Like most kids growing up in Saskatchewan in the 1920s and '30s, Greg Raskob lived in the shadow of a grain elevator.
Almost every village, town and hamlet had its own elevator, and they were often a source of pride and economic opportunity.
Though the number of wooden elevators has declined precipitously in recent decades - in 2010, a government-commissioned study estimated the number at about 420, down from an all-time high of at least 3,000 - they retain their status as an unmistakeable symbol of the Prairies. That's why, when he retired in 1984, Raskob took a 35mm camera his wife Blanche had bought him and began taking pictures of what he affectionately calls the "Prairie Sentinels".
Thirty years and thousands of pictures later, a small part of Raskob's collection went on display at the Humboldt & District Gallery. Raskob, who recently turned 89, spoke to a group of about 40 people about the process of taking professional-level photographs, including the waiting.
"I can't wait around three days for just the right light," Raskob said to laughter.
The exhibit will be on display until June 28 and will then be shuffled among 15 area museums over the next two or three years. What the public will see is only a small fraction of the collection that Raskob donated; according to Jennifer Hoesgen, the museum's director, the number of photographs is in the hundreds.
After Raskob's remarks and a brief question-and-answer session, cake was served and many people came to compliment the artist on his work.
"They all just look so real," one woman said of the photographs. "It looks like you can reach out and touch the grass."
While enjoying a piece of cake, Raskob reiterated how much he enjoyed traveling remote country roads, looking for a new elevator at the edge of the horizon. In particular, he remembered a trip to Wroxton in 2003. It was soon after he had appeared on CBC, and his small measure of fame had preceded him.
"There was a boy, maybe nine years old, who came up to me and asked if I was the man who takes pictures of elevators," Raskob remembered. "I said 'Yes, I am'. He ran off to get his mother and was so excited that I was taking a picture of the elevator in his town."
That sense of pride in local elevators is collapsing along with the old wooden structures themselves. Things will never be like they were when Raskob was growing up in St. Gregor, but he hopes that his photographs can show a younger generation the way things used to be.
"God bless the people at the museum for displaying all of my photos," Raskob said. "I hope people get some enjoyment out of them."
