Photographing the Canadian Prairie: You don’t need exotic travel locations for good photography!

Living on the Canadian Prairies, at times can seem like a disadvantage for the travel or landscape photographer. But it really isn’t, there is a huge diversity of things to photograph. And I’m not only referring to fields of Canola, or Wheat. Sure there aren’t majestic mountains, many waterfalls etc. But if you search for interesting subject matter, you will find it. Often in your own backyard, granted the Black-Eyed Susan shot above is from Assiniboine Park, but I consider it in my own backyard. Sometimes you need to look a bit closer, or be a little more creative but great images are everywhere.

Here are a few recent landscapes shot in my own big backyard of Southern Manitoba. Now tell me the Lake images couldn’t pass for exotic coastal location’s. Keep in mind your own neck of the woods is exotic to people from other parts of the world. I have seen evidence of this time and time again. In Banff or Assiniboine Park, I have seen Japanese tourists in awe of the common squirrel. Several years ago I was short-listed in the International Travel Photographer of the Year competition. Competing with images from around the globe including the Great Barrier Reef, Images of Africa, people riding the trains in Bangladesh etc. My images were of, you guessed it, Canola fields and Agricultural landscapes from Southern Manitoba. But to judges in Europe they were exotic enough. Although I didn’t win, it was a good lesson in appreciation for the Prairie Landscape.

Lake Winnipeg