High above the fields of southern Manitoba, Alex Robinson hangs beneath a paramotor wing, wind rushing past his face as combines crawl across the land below. With a camera in hand, the Elm Creek native captures harvest from a perspective few ever experience.
Robinson, now based in Alberta, has built a career as a cinematographer, camera operator and drone pilot with credits spanning CBC, Discovery Channel and Sportsnet. But when he returned home recently, it wasn’t the bright lights of broadcast television that drew his focus — it was the familiar prairie landscapes of his childhood.
“I have so enjoyed my time flying around Elm Creek and the surrounding area,” Robinson said. “You’ll be flying along and you’ll see a place that triggers a memory. It’s just a fantastic feeling of nostalgia touring around.”
Harvest proved the perfect season for his aerial adventures. “There was so much activity in the fields. It was really fun just to drop in and visit folks as they were working,” he said. “I’m sure most of them appreciated seeing me as well — a crazy guy flying a parachute dipping into their field after they’ve been driving a combine all day would be quite exciting.”

From home videos to flight videos
Robinson traces his passion for cameras back to Elm Creek School. “The first time I filmed something on my own was a grade 6 book report,” he recalled. “I had to figure out how to play two characters on screen without any way to edit it — somehow I made it work.”
With the help of a borrowed home movie camera — and eventually one he saved up to buy himself — he filmed everything from school plays to small projects with friends. That early curiosity laid the groundwork for a career in cinematography, but also gave him the confidence to explore new creative frontiers like aerial media.
Paramotors, Robinson explains, are “like flying a motorcycle.” They’re small, engine-powered paragliders that allow pilots to soar low and slow over the countryside. But filming while flying, he admits, isn’t without risk.
“The thing you always need to be thinking about is if you had an engine failure, where can you glide to land?” he said. “It’s really easy to get caught up in what’s happening on the camera, so I try to minimize the time I have it out and also enjoy the scenery during the flight.”
For Robinson, the paramotor isn’t just another piece of film equipment — it’s a personal escape. “If I wanted to take pretty aerial pictures, I’d use my drone,” he said. “There’s just something amazing about hanging in the air from a wing and being able to see things first-hand.”
That sense of wonder hasn’t gone unnoticed. Farmers wave from their tractors, drivers pull over to snap photos, and community members flood local Facebook groups with enthusiasm. “Everybody I saw was genuinely excited,” Robinson said. “There was just a sense of excitement and community.”
Despite his travels across Canada and the U.S., one Manitoba landmark still feels like home: the Cargill elevator rising on the horizon along Highway 13. “It might be kind of silly, but it just invokes such a feeling of home when I see that,” he said.
And his Manitoba upbringing continues to shape the way he approaches storytelling. “It’s people-centric no matter what you’re doing,” Robinson said. “At the end of the day, storytelling is about human connection. If your story is missing that, it’s going to feel hollow.”
Beyond flying, Robinson runs Calgary Live Video, a production company that live streams everything from fundraisers to theatre shows. “I always try to treat the small streaming jobs like bigger ones,” he said. “My approach is very broadcast-based since that’s where my experience is. At the end of the day the camera isn’t just a window into what’s happening — we’re trying to tell the story of the event as it happens.”
Advice for future fliers
Robinson’s adventures — from grassroots documentaries to WWII aircraft restorations to buzzing prairie skies — have taught him that chasing passion is more important than waiting for perfect conditions.
“The best piece of advice I can give is don’t wait,” he said. “It’s never been easier to get into video production, cinematography and drones. The sooner you can start building skills, the further ahead you’ll be and doors will start to open.”
For Elm Creek, his story isn’t just about one man’s creative journey — it’s an invitation to look up, to imagine, and maybe to join him in the sky.