In a society with so many threats and challenges, we need a positive antidote. This page is devoted to beauty in our world. As a natural scientist and lover of nature, the emphasis is on photographs that share some of that beauty from all parts of the world, whether places where I have worked like coral reefs, countries I have visited, or regions or islands I have called home. The classification is mixed between geographic and topical.

My father was a good amateur photographer, and we always had a darkroom in our home when I was young, so I learned early the basics of making prints from black and white negatives. My first pictures here were taken at 15, but I began serious photography at age 18 when my father gave me his old Leica for our family trip to Europe and a pilgrimage to the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa, Israel, in 1960. Two years later I bought my first Nikon F single lens reflex, and for 25 years used photography both to record family and travels, and professionally to document my biological research (including photomicrography and electron microscopy) and ecological surveys of coral reefs (including underwater photography), producing illustrated lectures for both scientific congresses and the general public, as well as recording environmental conditions in the many countries and islands I visited. My wife Martine is also an excellent photographer and professional film maker.

Then for about 20 years I stopped taking many pictures. It was less necessary for my work in the United Nations, and there were many other things that had a higher priority in my suitcase when travelling. The cost of film and development was also a factor.

With the digital revolution, and the need for photographs to illustrate my web sites, lectures and university class presentations, I have again drifted back into photography, including to share the experience of my chalet and my travels with family, friends and anyone interested. A sampling of those photograph is on the relevant pages of this web site. I am gradually scanning the several thousand colour slides and negatives from earlier decades for this or other pages on my website.

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Bulgaria

I frequently visited my brother Greg living in Bulgaria and married to a Bulgarian, and so have had a chance to appreciate its natural beauty.

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California

As a fourth-generation Californian, I spent the first 27 years of my life in California, living in and visiting some of its most beautiful places. Here are a few.

My first photographs, 1957, at Pescadero Point, Pebble Beach, California, at the north side of Carmel Bay

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Point Lobos, at the southern side of Carmel Bay, California, was a favourite place for walks and picnics. We could see it from our house in Pebble Beach.

View of Point Lobos across Carmel Bay from our house in Pebble Beach

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Big Sur, along the coast south of Point Lobos and Carmel Highlands, down to Morro Bay, with state highway 1, the coast road. When I was studying in Santa Barbara, I would commute up and down this road to visit my parents in Pebble Beach.

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New Caledonia

The island of New Caledonia in the South-West Pacific Ocean is a mountainous continental fragment with an ancient flora about 400 kilometers long, surrounded by a large lagoon and barrier reef. The adjacent coral islands of Ouvéa, Maré and Lifou make up the Loyalty Islands that are part of the French Overseas Territory that is New Caledonia, with Nouméa as the capital.  The many indigenous tribes are of Melanesian origin. I lived in New Caledonia and raised my family there from 1974 to 1985. Most of these pictures were taken by my wife Martine in 1970-1985.

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Ancient araucaria pines and traditional Melanesian house; mountain streams; coral reefs

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Right: part of the view from our house in Mont-Dore

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The deer were introduced by Europeans. There were no large mammals in New Caledonia

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Switzerland

Switzerland has been my home since 1992, and is the one country I know that resembles its postcards. I have unfortunately had little time for tourism and picture-taking.

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Coral Reefs

Professionally, my scientific specialty is coral reef ecology, so I have been able to dive on some of the world's most spectacular coral reefs, and even lived as an aquanaut at the bottom of a reef for two weeks. I shall select some of my best pictures as I get a chance.

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The Nouméa Aquarium in New Caledonia founded by René Catala was famous for its discovery of flourescence in corals and other reef animals, and other beauties of the reef. Here are some of his pictures.

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Nature in my garden

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Winter in my forest

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Autumn colours in Quebec

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Landscapes in Delft, the Netherlands

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Beach, Finistere, France

Coast, Kauai, Hawaii

Sun and clouds over a village in Karnataka, India

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Ice

   

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Lichen on rocks

Lichens on tree branches

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In splitting logs for the fireplace, I discovered beautiful patterns in the wood.

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Fantasy landscapes
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The golem of the wood squinting at me
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