I was born in 1968 in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, raised with three siblings and schooled at Rangeville Primary School and Toowoomba Grammar School before graduating in Veterinary Science from the University of Queensland at nearby Brisbane in 1990. I practiced veterinary medicine in the Barossa Valley of South Australia, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. I moved on to retail management in the pet industry and then to Sydney in the retail and wholesale medical book and equipment industry. In my late forties, I uprooted myself to Beijing, China with two dogs, teaching English initially and as a Medical Editor more recently.

I had always been interested in biology, zoology and the natural world with an emphasis on all things small, most notably the insects. This took the form of collecting and progressing to photography. With more time on my hands away from the rat-race of Western society, I have sharpened my eye and exercised my patience to further my interests. There was a day when I would take a multitude of pictures and keep them all but these days I take fewer and delete more.

In mid-2011, I moved to Pu'er, Yunnan in south-western China. I won't deny that part of the reason was to pursue my photography passion. Yunnan is reknowned as a flora and fauna mecca - China's Amazon. And indeed, everything (insect-wise) is bigger, brighter, more abundant and more bizarre than elsewhere, as you will hopefully see.

A significant part of my presence in southern Yunnan is recording my local population of striking Cup Moth caterpillars of the family Limacodidae. You can view the entire collection of slug caterpillars in my photostream HERE….

IMPORTANT NOTE: I am asked too frequently if the subjects in my images are captive bred, from a special collection or zoo specimens. These questions seem to come mostly from people residing in the United States. Everything I photograph (unless specifically stated and that is rare) is as seen in its natural environment and as left after the photos are taken. If you find it incredible and unbelievable that the subjects in my photostream cannot possibly exist in reality then the onus is on YOU to get out more and come to grips with the biodiversity that exists everywhere in the world, and that that exponentially exceeds what you encounter in your suburban backyard or on your latest camping adventure. There are amazing living beings scraping out a viable existence in every niche and every corner of the world, including in the most developed of our built environments. Usually, they don't want to be seen, but if you look, they are there to be appreciated for their diversity, tenacity, complexity and even simplicity.

MY GEAR

Prior to October, 2017, I used a trusty Sony DSC-R1 with all its bells and whistles which is now a dinosaur by today's standards but it grew on me. Clicking on the images will take you to their respective photopages with more specific information.....

Since October, 2017

CANON EOS 80D, EF 100mm Macro IS USM lens, Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Lite flash (images taken with this set-up are tagged 'Canon')

Basic EXIF data is displayed for all images on their respective Flickr pages. (Outcomes using these settings are impacted by many factors, including user, environmental and non-technical elements, so are useful as a very general guide only.)