Grant Crabtree

His father, an art department head at William Notman’s photographic studio in Montreal and later owner and operator of Crabtree Gravure Limited, an engraving business; his mother, an artist and cartoonist, was a student of painter John Singer Sargent, and graduated from the Royal Academy in 1903.

Following high school and during the Great Depression, Crabtree helped his father in his business, working with plates and developing prints, and learning how to produce quality images.

He soon joined a local camera club, where his annual contest submission, a portrait of his brother Graham, won first prize.

Inspired by Edward Steichen’s Vanity Fair portraits, and encouraged by positive reaction to his work, Crabtree began his long career in photography, film and much more to be listed here.

In retirement, he continued his artistic pursuits, taking keen interest in nature and landscape photography and woodworking, producing furniture and crafts.

[6][7] A safety film chronicling the dangers of play around a water mill, The Chairmaker and the Boys is the story of Ernest Hart, carpenter and blacksmith of the Margaree Valley, and his two troublesome grandsons.

Commissioned by DEVCO, a narrative of the film centres around the importation of sheep from Scotland to Cape Breton as part of a community economic development initiative undertaken by the corporation.

Honourable Mention, Non-theatrical Government Sponsored Films, Genie Awards, Montreal, 1953, for Western Wheat (1951), produced by the NFB.

[13] First Prize, Science Category, International Film Festival, Kelowna, 1958, for The Salmon's Struggle for Survival (1957), produced by the NFB.