Late Saturday morning 21 photographers armed with a variety of cameras ventured forth from the Estevan Arts Council craft room in the leisure centre to spend the next four hours capturing Estevan images through their lenses. The picture snappers were being asked to interpret 10 words or phrases devised by Estevan’s artist-in-residence, Diana Chisholm and then download the results for potential public viewing.
“I want them to explore and interpret the items on their list, and we’ll lay out the results. There are no winners or losers, just interpretations,” said Chisholm as she greeted the potential picture-takers, which included four two-person teams.
“I’ve seen it done in England and the idea also was taken up in Toronto and in Spain, where photographers with all kinds of skills went out to interpret by camera, what they were given in a list,” she said.
The list for the Estevan photographers included the words: Gathering, Twist and Turn, Surface, Bent, The Other Side, Under Cover, Shadow, Motion, Discard and Something to Talk About.
Chisholm said athletes their families and friends will also be engaged in a photography opportunity during the Saskatchewan Summer Games with the athletes’ village coming equipped with photo downloading capabilities for the amateur photographers who will be able to post their best photo results as they send images to Chisholm during the Games.
She said she expects to see a great variety of shots from the expected to the unusual and exciting.
In both the marathon and the Summer Games, top images that are captured on cameras for the screens will also be made into print form.
“It’s about engagement with people and engagement with your surroundings,” Chisholm said.
The Summer Games will also feature some street art with kids invited to do a little artistic work with pastel chalks on sidewalks. Again, it will allow the visitors to interact with the local community during the week-long event that will see hundreds of visitors in the Energy City every day.
Chisholm left on Tuesday for a two-week assignment in England where she will be working on an art, architecture and collections project that is engaging a few universities including Oxford. She will return on June 15, in time to set up shop for the Summer Games experiences.
