Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Green grass, blue skies and polar bears.
It's not a combination many people picture when thinking of the burly creatures in Canada's Arctic, but it's one that was captured by Martin Gregus. His breathtaking and intimate photos of polar bears enjoying the summer sun earned him one of wildlife photography's most prestigious honours.
This week the Vancouver man won the Rising Star Portfolio Award at the Natural History Museum's 2021 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, a prize given to young photographers aged 18 to 26. His work will be featured at the London, U.K., museum and later toured around the world.
"It was just a dream come true," he told CTV National News of winning the award. "I've been doing photography since I was eight years old."
Gregus and his team, which included his assistant and a bear guard, travelled to Hudson Bay for 13 days in 2020 and 20 days in 2021 to get up close and personal with the local wildlife.
"We managed to document some unbelievable behaviours, and it was so exciting just waking up in the morning and seeing these bears right in front of your window," he said.
A picture from the photo series that won Martin Gregus the Rising Star Portfolio Award at the Natural History Museum's 2021 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. (Courtesy of Martin Gregus)
But it's not just about being in the right place at the right time, according to Gregus. Part of the work involves avoiding interference with the animals and allowing them to get accustomed to your presence -- something that is evident in one of his photos, which features a mother nursing two of her cubs.
"I get goosebumps thinking about it," he said of the photo. "[It was] very intimate, and that's just hours and hours of homework you put in with these bears to sort of introduce them to you."
Other pictures from the winning set included two female polar bears playing in shallow water, along with an adult taking an afternoon nap in the grass with a cub.
A picture from the photo series that won Martin Gregus the Rising Star Portfolio Award at the Natural History Museum's 2021 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. (Courtesy of Martin Gregus)
Many of the photos were taken with the use of drones, which let Gregus observe the surrounding wildlife while keeping his distance.
It wasn't always so easy, however, keeping the bears at bay. Camping in the wilderness without a bathroom in sight can leave a person rather exposed.
"Every time you need to go, you take a gun with you and you just go out and find a nice area and you hide there and occasionally polar bears go by," Gregus said.
Gregus had to beat out a wide field to win his award.
"Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the world's biggest wildlife photography competition. It's been running for 57 years," Natalie Cooper, competition judge and senior researcher at the Natural History Museum, told CTV National News. "We had over 50,000 entries this year and we had to then narrow those down to just 100."
A picture from the photo series that won Martin Gregus the Rising Star Portfolio Award at the Natural History Museum's 2021 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. (Courtesy of Martin Gregus)
The competition this year included awards in 19 categories and also offered a number of commendations.
"What we're looking for is technically excellent photographs but really beautiful photographs as well, so things that make you stop and think and want to keep looking at them," she said. "We're also interested in things that have a story behind them, too."
Gregus also wasn't the only Canadian to be recognized for his wildlife photography.
Gil Wizen of Mississauga, Ont., won two awards. One was in the “Behaviour: Invertebrates” category, for his close-up of a spider in the midst of weaving with its webbing. Two more of his photos received commendations under this category.
His second award was in the “Urban Wildlife” category, where he photographed a large Brazilian wandering spider, seemingly guarding its newborn brood, after finding them under the bed he was sleeping on.
Shane Kalyn of Vancouver also won an award in the “Behaviour: Birds” category for his close-up of two courting ravens.
Celina Chien was commended in the “Photojournalism” category for her picture of a Bornean orangutan gripping the bars between enclosures at a zoo, and Nichole Vijayan was commended in the “11-14 Years” category for her photo of an eastern bluebird feeding its chick.
A picture from the photo series that won Martin Gregus the Rising Star Portfolio Award at the Natural History Museum's 2021 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. (Courtesy of Martin Gregus)
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
B.C. conservation officers recently seized a nine-foot-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack.
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised.
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Newfoundland’s unique version of the Pine Marten has grown out of its threatened designation.
A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.
There’s a group of people in Saskatoon that proudly call themselves dumpster divers, and they’re turning the city’s trash into treasure.
Ontario is facing a larger than anticipated deficit but the Doug Ford government still plans to balance its books before the next provincial election.