Top 5 moments of 2024 from StarPhoenix photojournalist Michelle Berg

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StarPhoenix photojournalist Michelle Berg travels all over the city, documenting local news in Saskatoon. As the end of the year approaches, she chose a selection of her top five moments captured in 2024.

These images show a variety of Berg’s work, from sports to the arts, portraits to politics and social issues.

1. The first is from the return of the slam dunk competition at BRIT. Martin Lual of the Brooks Buffalos wins the slam dunk competition during the BRIT 2024 pep rally on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. The timing to get him in flight, with the ball having just gone through the hoop and his expression with the full crowd in the background make this one pop.

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2. Persephone Theatre puts on incredible musicals and plays. I wanted to highlight this photo of Joema Frith and the cast of Disney’s The Little Mermaid performing Under The Sea at Persephone Theatre on April 10, 2024. This was their second run of the media call, so I knew the big jump with splits was coming. I made sure to get close and low to show the height and the rest of the cast below.

3. I was there when Lyrik Albert was crowned powwow princess, and I knew I wanted to speak with her during her run, and do a photoshoot combining her love of dance and archery skills. We took these in the President Murray Tree Park, while she did some target practice. I put my camera as far over as I could without being directly in the line of her arrow, to get this photo showing the precision and focus in her eyes.

4. Election night was a late one with many delays. I spent most of the night at Cynthia Block’s campaign headquarters, hoping to capture the moment when she made history by becoming the first woman elected mayor of Saskatoon. This was the moment when she knew she’d won and turned to hug her daughter.

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5. After the first big snowstorm of the season, I drove toward University Bridge to capture the scene. As I was shooting the backed-up traffic on the bridge, I saw a man wrapped in a blanket. We talked briefly, and he said he had just spent the night in a bush by the river. It just so happened that The StarPhoenix was working on a story for the next day’s paper about the city being behind on getting the emergency warm-up shelter up and running. I feel this image really highlights the people affected by the housing crisis in our city.

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