The MSC Maria Pia vessel on the St.Lawrence Seaway by Quebec City.
Here is a last picture of the winter of 2022 before going into spring mode. We can see the MSC Maria Pia sailing through the ice on the St. Lawrence River between Quebec City and Lévis, with a temperature of -27C.
The container ship Maria Pia belongs to the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). It was built in 1997 and flies the Panama flag. The ship passed by the Quai des Cageux at just the right time, as the very soft light of a late afternoon winter day is always more conducive to photography.
A part of the promenade Samuel-De Champlain in winter by -27C.
The photo above shows a portion of the promenade Samuel-De Champlain in Quebec City. People are walking under a temperature of -27 C, but the windchill factor is actually more like -40 C.
Where I was standing, a cliff was blocking the last sunrays. But a little further, the perfectly clear sky and the sun setting diretly in the axis of the St-Lawrence River allowed to obtain amazing color contrasts.
The promenade Samuel-De Champlain with the Adobe “Content Aware” function.
I used the first photo above to familiarize myself with Adobe CC 2022. The software’s “content aware fill ” feature allows you to quickly erase elements of a photo without it being too noticeable. So, I tried the experiment with the person in the foreground. In a few seconds, the lady disappeared without a trace. Artificial intelligence now plays an increasingly important role in the fast and efficient editing of images.
Sillery was a formerly self-governing municipality that is now part of Quebec City. The architecture of the houses that have been built there in recent years contrasts greatly in style and format with the older dwellings.
The more recent constructions are somewhat surprising in their gigantic size. The new owners want buildings with a modern look and very imposing dimensions, sometimes doubling and even tripling the size of the traditional homes in the area.
The photo below shows the difference in size between a traditional property (on the far right of the photo) and a more modern home.
Modern Sillery house in winter, 2022.
Below, a traditional house in Sillery simply decorated for the holiday season. The blue light of the little tree is reflected on the front of the house and it looks really nice.
Traditional Sillery house in Québec City 2022.
The traditional house above and its Christmas decorations contrast strongly with another one two streets away (photo below). It’s hard to miss the house (of which we can only see one section) and especially the huge tree decorated in its entirety and which must have required the use of a crane equipped with a telescopic arm.
Modern Sillery house with Christmas decorations in 2022.
A final photo (below) shows another traditional house in Sillery with interesting architecture.
The old and the new are in stark contrast in the area, so I thought it was important to capture some memories of properties with unique architecture before they disappear to make way for modernity. Because today, the fashion favors demolition rather than renovation.
Traditional house of Sillery in Québec City with Christmas decorations. in 2022.
The pictures are from a Canon 5DSR full frame camera with a Canon EF 24-70 lens, all mounted on a tripod to avoid blur. The ISO was set to 200, in order to limit the photographic grain.
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.
The Turner Exhibition at the MNBAQ in Quebec City in 2021.
Before winter 2021 officially ends, here are some photos taken around the MNBAQ (Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec) while there is still snow on the ground and on tree branches. In the spring of 2021, the Museum hosted the exhibition by British painter J.M.W. Turner.
A section of the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (MNBAQ) in winter.
The architectural design of the MNBAQ, in combination with the contrast between the blue and yellow tones, caught my attention. The scene is partially framed by two trees. The passerby in the center adds a touch of humanity.
The “blue hour”, that special moment of the day, in a park near the MNBAQ.
The photo above was taken during the “blue hour“, near the MNBAQ. The citizens have deserted the park and are back inside, as shown here with the building in the background, with almost all its floors now lighted.
I considered it important to include the nice trees around the museum in all three shots.
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.
Winter photography holds great surprises during snowstorms. The picture above was taken on February 27, 2020, a day when Quebec City received between 30 and 35 centimeters of snow.
This little street in Quebec City still has its old wooden posts from which hang many electric wires. In several new neighborhoods, the wires are now buried and the lampposts are no longer made of wood.
The photographic composition did not require much effort, because everything attracted me to this traditional winter scene: the people, the diffused light at the end of the day, the horizon obscured by snow, the steeples in the background, the traditional architecture of buildings pressed against each other and the cars buried under the snow.
As for people, there was only the person shoveling her
entrance when I took my first photo. Then a man walking his dog appeared in the
distance. I took the photo when he was well in view but not in the foreground.
The scene was captured with a Canon 5DSr full-frame DSLR camera. Image processing software was then used to refine the final result.
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.
Place d’Youville under moderate snow. Seen from the Porte St-Jean during Winter 2020.
The photography technique adopted above uses the arch offered by Porte St-Jean to frame the main photo showing Place d’Youville and its buildings at the time of heavy snowfall.
This winter night photograph represents several challenges, including the need to show the snowflakes falling in front of the headlights of moving cars while respecting the natural light of the buildings in the background.
The two pedestrians strolling on St-Jean Street add a human touch and depth to this scene.
The photo below shows part of Pub St-Patrick with some of its Christmas decorations during the snowstorm of February 7, 2020. Old Quebec is full of decorated buildings long after the holiday season is over.
A pedestrian in front of Pub St. Patrick in Old Quebec, Winter 2020
The photo was taken just before nightfall because the light is particularly
soft at that moment. I waited for a rare pedestrian to add a bit of humanity to
this scene.
The photographic composition takes into account the two diagonal lines starting from the upper and lower left corners and meet on the right side of the photo, roughly in its center.
The diffuse light coming from a lamp post located on the right and outside
the frame of the photo adds a little warmth to this winter scene.
A narrow street in Old Quebec during a winter storm in 2020
The few Christmas decorations still remaining in Old Quebec enhance the winter scenery during a snowstorm on February 7 2020. The presence of several interesting elements add to the photographic composition: the color of the lights in the fir tree and its reflection on the snow, the yellowish lights , the pedestrians walking in the snow covered alley, the smoke escaping from one side of the building and the « blue hour », a period that lasts a few minutes before darkness when one can still see the color of the sky.
Winter storm in Quebec in 2020
The black and white photo above has received infrared treatment. This way, the characters passing in front of the car’s headlights are clearly visible, while also making it possible to distinguish the surrounding objects. Night photography with moving characters and such dramatic light contrastsrequires a higher ISO if you do not want to leave out objects that would be of interest in the photographic composition.
Despite an adjusted ISO, the car’s headlights made it harder for the camera’s sensor to correctly read the average brightness of the scene. Without digital image processing, the surrounding buildings would all be extremely dark. Using infrared solved part of the problem.
