About Oli Gardner
So, I’m leaving my student flat in Edinburgh on my way to catch a flight to Canada. I have no idea what Canada is or means, just that I’d look like a fool if I didn’t go after telling the world that I would. Pausing in the kitchen to bid farewell to my drunken friends, I stare at the TV realising it’s mine and I have neither packed nor sold it (and I’m late for my flight).
As I ask what I should do about my TV my best mate John lifts his head, twirls the cheap plastic camera he is holding and launches it through the air right at me.
“You take this, I’ll take the TV…”
And so I came to Canada with a shitty camera and an open door to a new dream to become a wildlife photographer.
That’s the romantic start to my journey. 10 years later I’m here at my computer in Vancouver writing this bio. I dream daily of my favourite place in the world, Yellowstone. Of the Bison, the grizzlies, the pronghorn and the random wildness. Every once in a while I jump in the car and trot off by myself to capture some of the magic that inhabits the wild spaces around North America.
That’s what drives me.
Lately, I’ve been leaning more towards using my work to make the world a better place. Yes I know that sounds cheesy, but I’m an emotional chap so I like to dig deep into the hyperbole whenever I can. One of my more recent gigs sent me as the first photographer EVER (cool I know), to shoot captive bred Vancouver Island Marmots (Canada’s most endangered mammal). The cute little rodents have been re-released into the wild high in the mountains of Vancouver Island. The shoot consisted mostly of frequent rescue missions by the researchers to recover my sorry ass from the dangerous fog-laden hopeless situations I shouldn’t have been in. I donated that body of work to the Marmot Recovery foundation. Since then the images have been published across Canada helping to raise money for the cause - and yes, making me feel pretty good too.
To sum it up, the majority of my work has tended to cover the Rockies. From Jasper, Alberta, way down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming (a tear wells in my eye at the merest mention of the place), where I get up at stupid hours of the morning to capture intimate glimpses of some of the worlds most beautiful wildlife and the inspirational landscapes in which they live.
By the way, that shitty camera at the start… it broke after 3 weeks.
:: Oli Gardner
