Keynote Speaker Paul Bannick

Paul Bannick is an award-winning author and wildlife photographer specializing in the natural history of North America with a focus on birds and habitat. Coupling his love of the outdoors with his skill as a photographer, he creates images that foster the intimacy between viewer and subject, inspiring education and conservation.

Paul is both the author and photographer of two best-selling bird books, Owl: A Year in the Lives of North American Owls (Braided River 2016) and The Owl and The Woodpecker, Encounters with North America’s Most Iconic Birds (Mountaineers 2008). Both of Paul’s books were well received. Washington’s State Museum, The Burke, created two traveling exhibits based on his first book, The Owl and the Woodpecker.  His second book, Owl: A Year in the Lives of North American Owls, received Gold Medal in the 2017 Independent Publisher Book Awards “Animals/Pets” category.

Paul’s photography won awards from several prestigious photography contests, including those hosted by  Audubon Magazine and the International Conservation Photography Awards.

His work can be found prominently in bird guides from Audubon, Peterson, The Smithsonian, Stokes, The National Wildlife Federation, and in several volumes of the Handbook of the Birds of the world. His work has been featured in a variety of publications from The New York Times, Audubon, Sunset, Nature’s Best Photography Magazine, Birds and Blooms, Pacific Northwest (two cover stories), Seattle Times, Alaska Air Magazine, American Way Magazine, and in many other books, magazines, parks, refuges, and other outlets in North America and Europe. He has appeared on NBC Nightly News, Evening Magazine, King 5 and on dozens of NPR stations and programs, including Travels with Rick Steves and BirdNote.

Paul is an accomplished public speaker and has served as the keynote speaker for dozens of festivals, conventions and fundraisers across the country. His photography has been and continues to be a part of several North American traveling exhibits. A special exhibit at the Chi Mei Museum in Tainan, Taiwan recently featured Paul’s work titled Owls of North America: Spirit of the Lands.

After graduating from the University of Washington, Paul worked successfully for 15 years in the computer software industry beginning as one of the original 75 employees of the Aldus Corporation. He later served as a Director for Adobe Systems, and also worked as a senior manager at Microsoft. Wishing to combine his passion for wilderness conservation with his career, Paul turned his attention to non-profit work and currently serves as the Director of Major Gifts for Conservation Northwest, an organization dedicated to protecting and connecting wild areas and recovering native species from the Pacific Coast to the Canadian Rockies.

Keynote Program:

The Owl and the Woodpecker Revisited (60 minutes)

Paul’s presentations on owls and woodpeckers take audiences on a visual and auditory exploration of habitats of North America through the owls and woodpeckers that most define and enrich these places. This photographic field report celebrates the ways the lives of these two iconic birds are intertwined with one another, and their role as keystone and indicator species for their environment. Audiences are immersed in the sights and sounds of forest, grassland, arctic, and desert, and in the entertaining and informative details of Paul’s narrative. The hidden life of these birds is obvious for those who know how to find it. Paul knows how to find it, and how to bring it to life for his audiences through photos, sound, and story.  “The Owl and The Woodpecker Revisited” which uses new photos, information and stories gleaned from the sixteen years since the release of Paul’s highly “The Owl and Woodpecker: Encounters with North America’s Most Iconic Birds” while following the same themes.

Workshops:

In this classroom workshop, Paul utilizes his own photos and knowledge to teach students how to photograph wildlife, particularly birds, in the field. He covers everything from how to find and approach your subject to how to capture the photos that you imagine. He covers compositional guides, depth of field, shutter speed, exposure compensation, the use of flash, shooting modes, and even the selection of equipment, Paul will help bring each student’s photography to the next level.