There are always impressive light displays on various homes this time of year - it’s a great way to overcome the much shorter daylight hours and put a bit of cheer into the cold of December - but it would be hard to top the show on this weekend at Winnipeg’s famed Portage & Main intersection.
The Fairmont Winnipeg hotel transformed its frontage into a multi-story Christmas tree - a photographer’s delight not only for the scale but also a welcome mild weekend left temperatures high enough to work comfortably with some night photography to capture it.
Also present nearby was a message of hope, literally, spelled out for all to see atop a downtown condo. I’ve actually seen this on a few other residential decorations too this week.
It’s been a rough year for many of us but it’s a lot of individual efforts like this that will, I think, turn things in a positive way for the most people.
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Golden Hour in the North End
I once had a friend tell me a photographer is a person who takes more pictures on vacation than they do at their work.
This rung true to me (it’s certainly been true for my vacations) and I was reminded of it again this week as I shivered on the Arlington Street Bridge in the frosty air of pre-dawn, waiting for the sun to rise over the wide expanse of the railyards that are the boundary of sorts where the fabled North End begins.
I could have taken the day to sleep in, but I knew a clear sunrise was probably only going to happen this once, before the really cold temperatures arrived and all that waiting became a lot less tolerable. So, on a day free I actually woke up earlier…and I’m so glad I did.
The railyard is a basic industrial site and not what many would consider a ‘pretty’ landscape — but I knew there was something special there, and in the right light at the right time it was certainly pretty to me. Here’s hoping you can step out of ‘autopilot’ for even a moment and see the beauty in everyday life.
