On the second floor of the Margo Fournier Centre for the Arts was the Northern Image Photographers club’s reception for their annual exhibition Tuesday evening.
Visitors piled through the doors to admire the exhibition, entitled ‘In This Day and Age’, with pictures featuring local and international scenery carefully affixed on the walls of the John V. Hicks Gallery.
“Every single photographer that has entered into this exhibit, there is intention in those photographs,” said Mark Zulkoskey, president of the Northern Image Photographers. “A good photograph is going to tell so many stories.”
An attendee admiring the works of Northern Image Photographers members on Sept. 8 during the reception.
Members of the club were invited to create pieces that reflected the question: “What does it mean to be a photographer in 2026?” A theme selected and chosen by the Mann Art Gallery’s Artistic Director and Curator, Jesse Campbell.
“Unfortunately with phones, we’ve had the opportunity now where we can mass produce photographs, and so, they become throwaways,” explained Zulkoskey. “I could shoot a thousand photos if I wanted to, but then the quality is then diminished because you’re batch producing photographs. What makes a true photograph a photograph is that emotional pieces that come into it, the commitment, and a photograph should be intentional too.”
Zulkoskey’s piece, titled ‘Prairie Silhouette’, was a glossy photograph of an orange Saskatchewan sky and a contour of a railway train—the centrepiece of the photo.
The photographer drew inspiration from his life in a prairie province, the rail network, and elevator systems that he described as “an interconnected network.”
Mark Zulkoskey posing in front of his Saskatchewan-inspired piece, ‘Prairie Silhouette’ on Sept. 8 during the Northern Image Photographers reception.
“So the rail networks created almost like an interwoven spiderweb throughout our province that unfortunately over time has become redundant,” Zulkoskey explained. “The process for me really is reflecting on that aspect of what was Saskatchewan at one point around the 20th century and in through the 20th century and capturing historic photographs or elements of that in present time as well.”
Additionally, Zulkoskey added he believes a major hurdle photographers face is their work being undervalued.
“Photography is often seen as kind of that ‘poor man’s art form’. There are artists out there that don’t consider photography art. They just think of it as copying and pasting something else,” he said. “People say, ‘Well, anyone can take a picture,’ and that is very true. But it goes back to that idea of art is the emotional investment, the attachment, the connection, the story that we’re telling.”
As for his work and the exhibition, he described it as “a really good opportunity for photographers to be able to feel comfortable to showcase their work.”
“It’s another ability for our club to be forward facing into the community to explore what it means to be a photographer and the meaning behind those works,” said Zulkoskey.
Adjacent to the wall where ‘Prairie Silhouette’ hung, was club member Ellie Desgranges’s multimedia photo piece named, ‘Slave of the Plantae Circus’.
“My work in general is quite different than the average photographer in general. I’ve been experimenting with photography weaving for a few years now,” said Desgranges.
The black and white photos were arranged in a split manner that represented a parallel between the two scenes, with woven paper reminiscent of barbed wire fences.
Ellie Desgranges smiling next to her photography weaving piece, ‘Slave to the Plantae Circus’ on Sept. 8 during the Northern Image Photographers reception.
“It’s a photo expressing colonialism in a way, and I’m applying it to the plant and animal kingdoms. We have a relationship with animals where we can feel their emotions now, but it hasn’t always been that way,” she explained. “So it’s trying to create that parallel through the weaving and through the comparison between that and the elephant at the zoo, trying to show, with the individuals in each photo, how our relationships with these animals and the plants is that they’re there for our entertainment.”
Desgranges appreciated the exhibition as it “keeps photography alive in the small towns.”
“You never know when somebody might decide to go national or international, and so they have to start somewhere,” she said. “I think small groups like what we have in PA, being just 30 members, I think it’s important because it could be that international artist’s debut, we might be the ones mentoring the next biggest photographer.”
As for Zulkoskey, he encouraged the community to visit the exhibition.
“One of the things I really appreciated is we were given the opportunity to write synopsises or just details around what our pictures mean for us. But, I would encourage people not to read those first, look at the photograph, and interpret it for their own way,” he said.
The Northern Image Photographers club exhibition will be available until Sept. 23 at the John V. Hicks Gallery inside the Margo Fournier Centre for the Arts.
“I would encourage people to come and look at the photographs first, draw their own conclusions, and then compare that to what they see through the photographer’s eye,” said Zulkoskey.
