Through a Jungian Lens

Tunnel Vision

A Journey On the Saskatchewan Prairie

Robert G. Longpré

Through a Jungian Lens:

Tunnel Vision

A Journey On the Saskatchewan Prairie

Copyright 2009 by the author of this book, Robert G.

Longpré. The book author retains sole copyright to his

photographs and text. No portion of this book may be

copied for any reason without permission of the author.

A Journey on the Saskatchewan Prairie

Through Poetry and Photography

"... whatever reality may be, it will to some extent be shaped by the lens through which we see it."

- James Hollis, 1993

Dedicated to Maureen, who is Saskatchewan to the core, and our children, Noelle, Natasha and Dustin.

A special dedication to David Lymburner, a student of mine who is making a different journey on the other side where

he will be the sprinter in a field of walkers.

Robert G. Longpré June, 2009

Introduction

This book began as a challenge. While spending a few winter months in Mexico, I stumbled across a challenge to produce a photo book. The book needed to contain at least thirty-five photos which were taken by one person. Any text that would be included in the book would also have to be the effort of the same person. With the text and photos the author would then create a layout for the book. The final product, a PFD, would be sent in to the host site of the challenge called SoFoBoMo – Solo Photo Book Month. The project could start no earlier than May 1st and had to be completed by June 30th, but could not take any longer than thirty-one days, a “fuzzy” month. While still in Mexico, I tried creating a small version just to see if this was something I could do. Within a week I had produced a short twenty-two paged booklet. At this point, I felt confident enough to accept the challenge of producing a photo book. But, I needed an idea. With the decision to participate in the SoFoBoMo project for 2009 made, I decided to try and produce all the photos for the book using a forma that I called "tunnel vision." I first discovered the “effect” while photographing flamingos in the Yucatan.

I used a Sony DSC-H50 digital camera for all the photographs in this book. To get the “tunnel vision” effect, I attached, so that I could attach a Digital Concepts 3x telephoto converter. When all of these in place, I get a tunnel effect that disappears as I push out the camera’s internal 15x telephoto lens. The photos for the book are all drawn from the prairie landscape of southern and south-western Saskatchewan, a place of endless skylines, few trees, semi-desert hills, sloughs and scattered farms and villages. For those who ask “Where is Saskatchewan?”, it is found in the west-central part of Canada. Saskatchewan is a big province, almost 230, 000 square miles in size (just over 590,000 square kilometres). The population for this province hovers around one million people with more than half of that population found in four cities. The bottom third of the province, especially in the western part of the province, is natural prairie grasslands. This is where I have found a place I now call home. For this book, I chose to use only haiku poetry as a text companion for the photos. As I tell my story here in poetic form, it is is also a story of a place often unseen by those passing through this heroic landscape. And now, book two in "Through a Jungian Lens."

It'

It’s a long road leading through a countryside

that appears barren, with a skyline

that looks as though it will never end.

Turning off, one discovers the

textures of the earth that feeds.

This is not a land for everyone.

Stop and take time to look more closely.

Rail lines cross fields and farms

linking. As habitations disappear the lines are abandoned

replaced by blacktop.

Still, the railroad takes the harvest

to ports feeding many.

Roads and rail not a competition

a partnership lifelines.

Marking the presence of towns and villages,

grain elevators stand tall.

Life moves from town to city and from villages to town

leaving these prairie sentinels surrounded by fields instead of homes

until they, too, disappear..

Modern grain facilities now gather the harvests

within their bowels and wait for markets to

come calling.

Roads, rail and grain elevators symbols of a agrarian people people who live on the land

with the land.

Until the land claims them.

The land - It's a dry land

that waits for rains and waits, and waits.

And the land is fertile willing to give up its wealth to those who study it closely

those who add their sweat and blood.

And this semi-desert feeds,

food not only for the table but also for the spirit

for the soul.

Fences, boundaries that

exist only for the people

not for the wind which flows freely

until tired.

For birds fences become places to rest

a perch from which to sing.

Fences and barbed wire stuff of men.

One soon forgets the fences as life catches the eye.

The land is full and pregnant

waiting to bring forth new life.

Even on the dusty surface of the prairie

life forces are found.

Mating, fertilizing birthing feeding.

It is a land that refuses to

give up on itself. It is a land of promise.

As snows melt the promise begins

with water.

Filling ponds and sloughs

which ensure that life

continues.

Water that saturates.

Water filled with life giving life.

Water that is life, contained guarded

and shared.

The fruits of the land and the water

are shared by man and by others.

But where there is life there is also death and ruin.

The old the abandoned

a reminder of times and lives

of the past.

Places that have given up

waiting only for a reunion with the earth.

There are stories left untold

stories of work and adventure.

A remembrance of golden days Of man taming

a new land.

Stories of a land taming and breaking man,

of man taming and breaking the land.

This is a land that teaches, that feeds,

that provides a home for those who

stay.

This is the land of promise

a place we call "next year country."

Photo Log 1. Cover - this photo was taken in the morning of May 6. This is the view I have everyday when I look out my front window in Elrose. 2. Page 7 - this photo was taken on May 7, on highway 4 between Elrose and Rosetown. 3. Page 9 - this photo was taken on May 13, on a grid road just to the west of Elrose. 4. Page 11 - another photo from May 7, looking at the stop sign which marks Highway 4 between Elrose and Rosetown. 5. Page 13 - this photo was taken on May 13, looking towards the town of Elrose. 6. Page 15 - this railroad photo was taken on May 5, near the town of Macoun. 7. Page 17 - this photo was taken just east of Weyburn on May 5. 8. Page 19 - this photo was taken on May 13. The elevator and water tower are found in Elrose. 9. Page 21 - the elevator photo of the Thrasher elevator located between Elrose and Rosetown was taken on May 7. 10. Page 23 - one of several inland grain terminals located near Weyburn. The photo was taken on May 5. 11. Page 25 - this inland grain terminal is also found in the Weyburn area. The photo was taken on May 5. 12. Page 27 - this highway cross marking the site of a car crash victim was taken on May 5, on the road to Halbrite. 13. Page 29 - another May 5 photo that was taken near Halbrite. 14. Page 31 - a photo taken on May 7, near Rosetown. 15. Page 33 - a photo taken just outside of the town of Elrose on May 7. 16. Page 35 - taken on May 13 just a few kilometres outside of Elrose. 17. Page 37 - another May 13 photo, just outside of Elrose by the water lagoon. 18. Page 39 - another in the series of May 13 photos, by the town's water lagoon. 19. Page 41 - the final lagoon photo series of May 13.

20. Page 43 - taken on May 13, just west of the town of Elrose. 21. Page 45 - taken on May 13, west of the town of Elrose. 22. Page 47 - this photo from May 5, was taken near Yellow Grass. 23. Page 49 - another scene near Halbrite, taken on May 5. 24. Page 51 - this photo also was taken near Halbrite on May 5. 25. Page 53 - this photo from May 5, was taken near Macoun. 26. page 55 - a photo taken on May 7, near Rosetown. 27. Page 57 - a photo of the Elrose lagoon taken on May 13. 28. Page 59 - this scene is found near McTaggart and was taken on May 5. 29. Page 61 - this photo was taken on May 5, just north of Kyle. 30. Page 63 - the first photo of a series taken on May 7, south of Rosetown. 31. Page 65 - the second photo of the series taken on May 7, south of Rosetown. 33. Page 67 - a third photo of the same scene, taken on May 7. 34. Page 69 - this photo was taken on May 5, just north of Kyle. 35. Page 71 - this photo was taken in the same farm yard near Kyle on May 5. 36. Page 73 - this photo was taken just north of Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park on May 5. 37. This photo was taken on May 11, on Highway 7, west of Rosetown. Note: All the photos were taken within a period of eight days using a Sony

Cybershot DSC-H50 camera with a Digital Concepts 3X telephoto extender lens.

Photos were edited using Windows Vista's resident photo viewing and editing

software, Windows Photo Gallery. I attempted to keep it simple using a simple

digital camera and basic photo editing software.

Through a Jungian Lens: Tunnel Vision Robert G. Longpré

Robert is a retired school teacher and administrator living in small town Saskatchewan, Canada. In retirement he is devoting more time to the study and application of Jungian psychology in his writing, photography, private counselling practice and his own life.

Robert has been active as a writer for more than forty years, and as an amateur photographer for more than thirty years. His lifelong interest in philosophy and psychology has influenced his work, both creative and professional.

This is the second book in a series that will continue to grow for

many years.