This home in Happyland has been stubbornly standing for years. (Chris Attrell)

By Tyler Marr

A TIME GONE BY

Photographer captures glimpse of past in ‘Forgotten Saskatchewan’

Sep 25, 2019 | 4:58 PM

From an abandoned airplane on private property near Swift Current to grain elevators in Whitkow and a majestic stone castle home near Grenfell, lingering infrastructure from the past dots the Saskatchewan landscape.

And 140 of these abandoned and crumbling structures are captured in the pages of Forgotten Saskatchewan, a photo book by Shaunavon-based photographer Chris Attrell that is now the best-selling photo book in the country.

Southeast of Blaine Lake as the moon sets, this house was shot with a tea light placed inside the attic. (Chris Attrell)

Attrell has held a keen interest in photography since he was a child but started to pursue the craft more seriously in 2004 when he got his hands on his first digital camera. Photographing the bounty of abandoned structures in the province started as a hobby, he said, but Attrell soon found many people asking for prints and the number of gallery shows starting to rise.

While he floated the idea of publishing a book given the sheer number of requests, once a publisher inquired, he knew it was time.

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“The fun part is cruising Saskatchewan. The photography is secondary,” he said. “Just cruising around Saskatchewan without a cellphone, going to these old towns and going down grid roads looking for new surprises, that was really enduring.”

This, coupled with the stories from farmers who owned the buildings or lived in them, only add to the fascination, he said.

“The way of life and how they could live like that with no power and no plumbing and the communication was very limited back in those days and they lived in these big houses in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “You could feel the isolation and loneliness [when photographing the buildings] and yet they loved it.”

Many of the shots showcase the motto of the province; the land of the living skies.

Attrell said he purposely shoots in dark, foggy or stormy conditions as a low light photographer. He generally uses consumer flashlights in and outside the buildings and often just sits and hopes he is treated with a majestic prairie sky.

Hoar frost blankets the ground of this Gothic style church near Francis. (Chris Attrel)

However, trekking across the province and capturing images of remote townships and former homesteads does not come without challenges. Time, car repairs and fuel costs often found the opportunity to become hurdles in Attrell’s endeavour.

Though he has photographed forgotten buildings since 2003 and dedicates about 10 full days’ worth of time a year to the project, Attrell said his favourite place is near his hometown.

“I didn’t know it even existed,” he said, noting what made it most special is the story.

“I found out the family history and about somebody who was born in the house and they are still alive,” he said. “I got to chat with him a bit. I couldn’t image being born in a house in the middle of nowhere. But to hear the story, it was the best time of their life.”

Lepine grain elevators, east of Wakaw, are on private property and are one of only a handful of elevator pairs left in Saskatchewan. (Chris Attrell)

This reaction, he said, is common among many, especially seniors, who take in the images. He said many recall party lines, when the power was hooked up to their home, or waking up and putting wood in the fire for heat.

“They don’t talk about as if it was a hardship, they talk about it as if it is enduring and they long for those days,” he said. “That is the one thing I take out of it the most is how much joy those people had living it what we find to be almost primitive conditions.”

Attrell continues to traverse the province as he teaches beginner photography classes and continues to capture old structures. He plans to turn the Forgotten Saskatchewan project in a 30-minute short film to be aired in retirement homes, libraries and museums or used as a fundraising tool.

—

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr