Just put the flah on a monopod! That Strovist guy is simply a genius!

I used to hate shooting portrait. Well, I did not HATE it. It's just that I was a bit afraid. I did not know how to direct people and I was not confident enough with my off-camera lighting.  Thanks to my internship at the Ottawa Citizen, the Edmonton Sun, my summer job at the Windsor Star, and to Strobist, I know what I am doing and I am not afraid of doing it. I can do some cool light trick and create something out of a white wall. When I have a portrait assignment, I'm nervous no more. I just know I can come back with a neat picture.

Now, I can enjoy it. The fun part is the people you meet. They are very cooperative because they are ordinary people who did something extraordinary, and they want the world to know it, or went through a lot of hard time, and they want the world to know it.

In the last few weeks, I met a veteran of Dieppe raid who was held prisoner by the German for 2 years ("Yea, we knew it was a suicide mission. But we had to do it"), a guy who was hit by lightening and survive with only a burned feet, a guy who run the marathon at 75 years old - and the only one to do it under 3 hours in his age category, an international Lebanese student who fears for his family back home, and the list goes on.

When asked who has the luckiest job in the world, people rank photographers in second position. How many time have I been told: Oh your job must be so cool! And yes, it is. More than you think.

We meet people than most people will meet. We go to places that most people will never go. And we see things than most people will never see.

I saw a guy nailed into a fence by a bull. I met Big Show, a guy I used to watch wrestled every Monday on TV. I visited a recycling plant. I saw a bunch of Brazilian celebrating their own defeat at the World Cup ("Brazil lost the game, but they won her heart," their were saying while applauding cars with French flag passing by). I saw an open heart surgery just before my very eyes. I saw protests. People crying. People cheering. People angry, people overly joyous. I saw cute moment. I saw some very odd moment.

And you know what?

I'm paid to do it.

Cindy just asked me for either a Caramilk or a Poutine Alfredo. That would be a poutine with alfredo sauce instead of the gravy sauce.

Kill me if I know what's the linkl between those two item.

Yesterday, Cindy asked me for: Vanilla ice cream, apples, French fries with vinegar, pineapples, and fudge. Everything under a 5 minutes time span.

What afraid me the post of the fact that Cindy and I are coming back to Quebec City is probability that we will get back to our sedentariness life. What a thrill we have here to discover a new part of North America each time I have a day off. We discovered so many new place, even without counting our road to Edmonton. At least once a week, we look at the map and look what city is close enough for a day trip, and there we go. Even if we know nothing about it!

In the last year, we went to Trenton, Bloomfield, Picton, Brighton, Deseronto, Napanee, Kingston, Brockville, Smiths Fall, Perth, Tweed, Stirling, Marmora, Haverlock, Madoc, Colborn, Cobourg, Port Hope, Toronto, London, Chatham, Toledo (USA), Port Huron (USA) and Detroit (USA).

Last week, it was Sarnia's turn to be discovered by the two nomads French-Canadian that we are. What a blast! I knew Sarnia was an industrial city, but I would never imagined to see so many heavy industry for such a relatively small town. For my friend of Quebec, image the Rafinerie Ultramar in Lévis, times 10. For a city smaller than Trois-Rivière. That, my friend, is impressive. But even most impressive is the fact that Sarnia has nothing to envy to Virginia Bach. Located on the side of Lake Huron, Sarnia has a couple of lovely little beach. Moreover, it is located at the mouth of the St-Claire river, where all the water goes to eventually go through all the other Great Lake and the St-Lawrence. What does that mean? Huge current. What does that mean? Decent size waves, thousands of kilometer from the ocean!

So close to leave Ontario, but so much that we have yet to see! Ontario is so big, and so diverse at the same time!

37 degree celcius. Before the humidity factor. According to The Weather Network, it was a "feel like" 44 degree yesterday. Cindy and I made a small trip to Leamington,  the tomato capital of Canada, which is about an hour away. Of course, that is the day the air conditioning decided to stop working.

Today, the forecast says 26. It used to be a hot weather back in Quebec City. But that will be a very nice weather here in Windsor!

New-York Times Assistant Managing Editor for Photography Michele McNally will answer reader questions this week about photography at The Times. Interesting!

It's seems that Cindy is pregnant for real. Yesterday, she made me go to the grocery store for coffee yogurt and tonight she is craving for vinegar French Fries.

If you are a working or wannabe photojournalist, the Strobist blog is a must. An absolutely must. I really mean it. Everything you need to know about off-camera lighting! Start with the Lighting 101 and proceed to On Assignment - Learn More where David explains how he shots some of his best pictures. Read everything. Did I say it loud enough? READ EVERYTHING!

I'm going to be a daddy! Cindy and I have just recently learned that the 0.1% chance that the pill not working might just be you!  So That was a bit of a shock because it was not planned, but we are overwhelmingly happy about it.

We took the decision to go back to Quebec City in September after my  contract at the Windsor Star, unless of course I get a job somewhere  else until then (but I don't really expect that, I know how the  market is!)