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On January 26th, 2024, the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies celebrated the opening of two winter exhibitions, Ya Ha Tinda: The Ranch by Arto Djerdjerian and A Natural Solitude by Hans P. Berkout, in celebration of the 2024 Exposure Photography Festival. Both exhibitions explore varied photography styles in outdoor spaces. Both exhibitions will be on display at the Whyte Museum until April 7th, 2024.
About the Exhibitions
Arto Djerdjerian: Ya Ha Tinda - The Ranch
In Ya Ha Tinda: The Ranch, photographer Arto Djerdjerian showcases an intimate view of the everyday lives of those at Ya Ha Tinda, a ranch where horses are wintered and trained for use by Parks Canada wardens in our national mountain parks. Djerdjerian has been photographing life at Canada's only federally owned and operated working horse ranch for six years. His work provides a window to a very special place that has rarely been photographically documented.
Gallery 1
By carefully observing the workday routine at the ranch, Djerdjerian captures the ranch's gritty, hard work as well as the magnificent animals and natural beauty. Blue skies and snow-capped peaks offer a stunning backdrop to the tonal variances of the horses. This combination of landscape, horse and history creates a sense of magic in a place apart from our norm.
Born in Cairo, Egypt to Armenian parents, Djerdjerian was raised in Montreal where he went on to study photography, practicing seriously since the age of sixteen. Living and working in Alberta since 1977, Djerdjerian is dedicated full-time to his practice as a photographer in Alberta.
Arto Djerdjerian is interested in the integration of fine art and photography. He continues to expand his vision and environment photography, from the urban world of New York City to Montreal to the backyard to the wilderness of Alberta to Wyoming. He combines horses, people, mountains, and history in his skillful photographs taken in some of the wildest and untamed places.
Hans P. Berkhout: A Natural Solitude
A Natural Solitude features the brilliant black-and-white film photography of Hans P. Berkhout, with nature as his subject. These pieces will leave you captivated by the crisp beauty and beautiful process. For Berkhout, photography became a creative release from the stresses of his medical practice, while also inspiring and encouraging fellow medics to engage in the creative process.
Berkhout developed a passion for photography from his early days in Holland. He is a self-taught, film-based photographer whose main interest is black-and-white photography. He works with both large format and 35mm film, processed in a conventional wet darkroom.
Each photograph displays fine detail and quality, which exemplify the patience and preparation seen in these well-executed images. The art of producing these images in the wet dark room further displays dedication and talent for his craft. Berkhout was introduced to large-format photography by the late Dr. Harry S. Thompson of Calgary. Concentrating his work on nature photography, he also learned from contact over the years with Al Weber, David Vestal, and Joe Englander, whom he assisted during the 2000 and 2001 Workshops West. Since 2014 he has been mentored by Paul Caponigro
Galleries:
Gallery 1: Winter 2024 exhibition opening at the Whyte Museum. Photos by Katie Goldie.