Parkland Photography History

Parkland Photography Club is a group of people who meet to enjoy, learn about, and promote the art of photography.

In 1986 Mike Crawford and Malcolm Salmond, photographers in Tisdale, initiated the idea of forming a club and offered their premises on a rotating basis for the monthly meetings. Later Crawford’s Studio became the permanent home.

Malcolm Salmond bought the business and it became Fairlight Studio and Gallery and meetings continued to be held there until the fall of 2003 when the group moved to the Kin Hall.

Since members came from a wide area – Melfort, Wadena, Carrot River, Arborfield, Zenon Park, St. Brieux, Spalding, Codette, Ridgedale, Armley, Somme, Greenwater Lake, Mistatim, and Naicam – it was decided to name the club Parkland Photography Club.

John Kozial designed the club logo which is an evergreen tree with a large leaf superimposed on it with Parkland Photography Club printed on the leaf.

The founding members of the club were

Mike Crawford	Malcolm Salmand	Jenny Fritshaw	Jim Swanson	Michelle Lambert
Shandra Haller	Penny Keast	Mary Wright

Other members have been
Carol Nilson	Greg Nilson	John Kozial	Lorna Hedman	Adolph Staff
Terry Staff	Pearl Mievre	Gordon MeEwan	Phil Weldon	Dale Manton
Verna Rowley	Wally Harstad	Bev Morgan	Louise Butterfield	Sue Harmsworth
Susan Morgan	Irene McCrae	Yvonne Marchildon	Heather Powell	Verla Will
Gwen Kononoff	Barb Krowchenko	Glenwood Johnson	Bertha Gowan	Connie Turcott
Theresa Lalonde	Cheri Turcotte	Dave Krowchenko	Adolf Johnson	Marie Lalonde
Verda Baron

Two of the founding members, Jenny Fritshaw and Mary Wright are present day members of the club along with
Howard Armstrong	Harry Bourne	Alan Caithcart	Jerry Crawford	Doreen Crawford
Tibbie Frazer	Darlene McCullough	Anne McIntosh	Adam Neish	Glen Neish
Alie Neish	Albert Orban	Margaret Paidel	Wesley Swan	Dorothy Wark

Monthly meetings are held – missing July, Aug. and Dec. – on the 4^th Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. These meetings are long on photography and short on business. Membership fees have always been $25 for an individual and $35 for a couple.

The June meeting is usually a field trip where members travel to a location and take loads of photos. Some of these locations have been: Greenwater Lake, Quill Lakes, Narrow Hills, Saskatoon Forestry Farm and Zoo, house boat ride on the Saskatchewan River, Dog Hide River Trails and Kinsmen-McKay Park, and the archaeological site at Pasquia Park.

The Dog Hide River Festival was a showcase for members’ work as matted enlargements were displayed. Visitors could select their favourite and write the title of it plus their name on an entry form. If their entry was drawn, then they received the enlargement that they had selected as their favourite.

Bookmarks made from photos of three schools in Tisdale no longer in operation – T.U.C.S., C.J.H.S. and the Dag - were also made by the members and proved to be a great fund raiser for the club. These bookmarks were also available for purchase at Fairlight Studio and Gallery and were sold at class reunions.

Some years there was also a slide show of members’ work which ran continuously and other years a photo contest was run. This was a busy time for the members as they also photographed all the activities of the Dog Hide Festival each year. These photos were put into albums which were on display at Fairlight Studio and Gallery and copies could be ordered by the public. In this way the Dog Hide River Festival Committee had a pictorial record of each festival.

In order to encourage members to take lots of photos there is a monthly theme shoot. Words or phrases are selected at the June meeting and the photos used in the theme shoots must be taken after the June meeting so there is no digging in the shoe box for these entries.

A point system was introduced in 1997 whereby members accumulate points by attending meetings, entering and winning the monthly theme shoots, entering and winning competitions, and having photos on display in Fairlight Studio and Gallery. A bronze medal is awarded for 100 points, a silver medal for 300 points, a gold medal for 500 points, an engraved key fob for 1,000 points, an engraved ceramic mug for 2,000 points and an additional engraved ceramic mug for each additional 1,000 points.

Entering and judging competitions is a common activity of the club and proves to be enjoyable as well as a great learning tool. Many of the members also belong to the Prairie Region of Photographic Arts and enter their enlarged print and slide competitions. PRPA has an annual meeting and photo shoot each June hosted by camera clubs in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Club members also send entries to the slide competition Foto Fun hosted by the Gleneath Photo Club of Kindersley. Slide entries are sent to the Transparency Battle hosted by a different photo club each year. Parkland Photography Club hosted this competition in 2000.

Over the years there have been many special projects of the club. Some of these are:

a sale of used photographic equipment in the Tisdale Mall in 1996 and Louise Butterfield donated an afghan which was raffled at the same time;

hosting a slide show by Garfield McGilivray of Wilderness Images at Quill Lake in the Anglican Church Hall that was open to the public;

members were challenged to take a series of 10 to 12 photos of whatever they came cross within a small area (100’ radius); another challenge was to take photos using every gadget in their camera bags;

Irene Waite of Prince Albert presented a slide show “Portraits of Winter” accompanied by data on lens, film, exposure, and focus used on each;

photo coverage of the Tisdale Honey Festival;

Phil Weldon showed photos taken on his canoe trip on the Churchill River;

Wally and Shirley Harstad presented their video “Birds and Habitat of Chokecherry Hollow”;

Don and Doris Whyte of Nipawin presented slides taken during their three months stay in Japan where they were teaching English to adults;

Jerry Crawford showed slides taken from an aircraft and gave tips for doing this successfully;

Lorna Hedman showed photos of the ski trail at Wapiti;

Louise Butterfield showed photos of the logged-out area south of Somme;

Irene McCrae did a showcase on photos that she took during her holiday to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island;

Pearl Mievre and Tex McDougall shared some of their collection of scenes which represent our heritage;

Larry Easton and Lynn McCaslin from the Regina Photo Club spoke to the club about membership in the Canadian Association of Photographic Arts and Larry Easton brought along a slide show of his;

Darlene McCullough did a comparison of single use camera with a SLR camera with the conclusion that the single use camera performed satisfactorily and is a good alternative if one is going into wet or dusty conditions;

Jerry Crawford is able to make slides from prints so members can always have some slides for competitions as well as for the club slide shows;

the club provided photo, digital, and video coverage of the Relay for Life for Cancer Research in 2003;

Alie Neish showed her photos taken during a trip to her home town in Holland;

Louise Butterfield showed slides of her trip to England and Scotland;

Darlene McCullough showed slides of her trips to Australia, northern Scandinavia, and England;

Harry Bourne gave a demonstration of computer manipulation by moving animals in a photo from one locale to another;

Alan Caithcart showed slides taken in the Yukon and Baffin Island taken from a Search and Rescue Aircraft;

Wes Swan showed a CD he created containing photos and video clips of a fire that destroyed Newfield Seeds in Nipawin where he works as well as two DVD slide shows complete with music – one on a wedding he had photographed and one on the theme shoots from the Nipawin Camera Club;

Adam Neish presented a digital slide show of photos he had taken at small-bore shoot competitions.

Many educational sessions have been presented. These are:

demonstration of black and white film processing and printing by Jerry Crawford;

Louise Butterfield showed a video on dodging and burning in a print;

Tim Shire invited club members to his office for a presentation on digital photography;

Jenny Fritshaw presented a research project “Depth – the Third Dimension” illustrating how a photographer uses elements to create a 3 dimension effect in a 2 dimension medium;

Jerry Crawford presented some tips on taking photographs in black and white;

Louise Butterfield gave a presentation on creative or selective focusing;

Mary Wright demonstrated using shutter speeds for special effects;

Mary Wright and Jenny Fritshaw gave a presentation to the Arborfield School students;

the members visited the RCMP Detachment for a tour of their photographic facilities;

Malcolm Salmond demonstrated colour enlarging and processing;

Susan Morgan did a session of fine tuning f-stop/shutter speed;

Jenny Fritshaw and Tibbie Frazer gave examples of ways to use photos other than just putting them in an album;

Mary Wright gave a presentation on still life displays illustrating “Literary Design”;

Doreen Crawford demonstrated mounting and framing photos;

Alan Caithcart demonstrated making print-outs directly from the camera to the printer via an infra-red interface.

Thanks to the Sask Lotteries grants a new projector and large screen were purchased. These are now used when a yearly slide show of members’ work is presented at all the senior complexes in Tisdale. Some of the out-of-town members usually show it in their communities as well.

The club monthly newsletter editor, Jerry Crawford, does a fabulous job of keeping the public (via newspaper articles and the web site) and the club members aware of all activities. He has done this work for the club since 1992. Check out the web site at www.greenwaterreport.com and click on the link Parkland Photo for all the latest news and happenings at the club.

Mike Crawford and Malcolm Salmond were presented with Honorary Life Memberships in the Parkland Photography Club for their help and encouragement and for providing a meeting room for the club. A special thanks goes to Mike and Malcolm for all the critiques they have done of the members’ enlargements. This is the way that one learns and improves.

Club records were not kept prior to 1989.

Written in 2004