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
« Réclame ta rue » is a weird annual « protest » where a bunch of people « reclaim their street » by blocking a major intersection and doing all kinds of things for the whole day. Anything they want, really…
Technical: Canon EOS Mark III, 1/8000 at f2,5 with a 50mm prime lens – ISO 200
Technical: Canon EOS 20D, 1/2500 at f2,8 with a 70-200 at 145mm – ISO 200
Technical: Canon EOS Mark III, 1/2500 at f3,5 with a 50mm prime lens – ISO 200
Technical: Canon EOS Mark III, 1/200 at f6,3 with a 50mm prime lens – ISO 50
Technical: Canon EOS Mark III, 1/8000 at f2 with a 50mm prime lens – ISO 200
It was recently the Celine Dion’s show on the Plains of Abraham for the 400th anniversary of Quebec city. In many interviews, she mentioned her special relationship since 20 year now with the restaurant Pat Retro and their famous “Pain à la viande”. Before the show, they had 40 or something of them delivered for their crew.
So the La Semaine magazine sent me there to photograph in detail the place, some of the item on the menu, and particularly the pain à la viande.
Interior of Pat Retro’s restaurant
Technical: Canon EOS 20D, 1/80 at f3,5 with a 24-70 at 54mm – ISO 400, two remote flash aimed at the ceiling to pimp the ambient light.
Pat Retro’s Michigan
Technical: see below
Pat Retro’s assiette Caruso
Technical: see below
Pat Retro’s Piment Fort burger
Technical: see below
Pat Retro’s poutine italienne (I had to taste it. I must say that this is a real and serious contender for Ashton’s poutine. It is THAT good.
Technical: see below
Pat Retro’s famous Pain à la viande, beloved by Celine Dion and René Angelil.
Technical: see below
All food where shot with the same setting. I used my 20d (my Mark II was about to be sent to repair, and my Mark III was not arrived yet) with a 24-70. Why this lens? For food, you usually want to get real close, almost like a macro shot. The 24-70 has a very short minimum focus point, allowing me to get real close and personal.
The food was put inside a light tent to diffuse the light coming from the two flashes. This allowed me to shoot at 1/250 (to kill the ambient light) at f18
Here was the setup:
I covered some High school football yesterday. It was my first sport assignment with my Mark III. And now one thing is for sure: the dreaded autofocus issue does not affect mine. It worked flawlessly, with only a handful of out-of-focus photos – far less than what I had with my Mark II.
All photos shot with it my Mark III, a 300mm and on Aperture priority mode at f4.
A full page on the Globe and Mail today on the St-Joseph street. A couple of photos in the print edition, and 12 online.
Here is some that did the cut, and some that did not.
