Retirement rediscovery: Marianne Skolnik Robillard’s Journey into Nature Photography – DiscoverWeyburn.com – Local news, Weather, Sports, Free Classifieds and Job Listings for the Weyburn, Saskatchewan
<meta content="Catching the spectacular sights of the Saskatchewan Prairie is enjoyable for many, however, few can capture the unique beauty of our local landscape like Marianne Skolnik Robillard, a hobby passion she revisited after retirement. For Christmas in 2015, her family gave her a camera, and Robillard began a new journey learning to capture images at each destination. However, Robillard shares that photography is something she enjoyed when she was in high school. “I loved photography from when I was a kid and had an instant, Kodak Camera and ran around with that just to family events and stuff. And then learned about working a 35mm camera as a yearbook photographer for the high school and darkroom skills so that all kind of went in the back because of marriage, career, and family. So, upon retirement, I took it up again and I'm very glad I did.” googletag.cmd.push(function() { if($(document).width()<900) { s = googletag.defineSlot('/50748803/dwe-all-bigbox', [300, 250], 'div-gpt-1635342687823-bbm1'); s.setTargeting('URL', [window.location.pathname]); s.setTargeting('position', [1635342687823]) s.addService(googletag.pubads()); googletag.pubads().refresh([s], {changeCorrelator: false}); } }); Centered on nature, Marianne delves into the origins of her inspiration. “Nature photography is obviously a love of mine. I think there are three aspects of it that I really enjoy. One is I think it comes naturally because of being a farm kid. I grew up a farmer's daughter. So that's sort of what spurred my appreciation for nature. The second aspect is natural light. From a photography perspective because you're outdoor shooting in that type of light. And Courtney Milne was a big influence. He's a very well-known Saskatchewan photographer in terms of showing me the way there. And just being out in the wide-open spaces, it's quiet. We have so much wildlife in the area that I'm grateful to be pursuing and that's another part of it because it is a challenge, you can't walk up to a bull moose and say oh, can you just sort of turn your head that way and put that back leg out and just stay right there? It's always a challenge and you never know on a given day what you're going to find. I've gone out so many times thinking oh, you know, I would just love to see a great horned owl that day. No luck, you know, but you'll come across something else. So, there's an aspect of surprise too, which is great.” googletag.cmd.push(function() { if($(document).width()
<meta content="Catching the spectacular sights of the Saskatchewan Prairie is enjoyable for many, however, few can capture the unique beauty of our local landscape like Marianne Skolnik Robillard, a hobby passion she revisited after retirement. For Christmas in 2015, her family gave her a camera, and Robillard began a new journey learning to capture images at each destination. However, Robillard shares that photography is something she enjoyed when she was in high school. “I loved photography from when I was a kid and had an instant, Kodak Camera and ran around with that just to family events and stuff. And then learned about working a 35mm camera as a yearbook photographer for the high school and darkroom skills so that all kind of went in the back because of marriage, career, and family. So, upon retirement, I took it up again and I'm very glad I did.” googletag.cmd.push(function() { if($(document).width()<900) { s = googletag.defineSlot('/50748803/dwe-all-bigbox', [300, 250], 'div-gpt-1635342687823-bbm1'); s.setTargeting('URL', [window.location.pathname]); s.setTargeting('position', [1635342687823]) s.addService(googletag.pubads()); googletag.pubads().refresh([s], {changeCorrelator: false}); } }); Centered on nature, Marianne delves into the origins of her inspiration. “Nature photography is obviously a love of mine. I think there are three aspects of it that I really enjoy. One is I think it comes naturally because of being a farm kid. I grew up a farmer's daughter. So that's sort of what spurred my appreciation for nature. The second aspect is natural light. From a photography perspective because you're outdoor shooting in that type of light. And Courtney Milne was a big influence. He's a very well-known Saskatchewan photographer in terms of showing me the way there. And just being out in the wide-open spaces, it's quiet. We have so much wildlife in the area that I'm grateful to be pursuing and that's another part of it because it is a challenge, you can't walk up to a bull moose and say oh, can you just sort of turn your head that way and put that back leg out and just stay right there? It's always a challenge and you never know on a given day what you're going to find. I've gone out so many times thinking oh, you know, I would just love to see a great horned owl that day. No luck, you know, but you'll come across something else. So, there's an aspect of surprise too, which is great.” googletag.cmd.push(function() { if($(document).width()
Photo courtesy of Marianne Skolnik Robillard, Tatagwa Trail
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Catching the spectacular sights of the Saskatchewan Prairie is enjoyable for many, however, few can capture the unique beauty of our local landscape like Marianne Skolnik Robillard, a hobby passion she revisited after retirement.
For Christmas in 2015, her family gave her a camera, and Robillard began a new journey learning to capture images at each destination. However, Robillard shares that photography is something she enjoyed when she was in high school.
“I loved photography from when I was a kid and had an instant, Kodak Camera and ran around with that just to family events and stuff. And then learned about working a 35mm camera as a yearbook photographer for the high school and darkroom skills so that all kind of went in the back because of marriage, career, and family. So, upon retirement, I took it up again and I’m very glad I did.”
Centered on nature, Marianne delves into the origins of her inspiration.
“Nature photography is obviously a love of mine. I think there are three aspects of it that I really enjoy. One is I think it comes naturally because of being a farm kid. I grew up a farmer’s daughter. So that’s sort of what spurred my appreciation for nature. The second aspect is natural light. From a photography perspective because you’re outdoor shooting in that type of light. And Courtney Milne was a big influence. He’s a very well-known Saskatchewan photographer in terms of showing me the way there. And just being out in the wide-open spaces, it’s quiet. We have so much wildlife in the area that I’m grateful to be pursuing and that’s another part of it because it is a challenge, you can’t walk up to a bull moose and say oh, can you just sort of turn your head that way and put that back leg out and just stay right there? It’s always a challenge and you never know on a given day what you’re going to find. I’ve gone out so many times thinking oh, you know, I would just love to see a great horned owl that day. No luck, you know, but you’ll come across something else. So, there’s an aspect of surprise too, which is great.”
Among the various locations to capture nature, Marianne expresses that one of her preferred spots is right here in Weyburn.
“I’ve walk the trails around the city a lot. I have a dog, so we’re out there all the time, and I’m usually toting my camera. And I’m happy to say I’ve spotted a lot of wildlife, foxes, and turtles along the river. I’ve spent a great deal of time along the river catching beavers, moose, deer, you name it, and many, many different species of birds. I drive out of town too, and go in the surrounding area around Yellow Grass, up north to Cedoux, down south to Goodwater area, Mainprize and out to Stoughton, so pretty much the surrounding area.”
Marianne shares when it comes to photography, patience is a requirement, “I think that’s one aspect for sure. When you’re shooting wildlife, you have to invest the time in it and it’s not going to all happen at once. It takes time to find different types of wildlife. So yes, patience is definitely a virtue, and there’s a lot of waiting.”
Eight years later, Marianne has attended several workshops and expresses her gratitude to all the professional photographers who have helped her along the way, including Greg Johnson a well known Saskatchewan photographer and Storm Chaser, who she travelled with to the Yukon on two different occasions.
“We visited many different parts of the Yukon, photographed bears and eagles, and specifically aurora, which was very, very exciting up there because it’s a fantastic display. And landscape as well, waterfalls, marine life. So yeah, it was a great adventure.”
Marianne already has her next adventure planned, travelling to Alberta in 2024, for the Light Chasers workshop where she will be learning from some of the top Nature Photographers.
To view more of Marianne’s images, you can go to her Facebook page, Prairie Annie Photography.
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