Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Details:

What: Friends of the Aviary
When: Sun. April 10, 2011
Time: 12:45 pm
Where: 85 Oak Knoll Drive, Hamilton Ontario
Bring: Camera

http://www.friendsoftheaviary.ca/index.htm

I have never been here before, but it looks like an interesting place to shoot. I haven't been able to find any information on the website regarding the admission, but according to a post in a discussion in the Hamilton Flickr Group (dated July 2008), there is no admission but donations are greatly accepted.

This is a good idea Janet.
Having just acquired a Pearl Cockatiel, I am interested. But it looks like a greenhouse attached to a house. How many can go at one time? Can you call them to be sure they don't mind flash photography? Tell them we'll collect $5-10 each or something?

Interested, it doesn't look very big so I should be able to get back to the city by 6pm? Is there anything else you are planning to visit while in Hamilton?

I left a voice mail and an email asking about flash photography.

Catherine, the aviary closes at 4:00, so that should be plenty of time to get back to Toronto. I'm certainly open to other suggestions of places to go in Hamilton. I had been thinking of Cootes Paradise in the morning, but the weather network is currently showing thunderstorms all day in Hamilton.

No response yet to the voice mail or email.

Thanks Janet. I'm a maybe at this point cause I ended up staying up late & may prefer to get a good rest tomorrow.

I got this response to my email:

"I would suggest you come in the summer when the birds are in there out side flights we could the host a group as large as you would like to bring
And yes you can bring any photograph equipment

There is no admission to view the birds but if you enjoy yourself then please leave a donation to help with the cost"

Since it looks like there will be no more than 5 of us today (likely fewer depending on the maybes), I would like to check it out today anyway, and then if it looks like a good spot, try it again in the summer, hopefully with a larger group.

Thanks for going to check it out Janet.
It's a long drive and bad light and weather today, so I'm going to pass for this trip. But I would be up for a trip in a month or so when the weather is nice and the birds are more spread out.

Thanks again for checking this place out Janet. It is a long drive for me & the weather / light isn't good. I'm going to pass for today's trip, but I'd be interested in joining you when the summer is better.

It was fun to go and see the birds; however the photography would have been better if the birds were outside. A few of the birds were in the greenhouse part with natural light but the majority of them were inside the house part, with artificial light. It was difficult to blur out the cages because the birds were often holding on to the cages. It would definitely be better if the birds were outside; however when the email says "in there outside flights", I suspect they mean the larger outdoor cages. I don't know if they take them outdoors out of the cages, but we could find out if we try to do this in the summer.

Yes, outside light is much preferred. I know how hard it is to get good backgrounds on these birds. Perhaps bringing a simple black or white backdrop would work in the summer. I hate the cage look.