Profile
Profile
I spent over thirty five years in the corporate world, in various parts of the globe.
My deep interest is in the conservation of nature and the use of photography to increase awareness of the need to preserve the beauty of nature and wildlife. In 2000 I was appointed as an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO) for “service to environmental protection through management control and treatment of industrial and hazardous wastes, and to the community”.
Nature is where I find quiet contentment, balm for spirit, and a place of healing for soul.
For nearly 20 years, the salty oceans is where I found, and still find, solitude.
In 2006 I discovered digital photography. My world now consists of less blue water sailing, lots of travel, wildlife photography, conservation photography and arranging and leading high-end photographic safaris.
Being a self-taught photographer, I make all the mistakes myself and I photograph to convey the intrinsic value of the natural world.
My photography is not a portrayal of environmental vandalism or an elegy to vanishing places. Other ardent photographers cover these aspects very well.
Rather, my focus is on the use of photography to encourage the preservation of what is, whilst understanding the attendant challenges and constant tensions between development and nature conservation.
When I photograph wild creatures, I see them in my viewfinder as ambassadors for the preservation of their usually diminishing habitat.
My images seek to be beacons to a stronger connectedness with our natural world and to inspire a more respectful interaction with our environment.
If we are to know a true connection to nature it will have to happen in our own hearts and souls.
If the images I capture help others embrace even a small part of their Earth again, I will be rewarded.
Wherever I can, I seek to protray the subject’s individuality, as every landscape, seascape, mammal, animal, bird has an individuality.
Some are sensual, some are rugged and dangerous; others are inhospitable wild, gracious or serene.
Like each human being, individuality is unique to any place or wild species and it changes through the seasons, and even throughout the day.
A peaceful zen morning can quickly turn into a perfidious stormy afternoon.
A gracious cheetah, can, within minutes, turn into a ferocious killing beast.
It is nature’s spirit that I seek to frame and turn into pictures.
Like any friend, it is important to treat her with respect and curiosity; to be sensitive to what the animal, bird or landscape is trying to tell me.
In order to portray the individuality of an animal or bird, it is important to get to know them; to be with them when they are being themselves, as if they did not know they were being composed in my frame; to be like a chameleon and meld into their environment.
Then, as a photographer, I become connected to the natural world, to the matrix from which I was born, which sustains me, and to which I, and all of us, will, one day, return.
Each of us is a very important part of this matrix, and we are in a position to preserve and enjoy it, or destroy it.
This position is a privileged one, but is accompanied by an authentic calling to recognise the fragility of this matrix.
I am fortunate to live in a rather unspoilt and unpolluted part of the planet, in forever changing light, clear skies, in the midst of magnificent land and seascapes, and within driving distance of one of only five universally recognized biodiversity “hot-spots” on the planet – a blessing afforded to a few.
Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoy the images.
What is the AIPP?
Founded in 1963, the AIPP is a not-for-profit organisation run for professional photographers and industry representatives who seek to set a standard of excellence within the photographic industry.
All images shown here are of wild creatures, treated with respect and photographed in their natural habitat and behavior.
