In my spare time ...... Waskesiu Lake in Prince Albert National Park
My clients always want to know more about me & what I do for fun.
Its funny cause when I’m not photographing baby humans, I’m most likely photographing baby animals or families of wildlife. Whenever possible I like to be in the forest at Waskesiu Lake in Prince Albert National Park.
This started as a child. My grandparents spent a lot of time up there. It stared with my Uncle Nick. My Grandfather was an avid golfer and loved playing in the Lobstick on the Waskesiu Golf Course. He has a multitude of trophies and stories back from his golfing days. My Grandmother liked to take the family around to bird watch and look for wildlife and picnic. My grandmother and I had been going up there bird-watching and photographing 1000x before I even reached high school. Every time we would got to the south end of the park along the scenic route and would see the Bison. This was because my uncle Nick was helping work on building up the herd and there were plans to release into a free roaming herd. He had also worked doing this at Buffalo National Park. At this time they were in a pen fenced up, just before the park gates. When he was working there, we would get to drive through the pasture in the car and he would tell us about what was happening with the herd at the time. He originally was up there studying Whooping Cranes. In a part of the park public were not permitted. At that age I had no idea of the significance of his work. He was just my uncle who helped me spend days at the farm, building tree houses and dealing out Dr Pepper, fun times with Captain Crunch. I loved it! No one else in the family wanted to spend time with me doing things I loved, so it was beyond great! At the farm he’d teach me about the different types of trees and animals that would make their appearances. He helped me build a bird feeder in to the top platform of my tree house. The birds were so use to me at 10 years, I hand fed chickadees, nuthatches and bluejays for hours and I mean hours and day after day. In amongst me running with my rottweiler Buster, among the wheat and oats of the edge of the fields. This was no ordinary tree house, he curated. It was 30 feet up with multiple levels. A rope swing that allowed me to swing like Tarzan to the next tree across the garden opening to the beginning of the next build site. I had been making use of this Tree house for 10+ years and every time he visited we added on or upgraded what was worn out. I was in my 20’s at this point and we were still building, it was that awesome! I could see over town, all of the garden and yard site. I could watch the red fox climb up on the chicken coop every morning while I refilled my feeders. He always got me interested in every plant, animal and aquatic life he could when we were around it. I caught some of my first frogs at the slew with him. We had a patch of 50+ evergreens in the yard and we’d go looking for owl poop. I really liked finding owl poop cause it had little bones in it. Kids love the weirdest stuff sometimes. My grandmother and him and my great aunt Inez, that’s where it all started from. I’m a creature of habit, so today I enjoy much the same. Here’s a peek into my photography outside the studio. Hope you enjoy it!
Amanda
