A fluke shot, a moment in time among prize winners in ExploreSask photo contest

A northern Saskatchewan lake, a timid bear with its tongue out and a group of friends around an ice fishing hole are among the recently-announced winners in the ExploreSask photo contest. 

Jennifer Hanlin said her winning snap of a bear was a fluke. The Whitewood woman has been doing photography for about five years. She lives on a farm, so wildlife photography was a natural fit, but bears aren't the usual subjects.

"Our neighbour phoned us and said that there was kind of a commotion going on so I went out," she said. "The bear was actually in our sheep pasture." 

Hanlin's guard dogs had the bear up a tree, she said. When she confirmed everything was still OK and no livestock had been harmed, Hanlin went inside and got her camera. 

A lot of people are terrified if there's a bear in their yard — a lot of times they're passing through and they aren't there to hurt anyone.- Jennifer Hanlin

"I was able to get fairly close and he wasn't aggressive at all," she said. "Actually he was yawning — and slept for a while — it was just after a yawn he stuck his tongue out and I just got lucky enough to get that shot."

The bear stayed up the tree for the rest of the day but by the next morning he was gone, she said. Hanlin hasn't seen the bear since. She hopes people see a different side of bears from her photograph, she said. 

"A lot of people are terrified if there's a bear in their yard and you know I just hope that people see that a lot of times they're passing through and they aren't there to hurt anyone," she said. "He was completely harmless." 

Camera shoved down an ice fishing hole won grand prize

Danielle Bergen got word she won the grand prize while studying at university in Virginia. Originally from Drake, Sask., Bergen said it's all about moments. 

"The instant you capture a moment, you can never have that moment back," she said. "It's such a beautiful ability and opportunity that camera gives us to capture the raw beauty of moments that are lost in time."

The photograph that won her the grand prize for the ExploreSask Contest was taken last winter when she was home during Christmas. Her mom found a used pop-up ice fishing tent online and decided they were going out. When Bergen saw her dad drilling a hole in the 17 inch thick ice, she got an idea. 

"He stopped drilling and we cleaned out the hole, I shove my camera down into it so it could sit on the last inch of ice there before it broke through and then that I captured that picture," she said. 

The camera was on a 10 second timer with Bergen hoping everyone smiled and no one blinked, she said with a laugh. Bergen hopes people see her photograph and realize how much fun they can have with family. 

"Some of the best times I've had with family are when I disconnect from the rest of the world — be it social media, my phone — because that's when I can reconnect with family," she said. 

The other winners are Cameron Kraft in the water category, Indrashish Banerjee in the places category, Jeff Wizniak in the prairie category and Nichole Huck in the woods category.