Yeah, I know what you are thinking: Henk has gone on a fancy tour… Possible, but there is no other word than anachronism for something that does not belong in the time period where things are supposed to happen. Imagine Roman gladiators with wristwatches.

Fort Garry, MB, Canada, 2010

Or imagine yourself, with your nice and shiny DSLR in a fort in the 19th century. You’d feel slightly out of place. Ok, perhaps not you, but me, yes…

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The Spirit Sands in Manitoba have been a place were the aboriginals would go only if really necessary. And then only for a short time. On a normal summer day the temperature can rise here to around +40C, making the sand a nice roasting +55C.

Sand in all its beauty

This is what you expect from a desert. And this is what you get in the Sprucewoods Provincial Park’s Spirit Sands. This is not a picture on the beach, I can assure you. Not that we don’t have any beaches, but this was definitely not one.

Read more: Spirit Sands II

Have you ever been to a place where you are told to take water with you? Nowadays, if you fly, you cannot even take more than a sip with you (at least not more than 100ml). When you think of Canada and more of Manitoba specifically, you don’t think there are places where you need water and cannot get it. There is a place in a park (!) where this is the case.

Water unfit for immediate consumption

The only available water at the entrance of the park is this… Not recommended for immediate consumption. Welcome to the Spirit Sands in Sprucewoods Provincial Park, Manitoba. The only place that would qualify for the name of desert in Canada.

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Sometimes we think that nobody knows what we are doing. And we like to keep it that way. Has it occurred to you that some “people” always seem to know where you are? Take a look at these maps in provincial parks, here in Manitoba. Whenever you look at a map, “they” always seem to know where you are. So then you check on your GPS, and yes, for sure they are right… They even put it on the map: “You are here”…

Getting that paranoia feeling?

Even worse, they seem to acknowledge the fact that it may disturb you and they even add a message that you may call “911” if this seems too much…

Read more: How to become paranoid

Hmmm, yes, that’s how I feel about many, if not most HDR pictures.  High Dynamic Range may, however, be a good way to go if your camera is not capable of seeing the way you see.

If only my camera worked like my eyes…

The camera has some its shortcomings, whatever money you put in it. HDR or High Dynamic Range photography is one way of overcoming that limitation.

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John Henry Munson was born in 1859 in Cobourg, Ontario. He was a lawyer and lived on an extensive piece of land on the borders of the Assiniboine river in Winnipeg. Today it is called Munson Park. This was the site of the house on what used to be Munson’s farm.

The entry of Munson Park today

The original home, built in 1889, was renovated and modernized during the time it was owned by the James Richardson family. It had its own private swimming pool and a large kitchen garden. It was demolished in 1980. Some people still call this park Richardson Park. The Richardson family then donated the land to the City of Winnipeg to make a park out of it.

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Well, I haven’t been in all the world by night, but many places, yes. The saying is “Paris by night”, hmmm, no pictures of that time. Lived there for 12 years, but in the non-digital era of photography. Oh well, you’ll just have to do with some more recent places :-)

Kiev by night

Ok, this is my very first night picture in Kiev, Ukraine. Point ‘n’ shoot, placed firmly on a high-tension electricity pole. In the dark you can distinguish the next in line… Yep. they have those in the city there…

Read more: The world by night