The Château Frontenac grand hotel, one of the most popular attractions in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.

Designed by architect Bruce Price, the Château Frontenac was one of a long series of “château” style hotels built for the Canadian Pacific Railway company at the end of the 19th and the start of the 20th century. It opened in 1893, five years after its sister-hotel the Banff Springs. The railway company sought to encourage luxury tourism and bring wealthy travelers to its trains.

The hotel is perched on a tall cape overlooking the Saint Lawrence River, thus giving a spectacular view for several kilometres. The building is the most prominent feature of the Quebec City skyline as seen from across the St. Lawrence, and is a symbol of the city. The hotel is built near the Plains of Abraham, where the British defeated the French in 1759 during the Seven Years’ War (also called the French and Indian War), to annex Quebec (From wikipedia)
Technical: Canon EOS 1d Mark II, 1/800 at f4.0 with a 70-200 at 70mm - ISO 200, polarizing filter

Francis Vachon, flowers photographer? Just for a day. Unfortunatly, the sun was not very cooperative.

Flame Peony
Technical: Canon EOS 1d Mark II, 1/640 at f3.5 with a 70-200 at 95mm - ISO 200

An unknown flower
Technical: Canon EOS 1d Mark II, 1/640 at f4.5 with a 70-200 at 195mm - ISO 200

Lupin polyphylle Russel
Technical: Canon EOS 1d Mark II, 1/125 at f6.3 with a 70-200 at 130mm - ISO 200

Water lillies
Technical: Canon EOS 1d Mark II, 1/800 at f5.6 with a 70-200 at 145mm - ISO 250

Light has depth of field too!

June 24 is the Quebec National Day. On the 23, a huge show is held on the Plains of Abraham, one of the biggest urban park of the world. Here is some photos with artists you have never heard of if you are not from Quebec.

Xavier Caféïne

Normand Brathwaite

France D’Amour

Even the sky puts his blue dress!

France D’Amour and Xavier Caféïne have fun into the crowd

Plume Latraverse

France D’Amour

Xavier Caféïne have fun with the photographer

Xavier Caféïne plays with the spectactor who catched the tie he has trown into the crowd earlier

Some assignments end up being more costly than the rate you are paid.

*Sigh*

Oh! And my pair of jeans is written off.

Lesson of the day: Roots can get OUT of the ground and become a deadly and sneaky trap.

For the one new here, part I and II of “Photojournalist - a Dangerous job” are on the older version of my blog.

A member of the Force Interarmée Afghanistan stands guard during a parade and ceremony for the family and friends of the military leaving for Afghanistan at the Congress Center in Quebec City June, 22, 2007
Technical: Canon EOS 20d, 1/50 at f5.6 with a 16-35 at 35mm - ISO 1600, on camera flash

A member of the Force Interarmée Afghanistan salutes during a parade and ceremony for the family and friends of the military leaving for Afghanistan at the Congress Center in Quebec City June, 22, 2007
Technical: Canon EOS 1d Mark II, 1/250 at f2.8 with a 70-200 at 90mm - ISO 1000, on camera flash

Members of the Force Interarmée Afghanistan waits for the beginning of ceremony for the family and friends of the military leaving for Afghanistan at the Congress Center in Quebec City June, 22, 2007.
Technical: Canon EOS 1d Mark II, 1/125 at f2.8 with a 70-200 at 85mm - ISO 1250

3 quotes that will make you want to read the full article:

- “I’m against the proposed Senate bill on immigration, and I have all of my teeth.”

- “I think it is discriminatory to say all toothless people who represent controversial positions shouldn’t be used,”

- “I feel sorry for the poor photographer,” he said, laughing. “If he takes a picture of one side of my face, there’s no tooth. If he takes the other side, there’s no eye. So what’s he going to do?”

Funny and sad at the same time!

The reach of war: a deadly search for missing soldiers is an impressive audioslide about a a group of soldier facing casualities in Iraq.

Unfortunatly, this kind of work might not be possible now.

You now need written permission from a wounded soldier to publish his photo if he is in any way identifiable. and even if his face is not visible

(…)

One soldier was temporarily blinded and put on a plane to germany. Should I have asked him to sign a piece of paper giving permission to use pictures he can’t see as he’s lying on a stretcher in great pain?

(…)

The question I pose is: What would have happened to our visual history if Robert Capa and Gene Smith were running around the battlefield during WWII trying to get releases signed as they worked? What if this had been required in Vietnam? Or any war?

When should I talk about a shooting I did? Just after it is completed and fresh in my memory, but without being able to show it here, or after it is published, sometime months later?

This time, I’m not going to wait. I’m still recovering of the intense job I did for La Presse, one of the Montreal’s dailies.

It was a two and a half days job, with 50 portraits made in about 4 minutes each. Again I will quote my ex-teacher Frank O’Connor: “Creativity on demand!”

It was suppose to be head shot only “a good gig, but a bit boring,” said the photo editor over the phone. On the first day, we had only one person to photograph (I was tagging along with the reporter), and I decided to give him a bit more. I sent a nicely lit and composed portrait of the guy. I asked him by email if he wanted more of that, or if he wanted me to stick with the plan.

“Go ahead,” he said, “as long as you have an head shot of everyone.” With 4 or 5 minutes only per subject, not everyone got more than the head-shot, but I’m pretty happy with the result.

What I like with La Presse is the reproduction quality, one of the best in the country. You have to understand that we use 5000$ cameras to shot pictures that will be printed in something that is as good as toilette-paper to reproduce photo on. Some papers do a better job that other. They might use better paper, better press, or have a better workflow on the pre-press process. La Presse does a wonderful job and, since they got their new press a year or two ago, the photos look terrific. Wich is good since I used my 85mm for almost every picture. I can’t wait to see how the paper can hold this level of sharpness!

It should be in the paper (and on the web) in mid-July. Only then I will show you a selection of pictures I took for this job.

This is why I do what I do.