… oh wait, I did leave the country.
I have been missing you – all of my fantastic fans and secret photo stalkers; I wish there wasn’t such a security issue associated with social media because I would absolutely have had a blast keeping everyone on Facebook and Twitter updated on all the fantastic adventures the PWP team experienced in Québec City. We had the pleasure of capturing another incredible incentive trip for one of our lovely wonderful generous fantastic corporate clients (it ended up being incentive for us to keep doing a great job!) Our fearless trip leader, Lori, puts together such amazing trips for her guests: tours of the local sights, experiences involving the local culture, and just about every other kind of “thank you for doing a great job” you could imagine!
On this trip guests were exposed to a myriad of different experiences – starting with some fantastic walking tours of the local city. There was one tour that led guests for the notable parts of the city with private guides, another tour scheduled around the changing of the guard, and one more that led guests on a photography tour of the city.






To tell you the truth – I took over the photo tour. Our guide on this tour knew everything about the city, but didn’t know anything about photography…. literally. After I answered the first few photo-related questions, our guide led us to some great spots and gave me the reins. It worked out just peachy! Save one run-in with an Italian crepe Au-gratin, the photo tour was my favorite experience of the trip, and I certainly hope we get to do this on future trips (I hope you are reading this Lori!)
Here are a few of my favorites from the photo tour.






Our other daytime adventures included Whitewater rafting, a riverboat luncheon on the St. Lawrence, and a magical art and winery tour of the Isle of Orleans.











Our evening adventures were poised to be just as memorable…and some of them were, but for very different reasons: rain, rain, and more rain!
Québec City is the birthplace of Cirque du Soleil, and they have a free showing every Tuesday through Saturday night. Usually the show is on a open air stage in the heart of the city, but when it rains the backup location is on a small stage under a highway overpass about 50 yards from the usual stage. Because of the unique outdoor venue, it had to be one of the coolest Cirque du Soleil shows we have ever seen – and we have seen a bunch!



Another memorable wet evening was one of the most anticipated activities of the trip: attending the International Fireworks Competition at the Montmorency Falls. This should have been the absolute hands-down highlight of the Québec City experience (it was certainly one of the highlights I was looking forward to photographing), but Mother Nature had other plans that included her ugly cousins “Rain” and “Fog”. Still, ‘the show must go on’ and all of us made the best of it!






The very last evening we found ourselves at a beautiful chapel experiencing a night of elegant event style mixed with comedic and artful entertainment.



Don’t let the strings fool you – these musicians were playing Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin!


This brings new meaning to the term, “air guitar”…’

Last but not least, our accommodations were spectacular – the Château Frontenac. Towering above the city is one of the most magical hotels in which I have had the pleasure of staying. Not only was it a grand hotel in size, the history of the property was equally significant. Some may consider it a little disconcerting, but three times leaving my room I was greeted with small guided tour groups in the halls of the hotel…. which was pretty cool. I suffer from a fanciful imagination; I could just imagine the tour guides stopping in front of my room and stating, “behind this door currently resides world renowned photographer, Patrick Williams, of the prestigious PWP Studio”. It could happen…


It takes a village – BIG thanks to the following: Ben for helping me capture the trip, Angel for helping me keep up with my everything on the trip, Tee, MC, JT, Papa and D-Ma for keeping (up with) Murphy, to Lori for having us capture her amazing trip AGAIN, to Nicole for keeping up with Willis, to Cassie and Kevin for covering PWP events in the ATL in my absence, and many thanks to Peter for holding down the PWP fort over the week; I could not have done it without you all!! Okay, fine, maybe I could have done some of it without you – but it wouldn’t have been any kinda near as smooth!!!!!!!!!

