World class photographers are rare, and a lot of the time people assume that such mystical beings probably only exist in exotic locales, many miles away -- at least in terms of where they live. The actual taking of the photos in exotic locations themselves? Well, that鈥檚 just part of the job description.
Melville photographer Tracy Keretesh is decidedly more local, at least in terms of where she domiciled. That having been said, she鈥檚 taken plenty of pictures in exotic, faraway locales.
Her photography has been featured pretty much everywhere.
National Geographic, one of the time-honoured litmus tests as an indisputable mark of success in the photographic community, has published her pictures. Harley Davidson has run her work in HOG Magazine, the classic roadster manufacturer鈥檚 official publication.
The CBC also featured a spectacular image -- itself taken in Melville -- a magenta hued tendril of lightning captured perfectly in a storm cloud over the town.
Today, however, the locale remains in the Parkland, the subject itself being the province.
Tourism Saskatchewan, which holds its ExploreSask photo contest every year, receives thousands of entries showcasing the natural beauty of the area to bolster tourism. As one can imagine, the competition is quite stiff. Thousands of photographers send in stunning images --- one after another, to the point where it can feel difficult to stand out.
It often is.
The images are spectacular as a matter of course. There is no shortage, and the judge鈥檚 job is not particularly enviable, either. Trying to pick the best out of the tidal wave of spectacular images is virtually impossible.
Keretesh, however, captured the judge鈥檚 attention. Her images were selected by Tourism Saskatchewan for December.
Yorkton This Week caught up with Keretesh where she told us a little bit more about her craft..
One of her most famous images is the lightning image, and that鈥檚 one of the ones she talked about first.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the Canon fisheye,鈥� said Keretesh of one of her special lenses.
鈥淚 had the Canon 8-12mm lens. I went out to do lightning that day so I wanted as big a sky as I could get. I鈥檝e got, oh, I don鈥檛 know...five hundred lightning pictures from that day? Once I got through that, I didn鈥檛 have any other lens to go through. My cell phone picture was much closer than that 鈥� you know how wide a cellphone picture is.
鈥淎s soon as I got through it [the storm], I turned around, took a picture of it and I sent it to Sean [a friend] because I thought it was a hail core -- the white line, since it was hidden in rain. I was like, 鈥榳here the hell are you鈥�, because he followed a different cloud that day. He said, well, where are you?鈥欌��
He found out soon enough 鈥� she was a little too close to the storm clouds for his liking.
鈥淗e says to me, 鈥楪et the hell out of there!鈥� Well, I had already kind of gone through it,鈥� Tracy laughs.
鈥淚 was down by the dome 鈥� the place out of Yorkton. So anyways, that guy that [has] that farm that鈥檚 in there, he lost the greenery in front of it. You know the big steel shed? That was no more after that [storm]. I mean, the storm died after that; I chased it down to Churchbridge from there. That just was weird, because I woke up the next morning and Toronto was phoning me; Calgary was phoning me. And I mean, Shawn had chased from here to almost British Columbia and back, and he鈥檇 been out for five days. I got up that morning with the family sitting at the lake, came back, was having a nap and the storm was over the house. So I left, and twenty minutes later I got the tornado, past Ryan Crouse [another storm chaser]. My thinking though was that if Ryan Crouse wasn鈥檛 going any further, I shouldn鈥檛 be going, either.
鈥淗e was on the side of the road right at the Sakimay reserve, and I went up to the dome. I had it on a tripod. I have a time lapse of all of that somewhere.鈥�
Keretesh claims modestly, 鈥淚 was just lucky with that lightning bolt on the tornado.鈥�
Another famous image is the eagle.
鈥淲hat I thought was really freaky was getting that eagle. I got three babies in the nest this year, but last year, since I just spent so much time out there she just got used to me.
鈥淚 took a biologist out there, Adam, from here in town and he texted me and says one day, 鈥業鈥檓 a retired biologist and I have been photographing eagles and banding them for forty years,鈥� he says.
鈥溾�楬ow are you getting pictures of these eagles?鈥� he asked me. 鈥楤ecause it looks like you鈥檙e right next to them. How far away from the nest are you?鈥� I said, 鈥極h, I don鈥檛 know. Probably, twenty yards at the most? I鈥檓 on a bit of a hill, and I鈥檝e got a fairly good telephoto.鈥� He asks me how far away is the mother. I say maybe about 30 feet, and he asks me, 鈥榓nd she doesn鈥檛 fly away?鈥� I said no, she鈥檚 sweet. She preens herself, she cleans herself. He says, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e joking.鈥� I say no, not at all. You can come out with me if you want. It鈥檚 private land, I鈥檓 the only one that has access, so come with me.鈥�
Sure enough, the biologist tagged along.
鈥淚 parked the truck, but I didn鈥檛 have a good angle so I moved the truck. I moved it forward, I moved it back to his side of the window opening...and she [the eagle] slept through the whole thing.
鈥淗e said, 鈥業 can鈥檛 believe you can get this close.鈥�
Keretesh also had her famous bison image, as well as one of a dancer, selected in the 2019 ExploreSask photo competition as an honourable mention. Canon Canada also recognized the bison image.
You can find out more about Tracy on her website: http://www.tracyportraits.com/ . She can also be contacted at (306) 730-8117 and is available for photo bookings.
