battlefields Park, I took this picture that sums up the situation: a warm rain falling on the snow and accelerating the melting to the point where a thick fog sets in, puddles of water several centimeters thick covering a layer of ice.

I use this water to add the reflections of the skaters in the photographic composition. Fortunately for them, the sportsmen benefit from a mechanically cooled ice rink to continue practicing their favorite activity.

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

Categories
Photos of Quebec

Houses of Old Quebec in Winter.

Old Quebec houses during winter 2022
Old Quebec houses during winter 2022

I took this picture of the houses in Old Quebec one day before the great storm of December 23, 2022 that left hundreds of thousands of Quebecers without electricity. At the time the picture was taken, the winds were already blowing pretty hard and the windchill factor was around -20C. The tripod had to be held securely to avoid unnecessary vibrations.

The scene captured during the “blue hour” consists of three photos superimposed in order to obtain an HDR result .

As I finished the shoot, I saw a young couple walking up the snowy slope in the foreground in the photo above. The young man approached me and asked me to make a video of the proposal he was about to make to his girlfriend on his cell phone. She didn’t know anything about it.

He got down on one knee, proposed and she said yes. Then came the ring, the kisses and hugs. Without gloves to hold the cell phone for several minutes, I was hoping for the most concise ceremony possible. A few moments later, half frozen, he came back to get his cell phone. Everything had gone as he had planned. You never know what to expect when you go out for a photo shoot!

Click on the link for more pictures of Old Quebec in winter.