prairie

In June I attended the Windscape Kite Festival as and invited ‘celebrity flyer’ in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. It was my second time invited (last time was in 2011). It gave my wife and I an opportunity to have a mini-holiday out west and we took an extra week exploring southern Saskatchewan in day trips from our accommodation at McMaster Manor Bed & Breakfast near Lafleche, SK. A number of aerial sessions were undertaken. There were also a couple of disappointments where I was at ideal locations with insufficient wind. You win some, you lose some!

Here is a sample from the several locations where I flew my kite aerial gear. Click through to the galleries on my website to see many more images from each session.

Windscape Kite Festival – Swift Current, SK

The festival was two days on the last weekend in June. I was there as an invited guest to demonstrate Kite Aerial Photography. The wind was overpowering much of the time for most of the kite flyers including myself and rain was frequent. Regardless, a number of good images were obtained during three sessions when the bad conditions softened.

Swift Current Railway Lines

Since the kite festival proceedings didn’t begin until 10:00 am each day, I took the time one morning to do some aerial shots of the town of Swift Current and the freight railway lines running through the middle. Light was poor but it was my only opportunity and the images turned out pretty well.

McMaster Manor Bed & Breakfast and Farm

We stayed 4 nights at this B&B near Lafleche, Saskatchewan. We used it as our home base to visit communities in the area and both the east and west blocks of Grasslands National Park. The wind was not kind to me on our day trips. I did, however get two good sessions at the farm property of the B&B. I would highly recommend staying there – great hosts and great part of the world. Just remember …. nothing is close by and that includes shops and restaurants.