Nature photographer goes to great lengths
Published Saturday October 25th, 2008
KITCHENER, Ont. - If you came across Peter Bisset in the wild, you might wonder about the sanity of the man as he makes his way up a 15-metre scaffold, wearing a crash helmet and leather jacket. Once atop the viewing platform, Bisset will remove the protective gear and sit quietly, often all night, rarely shifting position and certainly never dozing off.
The nature photographer willingly sacrifices comfort for that perfect shot, the flash of an owl in flight, the gaping mouths of tiny hawk chicks. Bisset has a passion for nature, possessing an innate sense of the animals which results in stunning, award-winning photographs.
Relaxing in the office of his modest Kitchener home, the 68-year-old Bisset talks about his work with great enthusiasm and a hint of modesty. He's proud of his accomplishments yet appears shocked at the level he has achieved.
And given he lost a thumb and messed up an index finger while dabbling in car racing, Bisset doesn't let anything impede a good shot. Not even a dive-bombing hawk or owl objecting to his presence.
"I have 500 medals and ribbons," he said, adding that as a member of the prestigious Photographic Society of America, he has received 2,000 acceptances of his work for PSA-sanctioned photography salons and he was the organization's first Canadian to receive an excellence award for nature photography. He has also been recognized in Canada with five Photo Naturalist awards, the highest award in that genre, and his images are often used in photography magazines.
Born and raised in England, Bisset held his first camera at age seven aided by his father, an amateur photographer, shooting in the remote areas of Scotland and later Austria and Norway. As a high-school student studying geography, he learned about Canada and its infinite wild spaces.
"Canada is a fabulous country with fabulous wildlife," he said.
The largest animals in Great Britain were foxes, whereas in Canada Bisset discovered elk, bear, muskox and moose and there were fewer restrictions on photographing nesting birds. In England, he said, you can be tossed in jail and have your gear confiscated if caught photographing without a specialized permit.
He first came to Ontario in 1967 as a visitor, but stayed, working as a technical sales representative in southern Ontario.
"I was working my way up to Timmins," he said with a grin, recalling his years crisscrossing the north. "I used to take my camera with me, too. I loved that job."
After a promotion to management, Bisset's free-wheeling life on the road was drawing to a close, but his interest in photography was growing. It was time to get serious.
He completed several college level photography courses and joined a Toronto photography club where he met his first mentor, a man who guided and inspired the young man to enter his photos in international exhibitions.
Wildlife photography has since taken Bisset to the wilds of the Yukon and the Arctic. He has shot lynx, songbirds and grizzly bears, but his enduring favourites are always the birds of prey which, protective of their young, will attack intruders with talons outstretched.
Passion and patience have paid off, resulting in stunning photos: a long-eared owl with the gift of a dead mouse for its owlets, a screech owl caught in mid-flight, a mother grizzly bear watching the river for salmon as her two cubs rest on each other's backs.
Bisset uses large-format film in his Hasselblad, a piece of equipment he calls "the Rolls-Royce of cameras."
Next year, the Photographic Society will publish a 75th-anniversary book highlighting its best photographers, including Bisset's.
Seven years ago, he retired from the regular work world and now devotes himself to photography, supplying images to a U.S.-based stock agent and a few to a British agent. He has been featured on the Discovery Channel and is known for developing a photography technique that captures nesting birds with minimal disturbance.
In an artist's statement for the Photographic Society, he once explained his love of nature photography, particularly birds and said he believed all humans must become stewards of the wild world.
Disabled
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
