Pete Oxford, a British Biologist and his South African wife, Reneé Bish, have lived in Ecuador, South America since 1985 and 1992 respectively. Since childhood Pete has known two things, firstly that he wanted to spend his life in nature and secondly that he wanted to travel. When Pete and Reneé met while he was working as a naturalist guide in the Amazon Rain Forest it was immediately obvious that their combined wanderlust and passion for wildlife would stand them in great stead.
Pete began in tourism in 1987 while living in the Galapagos Islands where he worked as a naturalist guide for three years. He subsequently decided to travel around the world and after sailing across the Pacific in a 10 meter yacht he worked catching crocodiles for six months in Australia followed by croc work in India and Zimbabwe, (where he also did a stint in game capture). He also worked on the high seas in the South Atlantic as an observer for the Falkland Islands Government fisheries, assigned to foreign flag vessels. Still fascinated by the country he returned to Ecuador and began work in the Amazon rain forest. It was in the forest that Pete and Reneé met and where they lived for three years. Pete worked as a naturalist guide while Reneé set up community centers aimed at the local women.
The next stage in their lives was to begin work as an expedition team in the ecotourism adventure industry, both on ships and remote wildlife destinations on land. They have vast experience around the world where they worked repeatedly on all oceans and every continent, revisiting all continents every consecutive year for eight years It was during this time that their photography developed and they soon found that they were selling images and feature articles to a wealth of international magazines.
Pete and Reneé work as a team and today photography has become the vehicle by which they are able to spend their lives in the remaining wild places of the planet.
Not wanting to be sucked into the commercial side of the business their mission is firstly to approach photography from a solid ethical standpoint and secondly – through their images – let photography be the communicator of a story – a conservation message. Pete is in fact very proud to be one of the founding members of the very prestigious International League of Conservation Photographers (www.ilcp.com)
Pete began in tourism in 1987 while living in the Galapagos Islands where he worked as a naturalist guide for three years. He subsequently decided to travel around the world and after sailing across the Pacific in a 10 meter yacht he worked catching crocodiles for six months in Australia followed by croc work in India and Zimbabwe, (where he also did a stint in game capture). He also worked on the high seas in the South Atlantic as an observer for the Falkland Islands Government fisheries, assigned to foreign flag vessels. Still fascinated by the country he returned to Ecuador and began work in the Amazon rain forest. It was in the forest that Pete and Reneé met and where they lived for three years. Pete worked as a naturalist guide while Reneé set up community centers aimed at the local women.
The next stage in their lives was to begin work as an expedition team in the ecotourism adventure industry, both on ships and remote wildlife destinations on land. They have vast experience around the world where they worked repeatedly on all oceans and every continent, revisiting all continents every consecutive year for eight years It was during this time that their photography developed and they soon found that they were selling images and feature articles to a wealth of international magazines.
Pete and Reneé work as a team and today photography has become the vehicle by which they are able to spend their lives in the remaining wild places of the planet.
Not wanting to be sucked into the commercial side of the business their mission is firstly to approach photography from a solid ethical standpoint and secondly – through their images – let photography be the communicator of a story – a conservation message. Pete is in fact very proud to be one of the founding members of the very prestigious International League of Conservation Photographers (www.ilcp.com)