This panoramic photograph was taken on the day of the first outing of the 1935 season of the members and friends of the Club cycliste Héroux, a cycling club founded around 1933 in Trois-Rivières.

Published on page 6 of Le Nouvelliste the following day (May 15, 1935), this image appears very narrow in terms of height but takes up the entire width of the page. In it, we can see approximately forty cyclists from Trois-Rivières and the surrounding municipalities gathered at the public market in the heart of downtown, on rue des Forges. They proudly pose for the photographer after having participated in the parade that took place in the city streets, since their starting point was the suburbs located to the west of the city.

Dignitaries and event organizers appear in the centre: Josaphat Héroux, representative of the Canadian Wheelmen’s Association; Constable E. Lafleur; Ubald Héroux, club president; M. Dupont, traffic officer, who, with his motorcycle, opened up a path for the cyclists; E. Bellefeuille, former president; Bill McRae, vice-president; J. Roland Bornais, club treasurer; and Roland Bouchard, club captain.

The technique for taking a panoramic photograph consists of capturing an excessively wide field of vision, usually horizontally, on the same image. The shooting is slower, and the camera, affixed to a tripod, must pivot gently on itself in order to take the time to capture each person as they enter the field of vision. This technique, which took several minutes, is used less and less often. These days, photographers will instead use a wide-angle lens.

It was reportedly common for the very first person photographed, positioned on the far left of a group, after the camera lens had turned around to the other people to be captured, to have time to sneak behind the photographer and position themselves at the other end of the group, on the right. They could therefore appear twice in the same photo!

As for the photographer, Antonio Héroux (1883-1937), he was a master of taking panoramic photographs.

Musée Pierre-Boucher Collection
1994 54 F