Old black and white photos can tell tales about Saskatchewan’s early days, and for resident Ron Dormer, his efforts to colourize those pictures have helped enhance those stories.
The Moose Jaw-based photographer began digging through the Moose Jaw Public Library’s archives during the pandemic and came across countless snapshots of the community’s life over the decades, stretching back to the early 1890s.
A few photos were from Main Street in 1911, so he spent four to five hours a day for a month straight colourizing them.
“All the colourization is from my mind, basically, right from black and white to scratch to the finished product,” said Dormer, who runs Ron Dormer Photography and will feature his work at the Cultural Centre on Saturday, Nov. 4, as part of the 11th annual Moostletoe Tour.
“It’s almost like painting because every item I have to paint.”
Dormer also came across some photos of the 1912 Regina Tornado. He took 10 digitized photos and removed the scratches and blemishes. Restoring the portraits was an extensive process, with software colouring many photos automatically.
He also consulted various sources — Google was his friend — about the details of the scenery and the colours used for homes, clothes and toys.
Pleased with how they turned out, he knew they needed to be made public and promoted them to the media this past summer.
“That really sparked my interest in doing that. And then I have been doing them (colourizing pictures) for the past month-and-a-half and people are just loving them,” he added.
This is Dormer’s first time participating in the Moostletoe Tour and he is excited for the experience. He will showcase 20 photos of scenery from southern Saskatchewan, such as flowers, animals, buildings and prairie skies, while he will feature a few of the colourized black and white photos.
He has no permanent gallery to visit since he is a guest artist, so attendees will have to visit the Cultural Centre to see his artwork.
“I’m very impressed (with the tour). Apparently, they had really good crowds last year and were really successful,” said Dormer, who has been a professional photographer for over 20 years and has been selling his photos for over five years.
“I’m hoping they (attendees) find something that reminds them of Saskatchewan or reminds them of a visit to Saskatchewan or (of their) childhood. I’ve had many people do that,” he added. “My artwork is all across Canada and the northern United States.”
Dormer began shooting photos when he was a teenager. He began receiving plenty of positive feedback, which helped his interest grow.
His early influences included looking at National Geographic magazines and wondering how photographers captured their pictures. That spurred him to take photos that would make people’s jaws drop.
Today, his goal is to find a scene — an old building, a sunset or a field — that many have seen before and present it differently so people want that image hanging on their wall.
“I love to get down low to something and give them a view they have not seen before,” he said. “Some of the crocus pictures I’ve done, I’m laying on my belly out in a field with my camera … .”
Dorner singled out two photos he’s taken over the years that have become bestsellers. One is of an old wooden staircase in an old train house, with sunlight shining through the window at the perfect angle.
“That was one of those times where everything lined up just right for the shot,” he recalled. “That photo is hanging on many walls in Moose Jaw and Western Canada.”
A second popular photo is of crocuses growing in a field. Dorner noted that people give it as gifts to their mothers or grandmothers because those women told stories about their time living in Saskatchewan.
Since Dorner often travels across southern Saskatchewan looking for scenes to shoot, his camera is always on hand so he is instantly ready when an opportunity arises. He encouraged people to keep their cameras — including smartphones — charged and their eyes open so they can capture whatever they come across.
“You don’t have to spend a lot of money (on a camera) to get a good picture,” he added. “(But) as your (customer base) grows, you can afford to get a better camera and improve on your photographs.”
For more information call or text 306-630-8045 or email [email protected].
