Bitmap loader problem

I'm trying to load a bitmap with a small win32 console application. I do the following:

	// load in the bitmap image
	HBITMAP bit = (HBITMAP) LoadImage(NULL, "head 1_eyeL_hi.bmp", IMAGE_BITMAP, 0, 0,
								LR_DEFAULTSIZE | LR_LOADFROMFILE);

	if (!bit) 

		// failed to load, return failure to caller
		printf("bitmap not loaded");

	// get bitmap dimensions
	BITMAP bitmap;
    GetObject( bit, sizeof(BITMAP), &bitmap );

	printf("width = %d\n\n", bitmap.bmType);

	//BYTE *byBitData = (BYTE *) calloc(bitmap.bmBitsPixel * bitmap.bmHeight * bitmap.bmWidth, sizeof(BYTE));
	BYTE *byBitData = (BYTE *) calloc(64*64, sizeof(BYTE));

	byBitData = (BYTE *) bitmap.bmBits;

	// get the pixel bits
	printf("bits = %d\n\n", byBitData[0]);

The program crashes when trying to print the first bit data. The debugger says that byBitData and bitmap.bmBits are bad pointer. Sure enough, when I print them to the screen they are null (0.000). Dont know what I'm doing wrong here, hoe someone can help.