The Saskatchewan Prairie Light Photography Festival’s Portfolio Prize was recently announced, with winners from across Saskatchewan being selected for both a solo and a group exhibition.
Melville-based photographer Todd Schick is one of the winners. Most recently seen at the Godfrey Dean with Auto Select, Schick was one of the three selected for the Bronze prize, with a group exhibition at the Godfrey Dean.
Schick says it was a surprise to be selected for the group exhibition, and is now busy preparing his contribution.
Showing Auto Select was one of the incentives for entering the contest, Schick says, because he wanted to show again, and wanted to show in a larger space.
“Once I put that up, I wanted the big room. The next step is the big room right?”
In selecting the work he chose to enter, Schick says he just picked what he liked and went from there. He admits he didn’t expect a win, but is happy to see that the judges liked his work and is proud to see it as part of the larger group.
He’s impressed by the other winners in the contest, and believes that the contest has been a good representation for Saskatchewan photographers as well as what the province itself.
“I thought they were really good, you could tell they have a Saskatchewan look to them.”
Schick also likes the concept of the Portfolio Prize, as he agrees with the idea of selecting winners based on an entire body of work.
“If you have a body of work, it speaks louder than a single photo.”
The complete list of winners are:
Silver Award: Vera Saltzman (Ft. Qu’Appelle), solo exhibition and $1,650.
Silver Award Finalists: Vivian Christopher (Yorkton), Mark Seabrook (Turtleford), and Bob Christopher (Yorkton).
Bronze Awards: Janice Weber (Saskatoon), Todd Schick (Melville) and Jeff Wizniak (Saskatoon).
Group Exhibition and $300.
Bronze Award Finalists: Shirley Arcand (North Battleford), Bela Barabas (Saskatoon), Olga McCarthy (Moosomin), Helga Zbeetneff (Canora).
