About Brian Zinchuk Publishing:

Bio:

Brian Zinchuk is an award-winning photographer and writer, located in Estevan, Saskatchewan.

His career in journalism started as a high school newspaper editor at the Yorkton Regional High School.

After a few years of beating his head against engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, his career took two separate paths - journalism and pipelining. He spent a year as half of a two-person newspaper called the Saskatoon Journal, and another year as the lone reporter for the Rosetown Eagle.

Then it was pipelining for several years, first as an excavator oiler, then as an operator. He currently holds a level 2 apprenticeship as an excavator operator, and was 1000 hours from his journeyman when God decided a life sleeping in your own bed is more important. In 2003, Brian became the senior reporter with the Battlefords News-Optimist, chasing fire trucks, politicians, cops and robbers.

In May, 2008, Brian combined his oilpatch experience with journalism, becoming one of the founding reporters with Saskatchewan's petroleum monthly newspaper, Pipeline News. In November, 2008, he and his family moved to Estevan to become editor of Pipeline News, his current 9 to 5 gig.

Brian and Michelle Zinchuk have been married for 10 years as of May, 2009, and have two young children, Katrina and Spencer.

Photography:

Being a reporter is thrilling, but not lucrative, so Brian expanded into professional photography, first doing weddings, then events like hockey tournaments and dance festivals. Weddings are pretty much done, now, with Brian focusing on event and commercial photography.

A typical setup involves Brian shooting all the participants on the ice, stage or field, as much as humanly possible. A table is set up in the lobby, where several laptops allow photos to be displayed for sale. It typically takes 20 to 30 minutes to have photos posted to the computers after shooting is completed.

An assistant runs the table, and takes orders. Order forms are self-explanatory, and orders are mailed out within a reasonable time frame, dependent on the number of orders. Huge events, like dance festivals with hundreds of dancers, take longer than a typical hockey tournament, for example.

Payment can be cash, Interac, Visa or MasterCard on site, Visa or Mastercard online. Taxes and shipping are included.

Awards:

Saskatchewan Weekly Newspapers Association Better Newspaper Competition

• Best Feature Photo, 2009
• Best Black and White Photo, 2009
• Photographer of the Year - 2006, 2007, Third Place in 2008
  
• Columnist of the Year, 2005, 2006, 2008, Second Place in 2007
  
• Best Recreational Story/Series of Stories, 2008, shared with Jim Humphrey
  
• Best News Story of the Year, 2005
  
• Best Business Writing, Second Place, 2008
  Canadian Community Newspapers Association Better Newspapers Competition
  
• Best Agricultural Story - Second Place, 2006