Dan Gibson (January 19, 1922 in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

– March 18, 2006) was a Canadian

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

and sound recordist. During the late 1940s, Dan Gibson took photographs and made nature films, including ''Audubon Wildlife Theatre''. Gibson produced many films and television series through which he learned how to record wildlife sound. He pioneered techniques of recording, and also helped design equipment to optimize results, including the "Dan Gibson Parabolic Microphone". Some of his early recordings of the 1950s and 1960s were released on

LP record The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a ...

s, and started his '' Solitudes'' series, which was introduced in 1981. Gibson is well regarded for his contributions to the Friends of

Algonquin Park Algonquin Provincial Park is a provincial park located between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River in Ontario, Canada, mostly within the Unorganized South Part of Nipissing District. Established in 1893, it is the oldest provincial park in Canad ...

, and his dedication to the Algonquin Park Residents Association. Having a lease of land in Algonquin Provincial Park gave Gibson and his family (wife: Helen, children: Mary-Jane or "Kirkie," Holly, Dan, and Gordon) a unique opportunity to connect with nature, and it certainly fueled his passion for the study, preservation and interaction with wildlife. In 1994, Gibson was awarded

The Order of Canada ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

for his environmental works. In 1997, he was awarded the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award at the

Juno Awards The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

ceremony in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

. In 2004, he released his first DVD, Natural Beauty, which was originally shot in High Definition.

Major productions

* ''Wings in the Wilderness'' - Feature Film (Narrated by

Lorne Greene Lorne Hyman Greene (born Lyon Himan Green; 12 February 1915 – 11 September 1987) was a Canadian actor, musician, singer and radio personality. His notable television roles include Ben Cartwright on the Western ''Bonanza'' and Commander Ada ...

) * ''

Audubon Wildlife Theatre ''Audubon Wildlife Theatre'' is a Canadian documentary television series which aired on CBC Television between April 13, 1968 and June 1974. The series presented wildlife footage filmed by many contributors including award winner Dan Gibson and o ...

'' - 78 episode TV series * '' Wildlife Cinema'' - multiple episode TV series * ''

To the Wild Country '' To the Wild Country'' is a Canadian nature television miniseries which aired on CBC Television from 1972 to 1975. Premise Lorne Greene Lorne Hyman Greene (born Lyon Himan Green; 12 February 1915 – 11 September 1987) was a Canadian ac ...

'' - 10 episode TV series (Narrated by

) * ''Wild Canada'' - multiple episode TV series

Film awards

* Whitethroat - Golden Gate Award - 1965

San Francisco Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in in ...

* Land of the Loon - Best TV Film of the Year and Certificate of Honour for outstanding contribution to the art of cinematography from the CSC, 1967

Canadian Film Awards The Canadian Film Awards were the leading Canadian cinema awards from 1949 until 1978. These honours were conducted annually, except in 1974 when a number of Quebec directors withdrew their participation and prompted a cancellation. In the 1970s ...

* Adventure Trent Severn - Award of Merit, 1967 Canadian Film Awards * Winter Potpourri - Michigan Outdoor Writers Award of Merit 1969 * Sounds of Nature - Etrog for Best Sound in a Non-theatrical Film, 1971 Canadian Film Awards * Fly Geese F-L-Y - Blue Ribbon Award for Best Children’s Film, 1972

American Film Festival American Film Festival is a film festival held annually in October in Wrocław, Poland. The first festival was held from 20 to 24 October 2010. The festival is organized by Stowarzyszenie Nowe Horyzonty and co-funded by the Wroclaw Municipality a ...

* Golden Autumn -

Teddy Award The Teddy Award is an international film award for films with LGBT topics, presented by an independent jury as an official award of the Berlin International Film Festival (the Berlinale). In the most part, the jury consists of organisers of gay ...

, 1973 U.S. National Outdoor-Travel Film Festival * Dan Gibson’s Nature Family - Best Wildlife Film of the Year, 1972 Canadian Film Awards * Return of the Giants - Best Wildlife Film of the Year, 1973 Canadian Film Awards * Land of the Big Ice - Best Wildlife Film of the Year, 1974 Canadian Film Awards * Wings In The Wilderness - Etrog for Best Sound in a Non-theatrical Film and Certificate of Honour for outstanding contribution to the art of cinematography from the CSC, 1975 Canadian Film Awards * Return of the Winged Giants -

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, a ...

Award for Best Ecological Film, 1977 National Educational Film Festival, USA and Best Wildlife Film, 1977

Saskatchewan International Film Festival Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Da ...

Album awards

* Solitudes albums have sold over 20,000,000 worldwide * 15 Solitudes albums have been Certified Gold (50,000 units sold) in Canada * 11 Solitudes albums have been Certified Platinum (100,000 units sold) or multi-Platinum status.

Discography

Until April 2012, about 234 albums (including 13 compilations) were released by Solitudes. Some popular albums are: * ''Solitudes 25'': Silver Anniversary Collection * ''Best of Solitudes'': 20th Anniversary * ''Listen to the Mockingbird'' * ''Loon Echo Lake'' * ''Natural Beauty DVD'' * ''Rolling Thunder'' * ''Wildlife Identification by Sound'' http://www.solitudes.com/detail.aspx?ID=408 * ''Spring Romance'', album by Dan Gibson 1998

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Dan 1922 births 2006 deaths Canadian naturalists Upper Canada College alumni 20th-century naturalists