Photographing Churchill

Another family activity we got to do was a trip to Churchill, MB.  We stayed at the best Bed and Sled ever!  Bluesky is the place to go in Churchill (www.blueskymush.com), Jen is a wonderful cook and you felt like you just walked into your second home.  We got a dog cart ride with Gerald and we met a blind sled dog.  Isobel is completely blind but you would have no idea she was, she is in the photo with Jen shooting the kids.  

A tip for when you are on vacation, sometimes the best photos are not compositionally the best but very funny.  In the North, everyone is armed, Polar Bears are very dangerous so when you go for a walk you take a gun with you.  In this photo Jen is taking a picture of the kids and it looks to me like she is holding them up.  Does is surprise you that the kids were very well behaved on this trip! 

 

I wanted to explain the Northern Lights photo I took over the Hudsons Bay,  the sun was set and almost gone, the moon was overhead in all of it's glory, the northern lights danced over us but when you saw them with the naked eye they were not as bright as the photo shows.  I used a tripod and set the shutter speed on my camera to a 15 sec exposure and the images I got stunned me.  I have not altered these photos in any way, this is just how I shot it.  If you ever see some northern lights look on your camera for the shutter speed and see if you can adjust this, most cameras have the ability, then find a place to set the camera down.  You cannot hold the camera still for that long, even your heartbeat will cause camera shake and blur the photo.

 

My husband was my watch man while I shot the Northern Lights, Polar Bears are very sneaky!  We did get the opportunity to see a polar bear swimming in the river but I did not have a big enough zoom, maybe one day.  We also saw Beluga Whales so close Mark almost touched one. I can't wait to go back to Churchill!