Quebec

If you are only interested in Chiara and Olivier pictures, there will be none in this post – so you can skip :-), but they are both doing great.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 24-70mm f2.8 – 1/1250s at f/3.5 ISO 200 – Driving along the Saint Lawrence River north of Quebec, the river it’s so large you can barely see the other side. And plenty a houses with awesome views along the road …

Once a year we try to spend a few days both of us on our own to recharge and relax. This year, taking the opportunity of a business trip we spent 10 days in Montreal, Quebec and the surroundings.

It is clearly not the best period to visit the region, it’s mid-season, with most of the summer activities not started and the winter ones finished. If we have been able to experience the fastest spring-nature-changing with some amazing summer temperatures, the colours are nowhere close to what people can experience during autumn, nor as dramatic as the winter with frozen rivers and lakes.

If this was not enough as an excuse for some under-par photography, I have been particularly lazy – preferring sleeping in rather than waking up to capture morning lake, or staying at the bar chatting in the evening rather than catching sunset. But well, we needed to rest – so one can’t have it all, and for this we did really relax and enjoy quiet time ! We also travelled light, only one travel zoom lens 24-70mm 2.8 and a couple of prime we did not used (except for the butterflies).

Anyway – here are a few pictures which are making the top – although not enough for a photobook …

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 24-70mm f2.8 – 3 Exposures, merged in HDR Efex 2, the straightened in Lightroom beta 5 – Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal. There is a charge on entry, but really breath-taking interior.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 100mm f2.8 – 1/800s at f/4 ISO 200 – Courtesy of our hosts in Montreal Michel and Orchidee, a visit to a butterflies show and a football match (no pictures worth sharing)

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 24-70mm f2.8 – Various exposures – An amazing hotel and perfect weather, probably the highlight of the trip. Excellent restaurants and a relaxing day trip to l’ile d’Orleans helped for a memorable 3 days.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 24-70mm f2.8 – 1/1250s at f/3.5 ISO 200 – Black and White image of the Montmorency Falls just outside Quebec.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 24-70mm f2.8 – HDR Image at f/9 ISO 200 – Half frozen lakes were all over the place during our road trip north of Quebec. Our current desktop background on the computer !

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 24-70mm f2.8 – Various exposures – Quick selection of country side photography north of Quebec in spring. As one can see, trees are still without colours, snow is mostly gone so we are left with Photoshop to create some impact

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 24-70mm f2.8 – 1/40s at f/6.3 ISO 200 – Last stop of our trip, Manor Hovey was a delightful retreat east of Montreal. This picture is also special because it’s the only day I woke up for morning photography …

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 24-70mm f2.8 – 1/1600s at f/6.3 ISO 200 – During our last days we experiences nature rebirth, under a very warm weather we could see the leafs growing almost day by day. A few days before this picture was taken, there was no green at all !

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 24-70mm f2.8 – 1/2500s at f/3.5 ISO 200 – Old tractors on exposition in a winery where we stopped for some last minute shopping.

3

Olivier’s Bedroom

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 24-70mm f2.8 – 1/80s at f/5 ISO 200 – Newly finished wall, decorated with shelves organised. This state of tidiness only last a few minutes per week – when we prepare room for cleaning or in this case to take pictures … so it usually never looks that nice.

It took us over a year to finish decorating Olivier’s bedroom—but we finally wrapped it up yesterday! He got his wall sticker on day one, then waited a few months for curtains, a few more for shelves, and another stretch for wall decorations. We spent hours browsing websites for inspiration, including the famous Houzz kid’s room section.

Every detail was carefully planned. We even used Photoshop for hours to simulate the perfect wall placement. After all that effort, Olivier seems to like it! We’ll check back in a few months—once he decides to start talking—to see if he still does.

Thanks to everyone who contributed with presents—it was a challenge to fit everything in, but the result was totally worth it! 🎨🛏️✨

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 24-70mm f2.8 – 1/40s at f/4 ISO 200 – Frames over changing table – he loves all his frames and painting on the walls – an artist in the making ?

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 24-70mm f2.8 – 1/50s at f/5 ISO 250 – On his way to mess things up and start reading. He has to put 10 books on the floor before choosing one to read.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 24-70mm f2.8 – 1/160s at f/2.8 ISO 200 – Shelves were bought from Ikea, so budget under control. However each of those decorated box from “3 sprouts”

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 24-70mm f2.8 – 1/320s at f/2.8 ISO 640 – His lamp on the ceiling was actually installed  months ago. The fixing is a bit wacky – so a good excuse to get him not to touch it !

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 24-70mm f2.8 – 1/400s at f/3.2 ISO 500 – Cheeky smile, Olivier playing in his room while we try to take pictures.

1

Easter Week-End in South Wales

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“Rhossili Bay”, said to be the most iconic beach of south Wales situated in the Gower Peninsula. It is effectively breath-taking, not the most child-friendly walk due to cliff, wind and cold – but very photogenic with amazing views of the beach along the cliff walk.

For Easter Week-End, we spend three days in south Wales with some friends, in a now classic 6 adults / 6 kids / 3 cars crew. The weather was colder than it should have been, but also sunnier – so all in all it was enjoyable – except for the few traffic jams, common occurrence for this four days week-end anywhere in the UK.

It was particularly windy – so we did less walking than expected – the kids almost had frost-burn on the chicks after one hour outside, so we kept time out quite controlled. Photography wise, all the pictures were taken with our 24-70mm, the only lens we brought on. And it was really refreshing to be able to do a bit of landscape photography …

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Trekking down to see the cliffs and look for crabs. Chiara was in my arms for the picture only – she did actually pretty much all the walks without being carried. Olivier spent most of his time in the backpack and did not seem to complain too much.

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Chiara was really scared that we would go in the sea – so kept reminding us it was too cold to go for a swim – she did enjoyed walking around with her friends though.

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Rounded stones at the bottom of the cliff. I removed all the colours from this picture, so it should be pure black and white, not sure why this yellow-ish tone is there, anyway I like it like that.

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Welsh food is not particularly low-cal. This is a typical main dish we got at pubs or restaurants.

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We spent an hour looking for ghost in this castle, the kids were scared but loved it – they were obviously a bit disappointed to leave without seeing any, but their imagination will work from then.

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Olivier enjoying a picnic, at close to freezing level – but the sun was out and he had his snow-suit, so he looked like he did not mind too much having cold hands for most of the trip …

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The three amigos, Maxime/Zoe and Chiara enjoying the view before a one hour walk along the cliff (not too close to them do not worry).

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Top photographic achievement of the trip (which looks better in big size) – and for once without Chiara or Olivier in it – hurrah !