I am a bewildered ecologist that picked up a camera in my retirement.

I have spent 40 years trying to motivate social change for sustainability and biocultural restoration using ecological science and numbers. Now I think photographs may work better. So I’m learning to be a photographer. I try to bring a beginner’s mind to its technical and aesthetic challenges, and patience to overcome its frustrations and exacting disciplines.

My photography started in late 2021. It was representational in nature and coupled with ecological and sustainability commentaries in the Ecosystems Photography group. I learnt the buttons on my camera, but far too many words and anguished proclamations got in the way. Gradually I have shifted to creating the more abstract and minimalist images of a nature expressionism genre that I show in this website.   This more sparing mode lets me better express my love of nature and people. Abstraction invites viewers to form their own meaning and path from the images.

I offer my especial thanks to the members of the ‘Affinity Focus Group’ of the Dunedin Photographic Society for friendship, support, and sharing their knowledge, skill and inspiration. They have greatly accelerated my development as a photographer.

Fiona Stirling is my partner, the love of my life, and a painter. She has encouraged and guided my exploration of more artistic and emotional expression through photography. Fiona and our three boys, Soren, Julian, and Jens, are “my North, my South, my East and my West”.