Dan Gibson

Dan Gibson (January 19, 1922 in Montreal – March 18, 2006 in Toronto) was a Canadian photographer, cinematographer and sound recordist.

Career
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 records, and started his Solitudes series, which was introduced in 1981.

Gibson is well regarded for his contributions to the Friends of Algonquin Park, 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 for his environmental works. In 1997, he was awarded the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award at the Juno Awards ceremony in Hamilton, Ontario.

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)
 * Audubon Wildlife Theatre – 78 episode TV series
 * Wildlife Cinema – multiple episode TV series
 * To the Wild Country – 10 episode TV series (Narrated by Lorne Greene)
 * Wild Canada – multiple episode TV series

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, including:


 * 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
 * Spring Romance, album by Dan Gibson 1998