Press Release
Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists
Submitted by Tine Kuiper
June 9, 2005
Nature photographer Bill Pratt captivates audience
At its recent Annual General Meeting held in May at the Union Hall the Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists (MVFN) were fortunate to have renowned local nature photographer Bill Pratt present two series of photographs. In the first slide-show “Ontario Wild” Bill took us to several “secret places” in Algonquin Park where he photographed a variety of wild life such as the interactions of a family of Moose in their natural habitat.
In the second series Bill’s photographs showed the mystery of the landscape of the Northern tundra, which he explored while visiting the headwaters of the Thelon river in the Yukon. He showed that not only is this area great for experiencing wolves, caribou, muskox and other wildlife, but it is also wonderful to experience the vastness and fabulous scenery of this unspoiled area as well as the Northern lights.
Bills photographs were an excellent way of completing the current MVFN lecture series of talks on biodiversity, as he focused on the total landscape such as we can still find it in its pristine condition in many of the Northern regions. Underlying Bill’s work is a strong sense of the beauty of Canada and the need to keep this country together. He indicated that he also finds spiritual peace and emotional relevance while capturing images such as these, and he was able to share and evoke these same emotions in his audience who were truly captivated by the experience.
Bill is an engineer at Parks Canada who devotes most of his spare time to photography. He is an active member of the local photography group “Photography Matters.” Bill is currently featured on the Culture Canada web site, together with several other outstanding individuals such as outstanding architect Douglas Cardinal.
