Bruce Bennett has called Casper home for the past ten years. He earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Utah State University in 1986 and subsequently worked as a photojournalist at several newspapers throughout the west. While photographing a documentary on condemned murderer Tom Baal in Nevada, the urge to intervene and treat mental illness was rekindled. Bennett subsequently pursued medical school and graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1997. He completed his Psychiatry residency at the University of Utah in 2001.
In April 2008 Bennett moved to Casper to continue his psychiatric work at Wyoming Behavioral Institute. In the intervening ten years, Bennett notes two aspects of his Wyoming experience to be the most consistent: His love of all critters, particularly his canine pals, and the level of care his dogs have found at Casper Animal Medical Center.
With the at-home euthanasia of his fourth dog on Good Friday 2018, Dr. Bennett again was drawn to photography. The utter profundity of the event left Bennett with the wish it had been documented. The death of his best pal “Lucky” inspired in Bennett the desire or need to resume photo documentary work with emphasis on people and their animal friends and the deep bonds between them. He now considers himself semi-retired from Psychiatry.
Granted permission to photographically document the work at Casper Animal Medical Center, other projects include the Casper Humane Society, Sunrise Pet Lodge, and Angel Companions. He aspires to photograph the good works performed by Casper Metro Animal Control and Welfare. Of course his current dog Lilly Beth is a common subject of his camera.
Otherwise, Bennett enjoys meeting and talking with the good people of Wyoming, shooting rifles and pistols, and is ever open to learn.