MLA Ray Danyluk unveiled the 2011 MLA’s calendar, which features a selection of pictures chosen from submissions by area residents, at an open house in his constituency office in St. Paul on Dec. 21.
Danyluk thanked the successful photographers and gave each of them a gift as a token of appreciation for participating in the annual calendar contest. Several of the submitted photographs also adorned the cover of the cards sent throughout the year by Danyluk.
“These (calendars and cards) are important because they show the world the attributes we have in this community,” said Danyluk. “This is a great place to live.”
Sue de Moissac, assistant to Danyluk, related a story about how one of the other Conservative MLAs took the calendars with her on a trip to Cuba, to show the people there pictures of farming life in Alberta.
The theme of this year’s scenes calendar is stormy weather, because of the large number of pictures submitted of the unusual clouds formations that accompanied some of the dramatic weather in the area. The cover shot was one taken by Danyluk himself, who clarified that he was not the one who chose the successful picture. The pictures representing the months of May, June, July, August and September also featured clouds, rainbows and aspects of stormy weather.
The second calendar features people, with many area residents submitting pictures of their children. The theme that emerged from this year’s crop of pictures is “field of dreams” and the cover shot was taken by Nicole Brousseau from St. Edouard.
“I simply love taking pictures,” said Brousseau, who has had pictures in the calendar for the last three years. She estimates that she has taken over 6,000 pictures in the last year, mostly of her kids. Some day, she thought she might take the time to learn more about her camera and the art of photography to pursue it as a career, but for now she is content to be a mom and an amateur photographer. “I love taking candid shots outside, especially of the kids.”
The cover shot features two of Brousseau’s kids, Ethan and Cassie, in their grandfather’s hay field, while the month of February features a close-up of Ethan eating la tire, or frozen maple syrup on a stick, at la carnasucre at Ecole Du Sommet.
The constituency prints about 300 calendars each year, with 150 featuring scenes and 150 featuring people, to give back to the community.
