Despite advancements in technology, artists showcasing their work in an annual photography festival near Millarville appear to have taken a step back in time.
Four western Canadian artists are exhibiting black-and-white photographs or images captured on film at the Leighton Art Centre’s Exposure Photography Festival Showcase Jan. 30 to March 5.
Award-winning Millarville photographer Edith VanderKloot will display five black-and-white western-themed images in the show.
“They are more in the traditional classical form of black-and-white photography,” she said. “It’s not layered or abstract or changed. It’s just as we used to do it in the darkroom where you would make a black-and-white film.”
In two images, VanderKloot captured objects in nature that have deteriorated over time – a wooden apple-basket and old wagonwheel.
The other three photographs depict a vibrant, but colourless portrayal of the foothills landscape.
VanderKloot said she enjoys using filters and computer programs to change a photograph, but revels in the challenge of keeping some image as raw as possible.
“In the States they have galleries full of traditional black-and-white photography and it’s much more appreciated,” she said. “They are sold as fine-art prints and here we still sometimes grapple with what is photography because everybody can click something and they’ve got an image whereas finer print is a work of art. It’s similar to painting with a brush, but you paint it with a camera.”
Traditional photography isn’t much of a stretch for VanderKloot, whose experience with photography goes back to her childhood.
“I started as a kid in the darkroom with my father and have done it professionally for 20 years,” she said.
The Leighton Art Centre member looks forward to showing her work as a celebration of photography in the centre’s annual Exposure Photography Festival Showcase.
“I’m very honoured to be asked to participate,” she said. “I’ve been a member for a long time and show other art media and I’m a long time volunteer as well.”
Two new exhibits to the Leighton Art Centre featured in the festival are AG2 by native Albertans Robert Michiel and Robert Pohl and Badlands: A Geography of Metaphors by Ken Dalgarno, which depicts the hoodoos and unique landscape of the North American badlands.
Stephanie Doll, curator at the Leighton Art Centre, said AG2 depicts the frontier spirit through landscapes and old architecture such as cabins and derelict houses in black and white.
The title AG2 refers to the silver that is used in film, said Doll.
In Badlands: A Geography of Metaphors, Moose Jaw photographer Dalgarno captures an array of images of the unique badlands in Alberta, Saskatchewan, North Dakota and Montana. Dalgarno’s book Badlands will also be available for sale.
“Most of our artists have been doing digital work,” said Doll.
“This is just really exciting to show how you can celebrate landscape photography in many different ways using many different techniques and how digital and film photography are equally relevant.
“It shows how the artist’s eye can create interest in a certain area.”
Doll said the Exposure Photography Festival Showcase was previously a juried show featuring a variety of Leighton Art Centre members, but to change things up this year it is limited to a selection of artists.
“We’ve had a lot of group shows last year and we are having more this year than usual,” she said.
An opening reception for Exposure Photography Festival Showcase takes place Jan. 30 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at no cost.
The exhibits are available for viewing at the Leighton Art Centre Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
