Devin Wilger’s first photography exhibit started with an invitation he didn’t think he would ever accept. A friend who lives in Arizona told him to come on down and visit.
“It just worked out that I was actually able to drive down there,” he said. “I drove from here to Colorado to Arizona and back and on the way there I was taking pictures. When I actually got them back, I was looking at them and I thought they were good.”
So did Sandra MacColl, co-chair of the community pARTners gallery committee. They put together a collection of 22 photos currently gracing the walls of the gallery inside the Yorkton Public Library in an exhibition entitled Outside the Box.
The title of the show was inspired by the fact Wilger is a writer and photographer with the Yorkton News Review. The photos in the collection are a big departure from what he does day to day.
“It’s a completely different animal doing it artistically than for work,” he explained. “For one, I actually have a choice in what my subject matter is and usually my subject matter is more interesting than what it is for work.
The work includes some stunning vistas coupled with roadside attractions that tell the tale of the artist’s 6,000 kilometer American adventure.
If this collection was somewhat serendipitous, so was Wilger’s entry into the world of photography.
“I was playing around with Gran Turismo 4 on PS2, it had this photo mode which got me thinking about photography as art I could do rather than the point and shoots I grew up around that didn’t really give you much to work with. A very strange place to start, but surprisingly helpful to transfer to the real world.
In university, he bought his first gear, a middle of the road Canon digital SLR, and taught himself to use it.
With a degree in English and the ability to use a camera, it is perhaps not surprising he wound up in the newspaper business.
This first taste of showing his art has him thinking that it would be nice to do professionally, but he will wait and see what kind of reaction the exhibition brings.
The pieces are for sale and the show runs until the end of March.
There will be a reception for the artist with food and beverages on Sunday, March 8 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
