Saskatchewan’s Great Sand Hills

  The Great Sand Hills of southwest Saskatchewan are the second largest expanse of sand dunes in Canada. Only the Athabasca Sand Dunes in northern Saskatchewan are larger. One huge advantage of visiting the Great Sand Hills is their easy accessibility – you can simply drive right up to them. The hills cover a vast area of native prairie including not only dunes, but also… Read moreSaskatchewan’s Great Sand Hills

Bison in the mist – Riding Mountain

bison

As all photographers know, things don’t always go according to plan, but sometimes the unexpected can turn out to be just as good or better than what you had in mind. As we mentioned in the previous posting, Riding Mountain National Park is a fantastic place for wildlife, with bison (or buffalo) being the easiest to photograph. Our most recent visit was in August, so… Read moreBison in the mist – Riding Mountain

Riding Mountain – North America’s Surprising Centre

Sunset Lake Audy

What we like best about Canada’s Riding Mountain National Park is the remarkable range of possibilities for photography. Its setting in western Manitoba puts the park near the centre of the North American continent, so the landscape and vegetation combine influences from every direction. Aspen parkland dotted with wetlands mixes with boreal forest and lakelands more common to the north. Lush stands of hardwood forest… Read moreRiding Mountain – North America’s Surprising Centre

Breaking the Rules

Photography has a lot of “rules” of composition to help you make a more pleasing image. These are very useful for the most part, but they should be taken as guidelines rather than something to follow religiously. Sometimes, doing something different or unconventional might be preferable. Besides, it’s just plain fun to break rules! One of those rules is that you shouldn’t put the horizon… Read moreBreaking the Rules

Giant’s Playground

giant's playground

If you visit Namibia’s Quiver Tree Forest (previous posting), you actually get a two-for-one special. A short drive down the road brings you to the other-worldly and equally photogenic Giant’s Playground, located on land owned by the same farm that has the quiver trees. Through eons of weathering and other natural forces, mammoth dolerite boulders have been left in formations that, at first glance, look… Read moreGiant’s Playground

Quiver Trees – Photogenic Imposters

Quiver trees

Strangely, one of the world’s most striking and photogenic trees isn’t even a real tree. The Quiver Tree, growing up to nine metres tall, with a straight barrel-like trunk and a rounded crown of forked branches, is actually a huge aloe plant. The name came from San Bushmen who hollowed out its branches to make quivers for their arrows. This unique plant has a limited… Read moreQuiver Trees – Photogenic Imposters