Nature in the City – Saskatoons are in bloom this week
Saskatoon trees are in bloom this week. The name of this tree (well, more of a shrub) derives from the Cree noun ‘misâskwatômina’. The city of Saskatoon is named after the berry. Have you ever tried the Saskatoon berry pie? Delicious. I took a few images you see here as part of the NatureCity Festival that starts today. Over 40 organizations are taking part in setting up nature-related events. The NatureCity Festival is one week of free family fun that takes place in neighbourhoods across the city of Saskatoon. It is the inaugural event of Wild about Saskatoon, a...
Read MoreNature in the City – spring has arrived to Saskatoon
After a few days of unseasonably warm weather, signs of spring are everywhere: robins are busy looking for earthworms in my backyard and the elm trees in front of my house are slowly releasing new leaves. I went for a walk along the South Saskatchewan River and managed to photograph prairie crocuses at Petturson’s Ravine. It is so strange to be able to still see them in May. A very late season this year. Here are a few images from the project to photograph elements of Urban Nature for a series of lectures that I will be presenting during the NatureCity Festival (May 25 – 31,...
Read MoreNature in the City – birds along the edge of ice
I can not believe that we have had winter conditions in Saskatoon for over 6 months. This is the longest period of continuous snow cover that I can remember. Finally, we experienced a day or two of warm weather last week and the ice cover on South Saskatchewan River started to rapidly melt away. I decided to walk along the river bank and try to photograph birds that started to congregate along the ice edge. My goal was to capture interesting patterns including birds at the edge of flowing river and ice. This is not my usual photography taken at the edge of daylight – sunrise &...
Read MoreNature in the City – a photo journey to explore the Urban Nature
In May of this year I will be giving a public presentation on the topic of “Nature in the City”. This talk is part of the week-long festival Wild About Saskatoon, to celebrate nature and culture in the City of Saskatoon. Here are the first few images from a photographic journey to uncover and, hopefully, better understand how we as urban dwellers connect with elements of nature in the city. Urban Nature is more than just remnants of wild nature that is surviving within the city limits after humans took over and modified the original environment to suit our needs. Urban Nature is...
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