Jannik Plaetner

The Story Behind the Image

Every image tells a story but sometimes the story might not be what you think. In my year long project of giving away limited digital prints to friends and acquaintances I often get comments about the beauty of the work and the subject matter, but not very frequently about the underlying subject.

Photographs can be sneaky and deceiving that way. As a viewer it is easy to be be lulled into a false sense of reality thinking the image is about the subject matter when the subject is really about something quite different. In this exhibition, I have teamed up with a fellow artist Chris Poole who will provide some insight into the works with his Haiku about the subject.

I have chosen to use the same works as my Year Long Project as those images have been selected especially for their deeper subject meeting. I hope you enjoy the work and please feel free to contact me if you would like more context.

Like the shifting sand Time wears away memories Of why we are here	Week 01 - Lonely	Fragile wisps of grey wash the colors from my eyes monochrome daydreams	Week 02 - Morning Paddle
Wilderness beauty Hotels and tourists and trash Hide behind the lens	Week 03 - Beat the CrowdsDay 37	I am different Please see me for who I am And love me for it	Week 04 - Tiny Shroom
Nomads of the sky Back to fish the restless weir Winter fades away	Week 05 - Arrival	Dreams for the future Become relics of the past Discarded and gone	Week 06 - Memories
The paint cracks and fades shedding the stories of those who made it their home	Week 07 - Door 14	Ghosts of steam engines Echo across our great land Lost in mists of time	Week 08 - The Great Trail
Someone loved it there Born to live the rugged life Gone without regrets	Week 09 - Abandoned	Grain fields feed the world Runoff stains the watershed Colorful dead lakes	Week 10 - Crooked Lake
We consume it all Past the point of no return Change is upon us	Week 11 - Swings	Quiet in the night celestial undulations everlasting life	Week 12 - Nature's Fireworks
Part way through my day When everything seems the same I see something new	Week 13 - Getting Lost	Shaped by wind and age Painted by rain, sleet and sun Prairie Picasso	Week 14 - Tired
They came to escape Displacing those before them Trails of loss and tears	Week 15 - Saskatchewan Cliche	Do I trust myself To move beyond my failings Or betray it all	Week 16 - The Path
Can you feel the pull Sweet promise of the unknown Stories not yet told	Week 17 - Shiny Rails	The air burns my throat Smoky haze distorts my sight Forests are burning	Week 18 - Smokey Break
Tamed for a moment Restless water held at bay The locks rise and fall	Week 20 - Early Morning	Between dusk and dark Colors fade into the night Then comes the blue hour	Week 19 - The Blue Hour
Destructive beauty Little beetles and blue mold Stain the forests red	Week 21 - Beetle Attack	Two cozy red chairs Slow down and sit for a while Enjoy what we have	Week 22 - Winter's Waning
Water feels the pull Racing down to the ocean Shaping the planet	Week 23 - Old School	Was this here before? Heat and dust shift my vision Old changes to new	Week 24 - Not in Kansas
Two worlds come to meet One pure and one distorted Each tells a story	Week 25 - Upside Down	It was built for war But it is much more useful For peaceful pastimes	Week 26 - In Case of War
The earth will survive Our careless treatment of it Will we be there too?	Week 27 - What Future	Darkness slips away Colours wash the morning sky A new day is here	Week 28 - First Sun
Thrust up from the crust Worn down by eons of rain The story of earth	Week 29 - Islands	Go answer the call Ride the waves so wild and free Then back home to me	Week 30 - Safe Harbour
The fog engulfs me I can not tell sea from sky And float between them	Week 31 - Vanishing	cold northern coastline How can something so austere Be this beautiful	Week 32 - Biscayan Cove
I hear the fiddler Playing the songs of the sea Come and dance with me	Week 33 - Side Door	Ancient mantle rock Thrust by tectonic movement Windswept and barren	Week 34 - Unchanging
Little wooden sheds Fragile against the ocean Defying the storms	Week 35 - Sheds	We all have that dream A moment from another time A place in our heart	Week 36 - Edge of Canada
Fog spreads abruptly Racing the waves to make shore Erasing the land	Week 37 - Fog Rolling In	She sits high and dry Adrift in summer flowers Will it sail again?	Week 38 - Grounded
A hole in a rock! It seems to be an odd way To see beyond it	Week 39 - Long Shot	The light cuts the night A Beacon of safe passage Guiding the ships home	Week 40 - Canadian Guardian
So close to the sea Homes balanced on stilts and rock Proud of who they are	Week 41 - Tranquil	Up pops a gopher Ready to run from danger Unmoved by the view	Week 42 - Hello ThereBeing Watched
The ocean is calm I sit with dandelions Completely at peace	Week 43 - Beach Life	The ship sits askew Beached for some unknown reason Denied from the sea	Week 44 - Grounded II
Seabirds far and wide Traversing the wind and waves Their cries fill the sky	Week 45 - Birds	They may seem the same Look deeper to see much more Diffuse reflection	Week 46 - This Way Up
Sparse land yields little Surging seas demand respect Snug home in the cove	Week 47 - Edge of Canada II	Embrace the winter There is much to discover If you take the time	Week 48 - Saskatoon Winter
Deep in the far north Sits a wooden Gothic church Hand built by the Cree	Week 49 - Stanley Mission	Secrets shared with friends Days full of new adventures Childhood memories	Week 50 - Tofino Girls
We disrupt the land So that all can enjoy it Our national parks	Week 51 - Red Chairs	A man eight feet tall Outlaws and a rock castle Tales from Big Muddy	Week 52 - Big Muddy