Blog - E & S Photography - Winnipeg Drone and Camera Photography

Jasper National Park Road Trip

Over the April long weekend in 2019 we decided to take a whirl wind trip from Winnipeg to Jasper National Park located in Alberta. We packed up our camera get in the Forester and headed out at 4 AM on Good Friday.

14 hours later and after a few quick stops, we were in Jasper National park, enjoying the majestic Rocky Mountains. If you are from the prairies or have grown up on flat land most of your life, this is the greatest feeling in your life… Texture.

Once arriving in Jasper first order of business, check into our hotels, then go find something to eat and drink!

Not much can be said about our hotel, it was a very tired travel motel called Maligne Lodge, lets say over the next two nights it was very loud, and would probably recommend booking somewhere else. That being said, it was cheap and a place to stay.

Once checked in we proceeded to find food at a local watering hole called De’d Dog Bar and Grill. The drinks were great and the food was not bad, prices were reasonable for the Jasper area as a resort town.

Next day, we met up at the Other Paw Bakery for a coffee and headed out to Maligne Canyon hiking trail. Our goal on on this adventure was to go from the main parking lot, down to 6th bridge and back up.

We packed our cameras and gear and headed out to the trail head, it was a lovely clear sky and crisp day in Jasper National Park, the perfect day to hike and tour. Arriving at the Maligne Canyon trail head, we geared up and started the decent down to the 1st bridge.

The trail was muddy in spots and still frozen streams made for amazing pictures, we eventually found a flowing water fall of spring run off and spent an hour or so taking pictures.

We then proceeded down to the 5th bridge, stopping to take pictures and just enjoying the wild mountain air. The trails were not very busy and allowed for us to take our time, get great pictures and relax. What an amazing day!

After a great morning of hiking, we loaded up into the Forester and headed up to Maligne Lake, a short 30 km drive from the Maligne Canyon trail head. The roads were wonderful and clear, with towering mountains and vistas all around. Once arriving at the lake, it was like traveling back to winter. The entire lake was frozen, with breath taking views of all the mountains.

What a treat, we took some pictures, walked around and enjoyed the fresh clean mountain air. After we headed back towards Highway 16 East and went to visit a small lake which looks like emeralds. As you can see in the picture below it was just stunning.

As you can see, it was a long day and we were all ready for a beer, some good food and to relax. So we headed back to Jasper and grabbed dinner at Jasper Pizza Place, it was very good wood fired pizza. We enjoyed a beer and headed to bed as we had to leave back to Winnipeg early in the morning.

We had a great trip as you can see, and will be back again in the near future. What have been your experiences in Jasper National Park? Where should we go next? Let us know by contacting us today OR on social media. Stay tuned for our next article!

Wedding Photography

Are you getting married? Looking to capture your special day without blowing your budget? We are here to help! Let us capture your special day with our new wedding photography packages.

Our packages start at $1500, and include 2 photographers! Other options are available including live streaming and drone photography.

Click here to find out more about them.

Don’t see something that fits your budget? Looking for something different? Please contact us and we will be happy to help and make the perfect package for your special day.

Welcome Our New Drone – Sensei DJI Inspire 1

Well we finally did it, we have added a DJI Inspire 1 Pro to our drone photography! We are very excited to welcome Sensei into our small little photography family.

With this new drone, we will be able to provide stunning 4k 30 FPS video to you our clients and customers. In addition with the dual operator setup, one person can focus on flying while the director or other can get the perfect shot every time.

Here are some specifications on our new DJI Inspire 1:

18-20 minutes of flight time
6.82lb weight
Zenmuse X5 4K 30 FPS Camera
Maximum speed 50 mph
Maximum range 2km
Dual controller system
200% awesome

We look forward to bringing Sensei with us to your next project please contact us today to book a shoot.

News – New Canadian Drone Laws

On January 9, 2019 Canada has published the new drone rules for flying your drone in Canada. These laws will come into effect on June 1, 2019. In this article we will cover how these new laws effect you from a residential point of view and as a professional.

So What Does This Mean For Myself And My Drone?

Well first off, you will need to register you drone which can be done here

They have now broken down the rules into two categories, Basic Operations and Advanced Operations. Both of which require a test to be completed at the same link for registering your drone.

Additionally you will need to do the following

Mark your drone and register it with the registration number
Pass an online exam.
Stay below 122 metres (400ft)

More information can be found here

What Are Basic Drone Operations Rules?

You can fly in uncrolled airspace
You can fly more then 30 metres (100 feet) horizontally from bystanders
You can never fly over bystanders

More information can be found here

As you can see there have been some positive changes, and will hopefully help drone operators everywhere secure work.

The Power Of Nature

This article might be a bit of a deviation from our standard material, but bare with us as we discuss the philosophical side of photography and the Power Of Nature.

Over the past few years of wandering Canada and taking landscape photos, Ewelina and myself have learned something very important. Our need to be in nature, is what inspires and drives us to do photography.

First maybe a little bit of background is required, to help you understand how we got into photography. I have always loved nature, growing up camping and traveling as a kid, nature was important, but at that time I was probably too young to appreciate it fully. Fast forward 20 years, now in my mid 30’s, Ewelina re introduced me to nature, hiking and being outside. It filled a part of my soul that I had not known was missing, in the day to day rat race to get ahead.

From those trips, spawned the passion of photography, to capture the beauty and share it with friends and family. This ironically turned photography into the main driving force for us to get out into nature, travel and see the hidden beauty outside.

But why is this important?

Being in nature has helped us reconnect with the earth, ourselves and each other. After a long week of hard work, sitting, working on computers and life’s typical stresses we found the best way to de stress was to walk in nature.

This has been key to keeping our sanity in our busy day to day lives trying to start a family and get ahead.

An additional side effect has been the new found respect we have for the earth, environment and our role within it. Humanity has done significant damage, and if we ever hope to restore our planet we all need to reconnect with our role within nature.

As you can see nature plays a key role in our lives from de stressing, to photography, to wonder and amazement! Even while sitting in an office or pondering what is next, I an look outside and be amazed at the wonder which nature brings to us and it inspires Ewelina and myself to do more traveling, take more photos to share our experience with everyone who visits our site and social media platforms.

Why?

We do photography because we love nature, plain and simple.

There is nothing else to really say, we love nature, and photography brings us back to enjoy nature every weekend, every day and hopefully for the rest of our lives.

How do you enjoy nature? Why did you get into photography? Let us know we would love to hear from you!

Tenba Bags DNA 11 Messenger Bag Review

Hello everyone! It is that time of year again, when we review a new great product that we have used in the field. Today’s review is the Tenba Bags DNA 11 Messenger Bag.

Initial Impressions

This messenger bag was chosen after many months of research looking for a new highly portable bag when traveling or doing photo shoots. The requirements for this product were the following:

Lightweight and rugged
Good build quality and warranty
Easy to access camera and lenses
Can hold 1 full frame DSLR + 2 lenses
Can hold our DJI Mavic Pro along with the camera and lens.
Can hold a small tablet or laptop.
Weather proof

After looking through many products we settled on the Tenba DNA 11 Messenger Bag. It met all of our initial requirements and more!

After Use

With any product we review, we want to make sure it is used in normal situations such as hiking, wedding photography and day to day use. After about 3 months of use the DNA 11 Messenger Bag has shown us just how versatile it is!

For its small size, the Tenba DNA 11 Messenger Bag is ideal for day to day photography needs. Inside we can fit our Nikon D750, with our ultra wide lens and another lens, along with filters, iPad, adapters, batteries and our DJI Mavic Pro! You can see in the photo below, all the items which will fit into this bag, it is a one stop photography shop.

Tenba DNA 11 Bag and Everything It Holds

I am sure you are now thinking, oh well now it must weight alot and not be comfortable. I would have agreed without testing it, you can carry this bag for hours and day without any discomfort thanks to the grippy shoulder pad, and optional waste wrap strap to keep it from swinging around. This made the bag perfect for our trip to Mexico and our daily photography needs, it went everywhere with us.

As you have seen, we have taken this bag, on a few journeys including planes, beaches, and cars. It is rugged! Rain basically runs off the outer bag protecting the equipment, and if it is truly raining you can put on the provided weather cover, which makes it almost weather proof! This is a better feature then most other bags on the market. The bag also has good solid stitching and you can feel the quality just touching it.

Ok so it’s well built and can carry a ton of gear, how easy is the bag to access and get to your equipment? It is probably difficult right? Wrong! The Tenba DNA 11 Messenger bag, is so well designed you can access 90% of your equipment through a top zipper. This allows for easy access into the main compartment, where your camera, lenses, ipad and drone are hiding out. If you really need to open it up, there are 2 quick release straps on the front and military grade quiet Velcro keep it all secure, but easy to open in a rush. There is also a back zipper which gives you access to a misc paper, document and pen holder, perfect for cards and travel documents.

Well that is great and all, but does it actually protect your equipment? You bet! The main compartment is a removable padded container which is strong enough to protect your delicate equipment. Additionally, the quick release straps are in fact secure as well since, then require a slide to unlock instead of an up pop and combined with the Velcro keeps everything locked in place.

So what else can it do? This bag, can do it all, it can hold a device up to 11″ and even has small little areas on the side for a water bottle. We believe the only thing missing is the kitchen sink!

Is there anything it cant do? In our experience this bag meets all of our needs. Our only concern, might be it cannot hold a small Gorilla Pod tripod, but then again, that was never a requirement, and we can use our other backpack for this if required

Tenba Bag In The Field — Tenba Solstice 20L Backpack

Final Thoughts

If you are looking for an ultra portable bag, that can do it all the Tenba DNA 11 Messenger bag cannot be beat! If it’s a little big Tenba also offers other smaller sizes with the same build quality and features. We highly recommend this bag and believe it is a great product.

Guide – How to fly your drone in winter

With the weather dropping to -40c (yep c not f) here in Winnipeg, Canada, we thought it would be a great time to talk about winter drone flying. Here are some hints and tips you can use to enjoy flying your drone in colder winter weather and get the most out of every season!

This article is our first in a series of guides to get the most out of your photography in any weather, for camera and drone! Keep checking our instagram, facebook and blog for updates!

Winter Drone Flight Batteries

Batteries are critical to your drone, they are the source of power and if they die your drone will crash to the ground. We all know that cold weather affects battery performance, so how do you handle this when its -20c or colder?

Our trick is to keep them in an inner pocket within your jacket while hiking or traveling to your location. If that is not an option, wrap them with hot pockets or other warming pads to keep them at a nice temperature.

Do not use frozen or ice cold batteries in your drone, they can suddenly lose power and cause your drone to fall from the sky.

Winter Drone Flight Pre-Flight

So now that we have warm batteries we are good to go right? No! Your drone is a complex piece of technology with various circuits, fans, motors and sensors. These all need to be warmed up! Our typical process is follows.

Remove drone from backpack or carrying case. Install rotor blades if required.
Remove transport protections such as the gimble lock and covers.
Install any filters.
Install warm battery (see above)
Power on drone
Allow drone to power up and perform any pre heating on IMU and other sensors as required.
Once Drone gives you the all clear spin up rotors
Allow rotors to spin and warm up for 30 seconds to a minute.
During this warm up, confirm battery discharge rate and sensor checks.
Enjoy your flight but make sure you stay within line of sight.

Winter Drone Flight Cautions

Remember that your drone might not be designed to operate in colder temperatures. This must be done at your own risk!

Also remember that snow, ice and ice fog can cling to rotors, and intakes causing you drone to fly abnormally or even crash! Always stay in line of site and monitor your drones performance.

With all of these in mind, go out there and enjoy one of the most rugged beautiful times of the year. Also stay warm!

Here is a shot taken in -40c of Tulabi Falls, enjoy!

2019 Update! Where did 2018 go?

Hello everyone,

We wish to apologies for the lack of updates on our blog and website! It has been a crazy end to 2018, but we are back with lots of great pictures, videos, wedding photos and stories to share!

So I am sure everyone has been asking, what have you been up too if you are to busy to update your blog and website? Well that is a great question!

Since our last update we have gotten our feet wet in Wedding Photography, you can see some of our work by clicking here. We would like to send a special congratulations to Mr and Mrs Craig who trusted us with their photos on their special day!

If you have been following us on Instagram (and why aren’t you) we have been to Mexico and posted some lovely pictures! Expect more of them to appear in our portfolio and on our Instagram as well.

We are also in the process of updating our website portfolio and posting more great drone and gimble videos to our YouTube channel! We will update our block once these have been added and posted. For real time updates of course follow us on Instagram or Facebook!

So stay tuned we will be back with more updates shortly.

Breakers Beach Bar Drone Video

Hello everyone!

It has been a little time since our last post and we have been very busy with travel, photography and working on various projects! As such we wanted to share a quick update with our latest video for Breakers Beach Bar in Bucerias Mexico!

We had the pleasure of filming this location while on our trip in the spring and just now had a chance to assembled the entire video. If you have not visited this place you are missing out, great food, friendly staff, great views and right on the beach in Bucerias. They even have hockey playing for us home sick Canadians.

Please enjoy!

If your looking for your own drone video or want us to come out let us know!

Random Act Of Kindness - Anniversary Truck Picture

News – Random Acts of Kindness

On our recent trip to Hecla, MB, has inspired us to start a new program called “Random Acts of Kindness”. We all have done something nice to a stranger before, and we all know how good it feels to make someone else’s day. With our passion for photography, and frequent trips around Manitoba (and other locations), we have decided help others capture their beautiful moments.

It all started with the beautiful couple in the picture below – they stopped us on the side of the road and asked us to take a picture of them with their cell phone. Since Sean was just taking pictures of the landscape, he offered to take a picture with his camera. We found out that they were celebrating their anniversary, and they found out that we are professional photographers – they couldn’t have been happier! In the evening we processed their picture and sent it back to them. They were very pleased with results, as they never had such a beautiful picture of their truck before. Knowing that we made their anniversary a little bit more special, made us feel pretty darn good!

We’re looking forward to our next adventure and a chance to make new friends!

If you, or someone you know is looking for a professional photo shoot of their automobile, or any other hobby please send them our way – we promise that you’ll be satisfied with our quote!

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