Lola Reid Allin (photo by Wm Mathiesen, 2005)

During my ten-year career in commercial aviation I piloted single- and multi-engine land and floatplanes, acquiring nearly 6,000 hours of flight time.  At the University of Waterloo, I studied anthropology, genetics, & psychology (Psychology, 1987).

Spurred by a lifelong and enduring appreciation of indigenous cultures, I relocated to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula (1993-96) to commence a longitudinal ethnographic study of the Modern Maya. At this time, I received invaluable assistance from Ricardo Bueno Cano (INAH Chief Archaeologist, Becan, Campeche) who charted an accurate route of independent study for me. While living in Mexico, I exhibited and sold my watercolor paintings to visitors from around the world.  My thrice-weekly public lecture presentations augmented by my slides of the living Maya people, Maya archaeological sites, and flora and fauna of the Yucatan were well received.  I traveled extensively throughout Mesoamerica, living with four different Maya family groups in their homes.  I return regularly to chronicle, in photographs & field journals, the lives of these Mopan, K’ekchi, & Lacandon families.

In Honduras, I documented in photographs the work of medical professionals for MEDICO.  In Cuba, I photographed "People & Projects" sponsored by World Wildlife Fund Canada.  In Canada, I continue my public speaking engagements using my photographs of travel, nature, and the Ancient and Modern Maya.

My photographs have appeared in independent and juried group exhibitions throughout North America. Numerous journals and newspapers including The National Post, Mundo Maya, The Doctor’s Review, and the Mexican National Tourism Board have published my articles and photographs. I regularly send travel updates to The Rough Guide book publishers.  World Wildlife Fund-Canada, Cuban Technological Institute of Atmospheric Science, J. H. Ngowi’s African Culture Safaris, Hastings & Prince Edward Land Trust, and MSF/Doctors without Borders-Canada utilise my photographs for fundraising and promotion. Since 2001, World Wildlife Fund has chosen one of my photographs for their annual calendar.

Infant Macaque, June 2000 (WWF Calendar 2003)