Cattle Round Up

I was fortunate enough to be able to photograph Ken Piller's cattle round up and branding this year for the second time. It is quite the site to see men and women on horseback moving a cattle herd from the top of the Qu'Appelle Valley to the bottom where corrals had been erected to allow them to process this years calves.

This is like stepping back in time and some of the things done would make PETA members unhappy. But this is a traditional event that has been carried out on ranches for countless years. So if you are concerned about any of the images showing things that might be thought of as cruel, please skip today's BLOG entry.

This young man is the Heeler. He goes into the coral with the calves now separated from their mothers and ropes a calf by both of its back feet. The calf is then pulled out of the coral where a device called a Nord Fork is placed around the calve's neck. Between the Nord Fork and the Heeler putting a little tension on his rope, the calf is immobilized so that it may be processed.

Once the calf is being securely held, it will be vaccinated, branded, tagged on its ear and if it is a bull calf, it may be castrated which means it will grow to be a steer intended for our dinner plates. Sounds awful, but once you actually see this being done, there is little too it. This little girl is nine years old and is about to vaccinate this calf.

Here the ear tag is being placed with a small plastic gun that looks like one used for piercing someones ear (only much bigger of course).

And at the end of the day, the spurs get hung up and everyone settles in for a nice dinner before heading home. A long tough day is done and several hundred calves have been processed and and are returned to the pasture with their mothers.

A fascinating day and I'm grateful Ken and his friends let me come out and see the round up.

Prongua, SK Elevator

I happened to discover this elevator about a year ago while doing an art show in the Battlefords. I wasn't lucky enough to capture a great shot of it last year though. So this year, I was better prepared and I think I made a nice capture of the old Sentinel.

I hope you like it,

Brent

A Huge Suprise

The Arnold Foster Award is the highest award that the Regina Photo Club bestows upon members that have shown a lifetime of service an/or achievement in Photography. Named after a wonderful man that was a fixture in the club until his passing at 101 years of age, the award is bestowed upon a member when all previous recipients of the award select someone they feel is deserving of the honour.

Much to my suprise, I was selected to receive the award this past weekend. Wow, who would have ever thought!! I was to use an English phrase, gobsmacked!

A little history:
I have been involved in photography for nearly 35 years now. It has always been something I have done. One look through family photos or photos friends have of me in high school almost always shows me with a camera by my side. But in 2004, the desire to do something with my daughter who was showing some interest in photography led to me suggesting that we visit the Regina Photo Club as something to do together (Kept her away from those boy punks that I once was as an added benefit!).

Who would have known that it would be a life altering decision! We attended meetings and made friends with people and found our own little place within the club. Before long, even my wife was coming to the club for meetings. I was so enjoying our time there twice a month. As luck would have it, we also made friends with the Club President and her husband that was the Competitions Director. The two of them really inspired me to want to do more. I owe both of them a huge thanks for the inspiration that they gave me. DJ and Glen.... Thank you so much!

Sadly after a couple of years, DJ accepted a job offer in Medicine Hat and the club lost the ships captain and first officer as they moved 5 hours away. Somehow, I stepped up and before I knew it, I was elected President, my wife Heather was the Competitions Director and even my daughter Jennifer was on the club executive as a member at large. We were now involved so deep there was no getting out.

That decision to try and step into the oh so large void left by DJ and Glen was scarey and I don't think we ever filled the loss fully. But we worked hard and I continued to draw inspiration from what was done before we took the helm. This included stepping out and attempting to sell my art work. That was another scary proposition, but with the support of my wife Heather and support from DJ and Glen too, we made the leap and hung out a shingle at art shows.

The rest is history! My photography business has grown so large that we now have a gallery of our own and continue to put smiles on peoples faces at all the art shows we do throughout the year. It has been a grand journey and I would not be here if it were not for being in the shadow of some important people that I need to thank!

Many thanks to :

My Wife Heather for unending support! Her assistence and willingness to let me spend far too much money on my mistakes as I grew in the art were amazing. She has always been there pushing me to do more and do it as best as it could be done.

My daughter Jennifer for going out to club meetings with a lame old man just so he had a little father daughter outing once in a while.

Donna-Joy Tuplin for being a dynamic club leader and supporter of everyone's work in the club. My hat is off to the greatest Captain that the club ever had!

Glen Tuplin for taking photographs that inspired me to want to make art as good as his.

The Regina Photo Club as a whole. The fellowship and environment have made me grow so much.

And last but by no means least, my oldest brother Garry who got me into photography so long ago. He has always pushed me to be better, gone out shooting with his little Bro and came and swung a hammer for a month with me to build our gallery last year. He gave up blood, sweat and tears (especially when he whacked his thumb). I look forward to the next time he and I can go out shooting together.

So I suggest to you that if you want to grow in photography or any other art, get out and meet people with the same interest. Goto a club. Make friends and develop friendly rivalrys. These things will follow you the rest of your life and may well put you on the path to developing something special!

Thanks everyone!!

Brent

Visit From The Maryfield Red Hat Ladies!

Well gosh what a great afternoon we had in the gallery today. There were many people visiting us from all across Canada. Folks from New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba and of course Saskatchewan natives passing through on their travels.

But the highlight of the day today was our visit from the Red Hat Ladies group from Maryfield, SK. We enjoyed having eight great ladies that had Heather and I hopping to give them nice service. Heather and I have such a long way to go in being a good Waitress and Waiter!! I have the art part of the business figured out, but the food... not so much.

Many thanks to: Sharon, Gayle, Doreen, Charlotte, Doris, Viola, Jan and Beverly! We hope they liked us enough to come back!!!

It is done...

Well the gallery construction is complete. There are only a few details left to complete and we have opened the doors to the public for the first time.

The culmination of one years work...

Now for something completely different

I was blessed to be able to walk my daughter down the aisle at her wedding this past weekend. It was a wonderful event and even though she has been gone from home awhile now and even though we see her alot.... The father daughter dance definitely brought a few tears to my eyes as it really sinks in that she is gone and starting a family of her own.

She sure looked great. Someone was kind enough to take this shot of us as we gave her away.

The house has not been the same with her gone.

It's really starting to look like something!

Well here we are only 16 days away from what we hope is opening day for the Extraordinary Light Gallery and the Arabica Art Cafe. It has been a long haul with lots of back breaking work.

We have had the best contractor in the world (Tim Hovdestad of Westward Homes in Moosomin) working away with us allowing me to do as much of the work as I possibly could to save some money on the building. It has been interesting and fun and difficult. Definitely a life experience. I have to say that should this turn out so successful that I open another gallery somewhere else as well, I will not do any of the work next time. I'm tired, old and beat. It's time to slow down a bit.

Here are some pictures of the gallery as it was last weekend. There are some random bits of art hanging on the walls just to get it off the floors. There is still lots to do, but this is really starting to show off what things are going to look like.