Jenna visited me here in Winnipeg, what is it, three weeks ago now? Anyways, she flew out here for a long weekend. We went and saw the sights, we even rented a car and drove up to Gimli, a little village by Lake Winnipeg that boasts Icelandic heritage. And sure enough, we even got to experience a little viking camp by a local “living history” group. One day we went in the Assiniboine Park Zoo as well, and we toured downtown, the Exchange District and the Legislature.

We were really lucky with the weather too the weekend she came: one of the days she was here was pretty much the nicest day all summer. It rained before she came and by golly it has rained the entire time since. I’ve stopped calling this city Winnipeg; henceforth I shall only refer to it as “Winterpeg”. Okay, that’s probably not entirely

But anyways, here’s a rare picture of us together (sad but true). The next three or four pictures are also from that weekend.

I went out to take pictures of the sunset, and finally try out my Cokin graduated neutral density filters. I bought them back in April, and I still hadn’t had an opportunity to use them. I found out that I just had to make myself an opportunity, so I went out.

I took this picture of the Assiniboine River around 10:30PM, long after the sun had set. The picture was taken with a 10 second shutter speed, but with max aperture. To control the light I used all three Cokin filters, which darkened the sky while letting through all the reflection from the river. Hence the camera picked up lots of red wavelength from the sky, and the the water looks like a vibrant blue veil. I’ve not done any post-processing at all (let me know if you think it needs it!).

Notice the family of geese in the lower right corner!

From my Maskwa trip: the 11-year-old daughter of the guy that owned the cabin we rented found this snapping turtle on the riverbank. She’s the one holding it, so keep that in mind when you try to judge how small it is.

I used my Nikon 50mm with a +4 close-up filter. Depending on what definition you use, it qualifies as macro-photography. On a regular sized print (15×10cm, 6×4in), it would be very close to 1:1.

See the previous post, Maskwa.

Here’s a sunset shot. It was so incredibly clear, the colours were really stark. And it was completely quiet… except for the rustling of the wind, the tweeting of birds… not a manmade sound to be heard… very tranquil. I miss that.

Around this time we saw a beaver swimming past. It came back several times. I followed it upriver, and as I came through some bushes I was right on the riverbank, and I saw bubbles right by the shore. I point my camera in that direction and the beaver surfaced, scarcely two metres away! It was more surprised than I was; it made a big splash and disappeared. I got a great picture of the splash. Fun though.

Ahh, it’s been too long since the last post. Get ready for a flurry of pictures.

I went with some colleagues from work to a cabin at a place called Maskwa. It’s a couple of hours north of Winnipeg, east of Lake Winnipeg, on a small river. This was a few weeks ago, mid-June. This being Manitoba, spring was just starting to really get under way. It was the first really warm weekend; until then it was rather cold.

We had a really good time there, canoeing a little on the river, sitting by the fire grilling hot dogs and enjoying the first hint of summer. It was beautiful there, and it reminded me a great deal of Norwegian nature. This is the first I’ve seen of Canadian wilderness (I know, it’s a shame… I’ve been here for five years now).

This picture shows some rapids. Yes, actual rapids. Manitoba is pretty flat, but go a little north and you’ll at least get some ‘gentle sloping’. And — totally off-topic, but can you believe it — Winnipeg has a ski hill! Yes! It’s located on the inside of the giant floodway that circles the city, with a drop of something like 30 metres (I’m guesstimating). Saw it on our way back.

In the English gardens of the conservatory in the Assiniboine Park.

Installment two: prairie dog eating.

I saw this funny little guy, a prairie dog, in Assiniboine Park Zoo, Winnipeg. Prairie dog chillin’.

So I’m in Winnipeg right now, and for the rest of the summer (why? More on that later, maybe tomorrow — I should have written about this sooner). As I was walking around, taking in the sights, I was looking for scenes that would capture the essence of this prairie city. Winnipeg is a fairly large city and downtown is dominated by highrises. But nothing you haven’t seen elsewhere. I settled on the Manitoba Legislature — the stately home of the provincial assembly — built during an age of tremendous optimism, when Manitoba’ s future looked golden. It still is — though not fantastically rich (at least not in a Beverly Hills 90210 sense) , it looks like Winnipeggers have done a lot to make this a very liveable and friendly place. I look forward to exploring more of what this city has to offer, and hopefully see some of the rest of the province.

Trying to get a little bird perched on the bench, I scared it away, leaving me with a picture of just the bench instead. I like it, standing there in the midst of the tall grass.

And this one is actually clutching a fish — well, half a fish (as opposed to this one)!