As a prelude to our trip over to the island of Cozumel, AJ and I stopped at the Xaman Ha Aviary which was pretty much right in out backyard. It was about $25 per person and fairly small, but worth the price of admission. There was an incredible amount of different species there – and lots of shade too 
Winter in Winnipeg can be cold. Quite cold, especially in January. That’s why when things are a little milder its always good to get out with the camera and try and take in some of the familiar terrain from different perspectives. That’s what I did this past weekend getting out to Assiniboine Park.
We’d had a little dusting of snow and the weather was mild, so off I went.
Well it was just a week ago I was talking of a short fall, but we’ve had some amazing weather continue on and this past weekend was no exception with sunny skies and temperatures well into the mid 20′s!! I took a stroll through the park and saw everything from people playing football in shorts and shirtless to kites in the skies. Not much more you can ask for into the second week of October. I hope it continues on!
Fall was short this year. It got cold quick and that combined with some real windy days took care of most of the autumn leaves. I was able to get out a little bit over the past couple weeks to grab some shots though. Maybe the last outdoors ones for a while. Welcome winter!
I just got back this week from a few days out at the Experimental Lakes Area for some R&R and a canoe trip with my buddy Mark. Its a government research area consisting of about 60 lakes in southern Ontario. I had a good visit with the family and did a couple days canoe trip with Mark portaging across 3 lakes. That was quite the adventure carrying everything we needed on our backs, but it was a fantastic time.
With some time off we headed to clear lake for a few days camping. I was disappointed not to see much in the way of wildlife apart from the bear that hung around the campsite for a couple days. The bugs were terrible and it rained a bit but overall it was a great break and was able to grab a few shots.
Time for some needed R&R. I took a trip out to the Whiteshell yesterday and hiked MgGillvary Falls. It was a beautiful hike, and only saw 2 other people the whole time out there. It wasn’t what I would call an easy walk carying my camera gear, but manageable, and the weather complied which was great!
Click the image below to see the gallery.
Finally experiencing some decent weather here in Winnipeg and decided to use it to full advantage. Packed up the gear and headed out to Gimli with my buddy Mark and his son Dylan to catch some racing action. Our first stop was at the Karting track for the Manitoba Karting Association.
There was some great action and some good photo ops. Fortunately since Dylan raced last year sponsored by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, and Mark helped out at the track he was able to get us inside the track area to get up close and personal to the action.
Click on the shots below to see the full gallery of images.
So from the karting races we made our way back out to the highway and up the road to the other end of the field where my buddy AJ was racing his 600cc bike in the MRA Superbike races. While the bikes are topping out around 250 kph, the speed is somewhat deceiving.
We arrived just in time for the afternoon break and hit the pits. AJ was just in the middle of trying to franticly solve a leak in the front breaks in time to hit the polls for the next race. So as he ‘solved’ the problem (as much as you ever solve a problem in pit row) Mark, Dylan and I headed out to pick a spot to shoot the bikers as they raced.
While we were successful in finding a spot to shoot from AJ wasn’t as successful in finishing the race. On the last lap an aggressive passing maneuver led unscheduled exit off the track at 180 kph. After a lucky miss of the tire barricades and a gentle putting down of the bike prior to hitting the ditch no ‘serious’ damage was done!
Click on either of the pictures to see the full gallery
