If you are interested and willing to travel through the sparsely populated area near Leader, Saskatchewan, you can find many great examples of old abandoned farm houses and out buildings. This was a great example we found complete with a rusty oil drum and tipped over outhouse.
Tall Grass Prairie, in Assiniboine Forest, Winnipeg, Canada. This is a reclaimed section of several hectares in the autumn of 2012.
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
Honey Beehives
Rainstorm over Canola
Plains Bison
Lake Winnipeg sunset
Pelicans on the Red River
Bullrushes or Cattails in the Assiniboine Forest Marsh on a frosty winter day.
Lake Winnipeg beginning it’s annual freeze cycle in late November. Shot at sunset near Victoria Beach, Manitoba.
Kids and ice hockey on an outdoor rink, on Christmas Day. There’s nothing much more Canadian.
Three brothers
Dad lending a hand
I’m sure those of you out there with active dogs, who live in colder climates can relate.
Cold morning sunrise, I can still feel or rather not feel my frozen fingers.
My own personal favorites of Winnipeg winter shots. Purely subjective, of course, because often there is more behind an image than can be seen by the viewer. In no particular order, but since winter has officially arrived on the Canadian Prairies it seemed fitting. Today is the first real snow day, the kind where you shovel your walk/driveway and an hour later it has blown back in, looking like you had not shoveled at all.
Angus, enduring the blowing snow
Senior couple skating on the Assiniboine River
Hoar frost covered tree
Rail bridge over the Red River
Portrait of my wife, now you know why I included the disclaimer, “in no particular order”.
Ice skating at The Forks
Winter dog walk
Freeze up on the Assiniboine River
And just to be fair, Freeze up on the Red River. Technically just north of the city.
The last in the series of Grain Elevators on the Canadian Prairie. From my own home province, the elevator in Austin, Manitoba and a dramatic sky.
As promised the same grain elevator from my previous post, but a color daytime image of the vibrant orange structure in southern Saskatchewan, Canada. Somewhat generic, but makes for a good stock image.
Ken Gillespie Photo Blog 