Daniel Parent wants to be the first Canadian-Tire money Millionaire – for La Semaine
I shot that a while ago and I don’t really remember how I setup my lights, so I’ll skip the technical stuff for this one.
Artistes protest against Stephen Harper’s financial cutbacks to the arts in Place Royal in Quebec city September 3, 2008.
I had to leave before the end of the first half to cover something else, but I’m pretty happy with what I got. Everything shot with the Mark III and 300mm combo, Av mode at F4,
Edit: I just added many photo on my stock site. Rouge et or football stock photo, Carabin de l’universite de Montreal Stock photo
Sometimes, the one who wants press coverage – the very ones who call the press and invite us to come – are the ones who do everything they can to prevent us from doing a good job.
Le Panache is one of the most upscale restaurants in Quebec City. They decided to invites for a “one night extravaganza” – a 9 services & 400$ meal – a world class chef from California. And they want the world to know, so they call the media.
– Can we take a photo of the chefs cooking?
– No, sorry.
– Can we take a photo of the meal before they are served?
– No, sorry.
– Can we take a photo of the dinning room?
– No can’t do.
– …
– Our chef and the invited chef will come for a small press conference, and then you’ll have an individual 10 minutes with the invited chef. You can take all the pictures you want then.
La Presse, The Gazette and Le Soleil, a combined print run of probably about half a million copies, are there, but all they want us to do is take presser’s photos out of the best dinner Quebec probably experienced in it’s 400 years of existence. Sweet.
It’s in those cases that you need a good bag of tricks to get some good photos out of a very mundane situation.
Chef Thomas Keller gestures as he speaks with Gazette reporter Lesley Chesterman at the Auberge St-Antoine’s Le Panache restaurant in Quebec City August 30, 2008. Keller, a world renowned chef, was invited for a one night extravaganza dinner. (THE GAZETTE/Francis Vachon)
Technical: Canon EOS Mark III, 1/200 at f5 with a 24-70 at 45mm – ISO 200, one flash thru an umbrella on camera right (facing the subject), one direct flash on the background
Auberge St-Antoine’s Le Panache restaurant chef Francois Blais talks about Thomas Keller in Quebec City August 30, 2008. Keller, a world renowned chef, was invited for a one night extravaganza dinner. (THE GAZETTE/Francis Vachon)
Technical: Canon EOS Mark III, 1/200 at f3,2 with a 70-200 at 200mm – ISO 320, Two flashes thru an umbrella on camera right
Vincent Laforest, in a short video, shows us the almost 100 remote cameras at the final of the 100m at the last summer Olympic games.
As an editorial photographer, I often get phone call for the next day, and sometime for the next hour. Or worse. Yesterday, I got a call and they wanted me to be on site 30 minutes later. So it is really difficult to plan ahead.
But since photo editor usually work Monday to Friday from 8 to 5, if I don’t have a job by Friday at 5pm, that usually means I will not work over the week-end.
It was last Saturday that we decided Cindy and I that we where really due for some time off away from home. And because I did not want to miss a job, we planned to leave Friday, IF I was still free.
Phone rang yesterday.
-Are you available for two portraits Saturday?
-Sure am!
However, we really needed some time off. So we decided to leave this Morning (Thursday) and come back Saturday morning, pending the confirmation of the time the portraits need to be done.
So this morning, we pack the car and head northeast. Destination: Les Escoumins, thru Tadoussac. Some whales photo would nicely fits into my stock archive.
We are 20 minutes into the trip when the phone rang.
– Hi Francis! I’m calling to confirm the portraits job. It is going to be Friday instead. At 11 and 1pm.
– Oh! Ok, no problem.
Quick chat with Cindy: We decide to continue but stop in Tadoussac. We’ll sleep there and head back quickly tomorrow so I can be on time for the assignment.
15 minutes latter, the phone rang again. It’s another client.
– Hi Francis! Would you be available for us tomorrow at 8:30 in the morning?
– Sure am!
So we decide to continue anyway. We’ll stop in La Malbaie to get some stock of the Casino, the city, the Manoir Richelieu and some other things, and then we’ll come back in the evening.
At 11, we are just arriving in Baie St-Paul, a charming village an hour and half from Quebec city. My Treo tells me that an email just came in.
It reads something like “Hi Francis! Could you do a quick job for us this afternoon?”
I reply back: “Sure can!”
We stay about an hour, so I can get some stock out of the place, and we head back.
On our way back, we decide to go with the first idea: leave Friday night for whole weekend.
As we are hitting the city, another email comes in.
And guess what? Yep: A client wants me for a job this Saturday!
Freelancing really means being “free”… for your client!