7 Days in Winnipeg

A famous research centre on HVDC technologies based in Winnipeg, the capital and largest city of Manitoba - Canada. This is the reason of my visit in Winnipeg.
For those who is not familiar with HVDC, it is the acronym of High Voltage Direct Current, a technology based on power electronic converters, typically used (but not only) for transmission of large amount of electrical power through long distances.
The clever guys of Winnipeg have been developing a software for computer aided electromagnetic analysis that is very well suited to the study of HVDC systems and they are ready to share their knowledge and experience with other engineers worldwide.

As natural consequence, this journey was for me also a good occasion to take some pictures over ocean.  At the begin I had in mind shooting the wild life of Canada with their incredible landscapes. Lakes, mountain, ice, snow, bison, lynx, caribou. Nothing was missing in my perfect photo plan.
However, very soon I realized that my mind was driven by too much passion, without consider that the time schedule of the course (the reason why I was there) would substantially limit my perfect photo plan. As a matter-of-fact, the first two frames posted here practically represent all my pictures shooting with sunlight! The first frame was shot in the early morning, during the way from the hotel to the HVDC Manitoba Research Centre; a short stop to drink a coffee at "Second Cup" the famous Canadian franchising and the second one, with aboriginal people riding horses on St. Mary Avenue, was taken just outside the parking place of hotel Delta were I stood..


However, despite the fact I had to reconsider my photo plan, I let come some occasion for shooting. After all I was in Canada with my camera equipment.

I found Canadian people in Winnipeg very friendly. If you ask them were to spend free time, everyone mention "The Forks". The Forks is not a famous Italian restaurant as the name could suggest, but a lovely place around the crosspoint between the Red and Assiniboine rivers, located in the downtown. Here there are touristic attractions, restaurant, market, shops and bars.
I stopped at the Espresso Junction, a nice place where they prepare a wide variety of coffees, tasty biscuits and play really good music, matching the relaxed atmosphere of the place.
I was happy to have with me the Olympus E-5, the flash FL50-R and a mini softbox from Lastolite to take this characteristic picture.



Walking around the Forks, there is also a curious shop called "Bayshore gift in Glass". Here Kevin and his team of artists create custom art objects made by glass. It is really worth to visit the shop with its thousands of colored glass figures and to observe "live" their talent in modelling glass with flames. Kevin allowed me to take a picture of his "good fighting" with a glass bear - next photo.
However, for those who do not pass this way, I discovered they have also a website here.


Finally, I was able to fly back to Frankfurt am Main just before a large snow storm and before the true winter in Winnipeg started. In the time of this writing their weather station register already minimum temperatures about -25°C.