A kayaker learns to roll his boat in Toronto as part of MEC Paddlefest 2009.

For all my photos from this event visit my portfolio site here.

Although we are far away from the mountains - and it pains me to see no snow here yet, and conversely a tonne out west (as I've mentioned before), at least we have the Great Lakes. Oh god, what would we be without them? Saskatchewan I guess. But I digress. The few Great lakes and many other small great and remote lakes and rivers throughout Ontario allow us to chase raging rivers, tour in sea kayaks for weeks, and portage with canoes for miles, or kilometers in the metric language.

The 2009 Paddlefest event was held on Lake Ontario at Sunnyside Park in downtown Toronto.

To celebrate these many exceptional benefits to being a paddler in the east, Mountain Equipment Coop (MEC) will be hosting it's annual Toronto Paddling Festival affectionately dubbed Paddlefest, on June 12, and 13, 2010. The event which runs Saturday and Sunday sees several tens of on-water seminars, featuring kayaking, and canoeing, stand up paddle boarding, dragon boating, white water instruction for both canoers / open boaters and whitewater kayakers. The courses feature instruction by some of North America's best and most experienced instructors. In addition to water courses, there will also be land-based instruction on all things paddle sports related including selecting boats, planning extended trips, gear and boat repair, among many others. And that's just the instructional side of things. It is after all a FESTIVAL on a beach, so bring your sunscreen and come enjoy many of the exhibitors and paddling brands that make their way from across North America to be at this event.

A kayaker attempts to learn rolling a kayak from an experienced instructor at MEC Paddlefest in Toronto.

If I sound like I'm preaching about this, it's because it's one of the rare events in Toronto that is very accessible to the public in a downtown core location. Accessible both literally and in the sense that courses are very inexpensive and allows people of all shapes, sizes, and culture to come and have an intro to paddlesports in a safe environment.

A kayaker discusses techniques for self rescues before trying them on his own.

I have photographed this event for MEC for the past 4 years and I can safely say that it's steadily grown in size. I remember standing on the beach last June (2009) and wondering if this is the biggest paddling festival in Canada? It's got to be up there in numbers, I thought. Hundreds, (if not thousands) of people pass through, and if it's not the biggest by number, it's definitely the most multi cultural. Definitely a reflection of Toronto.

I hope you enjoy these photos I shot last year for the event. And of course, if youv'e got an event of a similar nature that you'd like me to cover, don't be a stranger - drop me a line using the Contact link above or at the following email and we'll discuss the details. contact (at) kamilbialous (dot) com

More photos below - remember to check out my portfolio for all the images from the event.

Cheers,

Kamil Bialous

SKILS instructor Michael Pardy teaches a kayak course as part of MEC Paddlefest 2009 in Toronto.

Kayak instructor / famed paddling blogger David Johnson ( http://www.paddlinginstructor.com ) preps a class before hitting the water at MEC Paddlefest.

Kevin Callan himself with all his tricks and treats speaking during a course about his personal equipment that makes the outdoors just a tad more comfortable.

Tags: 2009, 2010, adventure, aquabound, beach festival, boat repair, camping course, canada's biggest, canoe, canoeing, co-op, courses, demos, downtown toronto, dragon boating, event, event photographer, fest, festival, instruction, june, kayak, kayaking, kelly blades, Kevin Callan, kid active, kinesys, kokatat, lake ontario, learn to kayak, learn to roll, level six, mark kelly, MEC, Michael Pardy, Mountain Equipment Coop, outdoors, p and h, p&h, paddle, Paddlefest, paddler coop, paddling, park, photography, pyranha, p[addle boarding, seaward, SKILS, stand up, summer course, sun, sunnyside, SUP, teva, things to do, toronto, toronto beach, tourism, travel, water courses, white squall.

Trail running in autumn on the Don River trails in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

So unfortunately I have nothing witty or funny to say this time around. What I do have are some trail running images I shot recently around Toronto. The fortunate thing about living in the east is that the fall colours last a heck of a lot longer than out west. (I understand that there are a tonne more benefits to living out west nonetheless, such as the 80 inches of fresh on Mt. Baker in mid November) So to take advantage of what remains, I used the Don River trail system in Toronto as the setting for this trail running shoot.

Enjoy the photos. Here are some more in the portfolio section.

As always, let me know what you think. Shout me a holler home skillet. Is that how you spell it?

Cheers,

Kamil Bialous

Trail running in autumn on the Don River trails in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Trail running in autumn on the Don River trails in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Tags: adventure, autumn, colors, don river, fall, patagonia, photo shoot, run, runner, running, toronto, trail, urban escape.

Whitewater kayaker playboating on a section of the Kananaskis River in Alberta, Canada.

For a complete slideshow of whitewater kayaking images from Kananaskis River in Alberta, check out my porfolio site.

White water kayaker Paul Manning-Hunter plays on the Kananaskis River in Alberta, Canada.

During my very short shooting stint in Banff in late September, I absolutely lucked out with the weather. The days before I arrived had some rain and cold weather, and when I left, snow flurries began. However, for my 4 days of Rockies photography, the weather was absolutely killer. 15 degrees (that's like 60F for my American friends) and blue bird. Sun shining brightly, slight breeze in the air, and the sweet sweet smell of fresh Rocky Mountain air.

White water kayaker David Manning plays on the Kananaskis River in Alberta, Canada.

Enough boasting about how good the weather was. I've mentioned before that during the whtiewater kayak shoot, the sun and location complemented each other so well, that it literally looked like a photo studio for the majority of the day. Beautifully blue and green water, some of the best paddlers in the Rockies, if not Canada, and vegetation action as filters for the light created sick and almost dream-like aesthetics.

Whitewater kayaker Paul Manning-Hunter plays on the Kananaskis River in Alberta, Canada.

Hope you enjoy the images. But that's not all, more amazing whitewater photos here.

Thanks for watching,

Kamil Bialous

Tags: action photography, adventure, alberta, banff, banff centre, canmore, dagger boats, david manning, jackson boats, k-country, kananaskis, kayakers, kayaking, kokatat drytop, paul manning-hunter, playboating, river, werner paddles, white water, whitewater.