Michael Bednar is a travel and documentary photographer based in Vancouver. A college degree in Natural Resource Management and related exploration of mountains, coasts and forests of Western Canada triggered in him the passion for photography. Started merely as a means of documenting his explorations, Bednar's love for traveling took him further abroad where he discovered the rich diversity of life and cultures in places like Africa, The Middle East and Asia. His worked has been published around the world. He continues to explore and build a library of images from around the world focusing on landscape, wildlife and portraits that work to capture the often profound relationships between people and their environments.
Through this post, hear from the photographer himself -- about his passion and the subjects he chooses to shoot.

"The Eagle Hunters of Mongolia was a project I worked on in 2006. It was the first project I shot digitally. I had also been influenced by the work of Phil Borges that year."

"I had wanted to travel to this part of the world and meet the people there for a long time. I found the vast, harsh but beautiful landscape and the people truly inspiring."

"I am a color photographer. I feel strongly about color and I seek it out. I look for ways to incorporate it into my photos wherever I can and it is appropriate. I try to connect with my subject no matter what that subject may be."

"I shoot Nikon and when I am shooting portraits I use small Nikon flashes with a few different light modifiers that are small and easy to carry as I work alone and travel extensively. I also use Nik filters to enhance my images."


"I use filters to enhance colors. Mostly a polarizer, a bluegold polarizer and graduated neutral density filters."

"I don't really go anywhere to vacation any more unless it is to see family or friends. All the trips that I plan are to shoot. I want to use any time and money I have to shoot. I sometimes take a bad weather day to just relax but I just end up spending the day scanning the sky and waiting to get back out."

"There are so many amazing places that I have yet to see and others that I want to return to."

"My most recent project is called Real People Real Lives and can be seen here It is a project that I collaborated with a non-profit organization called Atira and was supported by BC Housing. It aimed to show the marginalized people in Vancouver's oldest and poorest neighburhood as real people living their lives as best as they can just like anyone else."

"The next project that I am going to be working on this year is with a remote First Nations community that is rediscovering their traditional food and way of life."


"I really love Asia and I mean all of Asia from Turkey to Indonesia. When it comes right down to it though there is nowhere that I don't want to explore and photograph."


"I am working on a digital storytelling project called Yayem. The project provides youth from small remote communities with an opportunity to share who they are and where they live. We give them photography instruction and teach them the tools to make their own digital stories."

"The one thing I will tell photo enthusiasts is to photograph what you love. Don't get into photographing something because you think it will make you money. Whether it be food or dogs or shoes or landscapes – whatever it is photograph it because you feel strongly about it and your passion for it will come through in your photos."