Flying to Ulukhaktok, what I saw on the flight.

On November 30, 2013, I headed to Ulukhaktok, NWT with Skills Canada NWT. I was asked to do another photography workshop with some students there. I love traveling to communities in the north, the culture, the people and just the new vantage points and the things to see are amazing. Normally while flying I will leave my big camera gear in the bag and any photos I want I try to capture with my trusty iPhone. Flying from Yellowknife to Ulukhaktok with First Air will take you to Kugluktuk, Nunavut. From Kugluktuk it is on to Ulukhaktok and back inside the NWT. It is a great flight, lots of room to move about, a good snack, a good meal and lots of beverages on board. While on board I captured lots of things I saw on the plane and lots through the window. While stopped in Kug, I captured a few images from the ground. I had fun on the plane which I usually do when traveling in the NWT. Here is a sample of what my iPhone and I captured. Enjoy, thanks for following along and as always Happy Shooting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fort Resolution, what I saw.

During the workshop in Fort Resolution I didn’t actually take many photos. I captured a few while the class was on but nothing of my usual fair. The Remembrance Day holiday was the day I had chosen to travel between Fort Resolution and Fort Smith (I actually did another workshop at PWK High School in Fort Smith on the Tuesday and Wednesday and headed back to Yellowknife early thursday morning). For now, back to November 11, knowing I had lots of time to make it to Fort Smith, I wasn’t concerned about getting out of Fort Resolution to early and I wasn’t concerned about the number of stops I would make. I should have a good day to capture a few images. I was up pretty early and decided to drive around Fort Resolution and scout out some photo locations. Once I saw some interesting things I waited for the sun to rise and once it was up I started to capture a few images. After a couple of hours I hit the road to Fort Smith. I saw no big wildlife during the drive, no Bison, no Wolves, nothing. I only saw a few Spruce Grouse along the way. I did stop to photography some of those but, continued on at a good pace to Fort Smith. It was a great day and I really enjoyed my time in Fort Resolution. In the few days that followed I had another great time with the students in Fort Smith. It was a great week to be me. Here is a sample of what I saw. Enjoy, thanks for stopping and as always Happy Shooting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I captured a few image of the beach in Fort Resolution and had some trouble deciding which one I liked best. I have narrowed it down to my final two. Let me know which one you prefer.

 

Beach Image 1 – my current favourite

 

Beach Image 2

 

The Amazing Youth from Fort Resolution!

Today I finished my second day of a two-day workshop at Deninu School in Fort Resolution, NWT. The workshop was arranged between a Teacher, Alex, and Skills Canada NWT. There were five students attending the two days of classes, Tori and Tamara (two-thirds of the triplets, lol), Braiden, Isaac and Sam (Sam is thinking I saved the best for last again, I can hear her, lol). Alex was also sitting in and she will be leading the photography charge from here. The workshop itself was pretty informal, getting in the ideas and some of the technical things but letting Alex and her class determine the direction we went and when classroom stuff would stop and actual shooting would start. I decided to not be involved in the shooting. I had a couple of reasons, one was that I wasn’t really prepared for the temperature (for an hour in near -20) and the second was I wanted to see if any of the classroom discussion was actually being learned (without me giving direction again). Did anyone pay attention? Well I guess you can check below to see what these five young people did. I also learned a few things. First, Alex is really dedicated to her students and is going above and beyond to make sure they get everything they can from their education. Second is the fact that these young people are great. They came to a workshop at school for two of the three days of a long weekend and they asked several times to stay later and continue with workshop stuff. All six (Alex and the Students) made me feel very welcome and glad I decided to come to Fort Resolution to do this event. I even got a photo thank you, Isaac decided to write “Thank you Lee” is the fresh snow and photograph it for a little slide show today. Thank you Isaac, I appreciated that. Thanks to Alex and the rest of the gang as well, you guys are great. Did I say “I love the work I do for Skills” lately? If not I am now. Tomorrow is a free day for me to travel to Fort Smith so I can do this all over again. Oh and before I go, thanks Jan and the Skills team for giving me this opportunity again. Last night I looked through all the images taken and picked seven from each student. I than edited each one and did a slide show for the class. I am posting only one image from each student today, leaving the others for a possible future follow-up blog post. Here is what the future of photography in Fort Resolution saw this weekend. Enjoy, thanks for following along and as always Happy Shooting.

 

Tori’s Image
@ Tori

 

Tamara’s Image
@ Tamara

 

Braiden’s Image
@ Braiden

 

Isaac’s Image
@ Isaac

 

Sam’s Image
@ Sam

 

 

 

 

 

Place of Coal

From October 16 to the 22nd I was visiting the Hamlet of Paulatuk. My day job on occasion allows me to travel to interesting places throughout the NWT. I was in Paulatuk to assist with some accounting/finance work and although I did bring my camera gear, I wasn’t sure I would get much time to photograph. Being that far north the sun isn’t in the sky as long as it is even in Yellowknife so daylight would be limited. I was also expecting snow and ice to be all around the area by this time of year. Flying in from Inuvik on a Beechcraft King Air, I was surprised that there wasn’t much snow and Darnley Bay was not frozen, there weren’t even any signs of ice starting to form. After landing I got settled into my residence for the week and began to plan for a week of work. Throughout the week Paulatuk experienced all types of weather, sunny skies one day, raining the next and snowing the next. For most of the week it was wet and overcast. Even in those conditions Paulatuk is one of my favourite places to visit. Two of the evenings I was there I got out for around an hour to create some images and on my final full day I took some time to go out and see the amazing landscapes around the area. I had use of a truck and drove around for about one and one half hours. Last time I was in Paulatuk, I saw five Grizzly Bears in six days. This time I didn’t see any but, there were three around the Hamlet during my trip. I captured only the landscape this time. Next time I go to Paulatuk it will be winter and I bet January is a cold month there, I guess I will find out. For now I can only show you how the area looked in mid October. Here is a sample of what I saw, enjoy. Thanks for viewing and as always Happy Shooting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go north to Paulatuk.

Back in July of this year I was able to travel to Paulatuk for work. For those readers who don’t know Paulatuk, here is a little info; Paulatuk is a hamlet in the Inuvik Region of the NWT (about 400 km east on Inuvik). It is in Darnley Bay on the Amundsen Gulf in the Arctic Ocean. Paulatuk means place of coal, named for the coal found there back in the 1920s. There are around 310 people who live in the Hamlet. I had never been to Paulatuk before and was really looking forward to the trip. Although it was a work trip I knew there would be time for photography, with the sun being up 24 hours there had to be time for photography, lol. Each night after work, usually around 8 or 8:30 pm I would head out to explore, some nights with a fishing rod and some with a camera and a couple with both. Surprisingly, there is a lot of road to travel around Paulatuk. Garry, my business partner, and I had a truck to use and we explored almost everywhere the truck would take us. My favourite drive was the Rat Lake Road. Rat Lake appears to be made by the Hornaday River and the Hornaday is the river that flows through Tuktut Nogait National Park. Although the Park is around 40 km away, Garry got me as close as he could and I even got to put my feet in the Hornaday. It was awesome and it was cold, lol. In addition to the amazing landscape, Paulatuk offered up some great wildlife experiences. In my six days I saw 5 Grizzly Bears, a Caribou Buck, lots of Sik-Siks, and several types of birds. It was an amazing trip. On September 27 I will head back to Paulatuk for another work related trip and I will bring my camera gear so, hopefully I can capture some more of Paulatuk’s beauty. For now here is a sample of what I saw in early July. Enjoy thanks for being around and as always Happy Shooting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vacation 2013 – Part 22 – The Finale!

Today was our last day for this trip. Leaving August 3 and returning August 24, that is actually a short summer trip for us but, this was maybe the most important considering the cargo we were delivering. Kyla is in her new home and seems quite content, I am not so sure we are yet, lol. Today was a wet one it started to rain shortly after we left Twin Falls and it continued to rain all the way to Yellowknife and even continued while we unpacked the RV. We are settled in at home and resting. Good friends brought us dinner (thanks guys) and we had a good visit. Now to get back to our regular everyday lives but, before that happens we just booked a camp site at Sambaa Deh Falls Territorial Park for the weekend. I guess there will be at least one more trip this year. Did we enjoy our trip? Well I will let Jenna the Ham answer that with her sticking herself in some images. Thanks to all of you who followed along this year and stayed plugged in for some new post. Enjoy the last of the images from this thread and as always Happy Shooting.

 

 

 

 

 

Vacation 2013 – Part 21 – Homeward Bound!

Today we made it back to the Northwest Territories. It was our longest drive of the trip, leaving Shaw’s Point Resort near High Prairie, Alberta and arriving at Twin Falls Park near Enterprise, NWT. With stops for lunch and dinner and a few photography stops we were on the road about nine hours. One thing I noticed while driving is that “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke is not the same without Kyla in the truck (the part she sings isn’t as funny either). Usually long drive days mean short photography days. The girls aren’t interested in long stops waiting for dad to set up his gear, they just want to get moving. Tomorrow around late afternoon we should arrive home to our first night without Kyla in the house, it could be interesting. We will probably be six hours tomorrow but, with no real deadline to follow and it being our last day, a few more photography stops might be possible. I am hoping for that, lol. Anyway it is time for family snacks so, I will run and eat something yummy made by Dale. Here are a couple of images from today. Stay tuned for the final post of our trip, enjoy these images and as always Happy Shooting.

 

 

 

Vacation 2013 – Part 20 – Today Life is Beachy!

Today was a short travel day, we traveled from Morinville to Shaw’s Point Resort just outside of High Prairie, Alberta. The morning started with some great photographic opportunities but, I was out walking Bella the Dog with no camera. I got to watch the Common Loon splash in the pond and raise it wings,a muskrat swam by and there was beautiful morning light. Mr Prairie Dog decided it was a good time to nap on the grass but, at least he waited for me to grab my camera. He slept away until a train whistle blew and his eyes just popped open. I did get a few shots of him before he dropped into one of his many holes. We did the usual packing up and hooking up before we started north. We stopped in Slave Lake for lunch and signs of their devastating fire are still very visible. Once lunch was eaten we were on the road again. We arrived at Shaw’s and checked in, went to our RV site and set up the RV for the afternoon and night. We then went to the beautiful sandy beach and hung out for a couple of hours. I grabbed some photos while there. Then back to the RV for a BBQ and some card playing. Another great day of travel. Tomorrow we will make it back to the NWT but, for now here a two images from today. Enjoy, thanks for coming by and as always Happy Shooting.

 

 

 

Vacation 2013 – Part 19 – This RV site is for the Birds!

After a great night in Blairmore, we were up and on the road by 10:15 am. Today was a little longer drive than our last few days as we traveled to Morinville, just north of Edmonton. We arrived, set up the RV and took a quick drive around Morinville and then headed into St Albert for dinner. After dinner we played some cards and then just relaxed. Next to our site is a small pond full of all different kinds of birds and at least one muskrat. We also have a Prairie Dog neighbour. I walked to the shore and took some photos of the birds. There was a Common Loon across the pond and he/she didn’t want to get close to me. The ducks were a little more cooperative. Dale and I took a quick walk around and during our walk the Loon decided to come over and play (I guess the Loon likes Dale better then me, lol). I got a few shots of it and once the Loon thought I had enough, it flew away. It was fun shooting the birds but, our Prairie Dog friend wanted nothing to do with getting some portraits done. Tomorrow is a short driving day as we will stop near High Prairie before getting back in the NWT. Here is a sample of what we saw today. Enjoy, thanks for being around and as always Happy Shooting.

Oh no you won’t!

Vacation 2013 – Part 18 – Just the four of us!

So, the day finally arrived, today after getting up and packing the RV, we went to Kyla’s place and dropped her off. We said our goodbyes and then Dale, Megan, Jenna and I hit the road to start our voyage home. I will say I struggled with the process. I am very proud of Kyla and I know she is ready to be on her own but, it was still tough to drive away. After seeing some text from her it sounds like she had a pretty good day. Bella the Dog seems to have some issues, she knows we left Kyla and I don’t believe she is happy about it. Not having Kyla around gives me a few problems; one is that she quite often does my text editing (She is doing Education with History, social studies and english so, her role may even grow in the future). Secondly, quite often when I am trying to decided between two similar images Kyla provides her thoughts on which one I should use. She sees a scene very differently than I do and having her eye look at an image is often helpful. Tonight, I had just that problem and Kyla isn’t here for me to ask for an opinion. Even Dale mentioned how if Kyla was here she could help. I guess I will get use to that or I will keep all similar images for Kyla to review at Christmas time, lol. Now back to our travels. We left Lethbridge and headed to Blairmore. Blairmore is along the Crowsnest Pass in Southwestern Alberta. It was a beautiful drive and one we haven’t done before. It was the first time in seven years that I could tell the wind was having an effect on our RV hauling, it was crazy windy today. It was a short day of driving, we left around 12:15 pm and arrived at our campground around 2:30 pm. We had a quick-lunch and rested before going out exploring. We headed west into British Columbia (hey ,we went to Montana on a whim so BC was nothing, lol) and after a few kilometres headed back to the east through Coleman, Blairmore and stopping in Bellevue. From Bellevue we headed back to our RV site in Blairmore. We took several side trips along the way and a few images were created. There are lots of interesting historical facts about this area. The first Communist Town Council was elected in Blairmore, the area was a big rum-running area during prohibition, in 1903 the tip of Turtle Mountain (about a kilometre wide) broke off and covered the town of Frank (The Frank Slide), the last train robbery in Canada happened here in 1920, the Hillcrest Mine disaster happened here in 1914, there have been several floods and forest fires, Alberta’s first female Mayor was elected in Bellevue in 1963, Disney shot “The Journey of Natty Gann” here in 1985 and the best thing of all for you KFC lovers is that the gravy recipe for KFC Chicken was developed here. This is an area we will visit again, it is beautiful. We have seen a couple of additional treats the last two nights. Last night we watched a Prairie Hawk or Falcon (you bird people will know which) fly off with a snake and tonight, as I write this, CP Rail just passed by (literally 40 metres from our RV) with the longest train I have ever seen (the RV moves as it goes by). We are having a great trip. Tomorrow we start heading north again but, for now here is some of what we saw today. Enjoy, thanks for checking in and as always Happy Shooting.

 

The view from the shore of Chinook Lake.

 

The view from our RV site in Lost Lemon RV Park, Blairmore.

 

Along the Crowsnest River in Blairmore.

 

Crowsnest River at the entrance to Lost Lemon.

 

My Furry Friend in Chinook Lake Provincial Park, Alberta.