Aerial photographs have been taken of Canadian farmsteads for decades.
The resulting accumulation of negatives and contact sheets still exists, meaning the material is both an historic resource, and a place for families to glimpse their agrarian past.
Kim Bessette of Homestead Aerial Photos Ltd. explained he and his wife bought the assets of the company that has been doing aerial photographing of farms across Canada, with a focus on the Prairies in 1993.
“Not only did they photograph everywhere … they kept every photo in stock,” he explained. “That’s a library of about one and a half million negatives and proofs.”
Bessette said they have put a lot of time and effort into preserving the material that dates back to 1953, although th material for the local region likely dates back to 1955.
The material is still available for people to get a copy of an old photo. In fact June 14 and 15 Homestead Aerial will be in Yorkton at the Parkland Mall with a large selection of material focused on the region.
“What we’re going to bring covers a pretty large area,” he said, estimating it will include material taken over an area of about “100 square mile radius of Yorkton.”
The Yorkton stop will be a prelude to attending the Canada’s Farm Progress Show in Regina later in June.
Bessette said people can stop by and look through files of about 36 proofs roughly based around land descriptions and can order from what they find. He added the vast majority of material is in black and white, colour not coming into use until the 1980s. He said previous to that anyone wanting colour got a painted black and white picture.
While the majority of the collection is of farmyards, Bessette said rural school yards, churches and elevators were often photographed as the airplanes travelled the countryside. That said, not everything was photographed either.
“We’re at the mercy of what they shot,” he said.
Today Bessette said they still do custom aerial photography of farmsteads, but utilizing a drone rather than a full size aircraft.
