My Best Photography of 2016

2016, as I mentioned in my previous roundup post, was my year for photography. I bought my first (and, um, second) DSLR and really threw myself into improving my craft.

So, I decided I'd pick out a few of my best/favourite pictures from the past year! Without further ado, here they are, in roughly chronological order:

Winter/Spring

I took this one early into the winter, while out snowshoeing. It's in some sense luck, as I was quickly taking photos trying to capture at least one foot in the air without worrying too much about composition. But...I'm still quite proud of it. It's probably my best pre-buying-my-own camera photo (shot on my brother's camera...thanks for lending it to me!)

2016 in Review

Well, my 2016 was a pretty wild year (then again, my life never gets boring, and I find myself saying that about every year...).

Without further ado, here's a quick recap!

Countries visited: 6 (including Canada)
New countries: 3 (Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Italy)

World Heritage Sites: 5 (4 new)
Swiss Tectonic Area Sardona, Switzerland
Old City of Berne, Switzerland
Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch, Switzerland
Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy
Wartburg Castle, Germany (this one I've visited before, several times)

Back in Winnipeg: Photos of Oak Hammock Marsh

I must once again apologize for belated and lacking posts. There have been some things in my personal life that have prevented me from writing. With that not necessarily being resolved and exams coming up, I can't promise that next week's post will be on time either, so please bear with me.

A few weeks ago, several of us headed out to Oak Hammock Marsh for the day, to do some hiking and get out of the city for a bit. Oak Hammock is a nature centre and bird sanctuary, not far north of the city. It's isolated enough that you really feel that you're in nature, but close enough that a day trip is perfectly viable.

Impressions of Montreal

Finding that people were a lot friendlier than I'd expected.

People everywhere I walked nodding or smiling at me, or even calling out greetings.

Huge, lushly green trees, red brick buildings, spiral staircases, and gorgeous colourful doors everywhere.

The indescribable freedom of being completely alone, having no plans (other than going to the Swiss consulate, which was the impetus behind the trip), and being beholden to no one. I could follow my whims and do whatever I felt like doing at any given point in time (how often do we actually get that chance?).

Walking around my old area, looking for something, a memory or a spark of recognition, feeling like I was chasing ghosts, like I was trying to grasp a dream.

Finding it, finally, once I'd nearly given up.

Doing the same at the Westmount library.

Going down to the old port at 9 am with my camera, because I'd been up early and the light was good and I wanted to take pictures. Thinking I'd look like the ultimate tourist, but deciding I'd go regardless. Finding no tourists there (it was too early, I guess), only some locals going for runs or walks and a few who were filming something. Judging by the friendly nods and greetings I received, I appeared - to my surprise - to be read as a local photographer and not as a tourist.

The old man who paused to tell me he liked my hat (I was wearing my favourite hat, a grey wool-felt trilby).

The best car paint job I've ever seen.

The jolly bus driver and the random bus-taker who, with friendly grins and not-unkind laughter, helped me heft my giant bag into and out of the bus's luggage storage.

Trying to practice my French and getting responses mostly in English.

And, most of all, replacing my old bitter, negative associations towards this city with something better and finding, to my own great shock, that I like it.

I may even, one day, learn to love it.

My upcoming travel plans

As I write this, I'm surrounded by piles of stuff to be packed in my room. Tomorrow I leave, and I'm going insane with packing at the moment...ahhhh!

My first stop will be Montreal, where I'm just staying for the night. From there, I fly out to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for a conference. I'm really excited about this one - it's a city I've long wanted to visit, and marks a new province for me. The only part of the east coast I've visited (and furthest east I've been in Canada) is New Brunswick, and that as a child, so I'm definitely looking forward to exploring more of this region of the country.

From there, I embark on my big adventure: I'm going to Switzerland for the summer! I'll be there for a research internship (once I get my visa *crosses fingers*). I'll be trying to post about that adventure on here, so stay tuned!

My next post about last summer's trip will be up soon as well (I can't promise I'll finish it today, however), and I'll keep posting on that as well. Cheers!