As many of you know, I was involved in many environmental organizations around the world. From Switzerland to Canada and the United States. It’s an incredible amount of work and an incredible amount of energy to dedicate to a process that has become overly political.
Photography, ethical nature and wildlife photography brought me to the realization that our natural heritage was hurting badly. It’s photography that brought me to the world of conservation. I met some great people and I got involved in some great projects. Unfortunately conservation takes up a great deal of one’s time. Maybe I made a mistake and I got involved in too many issues scattered all over the world. From issues in Europe, Canada and the United States, I stretched myself for quite a few years. Hopefully I will have made a difference and helped pave the way to a better future for our natural heritage.
Last December I decided to quit, quit my direct involvement as president, director, member and contributor of many different organizations across the globe. Most importantly I quit as President of the friends of the Îles-de-Boucherville National Park. I quit as contributor and member to pro-Natura, SOS Nature Protection, Quebec Nature, Snap Quebec, CPAWS, Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy, Quebec Oiseaux and many more. My wallet was full of cards but I seemed to have lost my own identity in trying to help nature.
At some point I felt I had offered all that I could for now. I needed to regroup myself, my energies, and refocus, evolve as things seem to be getting stale or simply moving backwards in the conservation world.
SO WHAT NOW
My first order of business is to refocus on Nature and Wildlife Photography. I got so involved in helping nature that my photography work suffered. A basic lack of balance between the two.
Nature and Wildlife photography is our open window on our natural heritage. Only ongoing documentation of the state of our natural world can clarify the state we are leaving our planet in. I feel that while I was working in saving natural habitats, I lost the feel of the impact of our human imprint on nature.
Environmental photography as inspired by Canadian Photographer Edward Burtynsky is what led me to documenting our natural world. I have to take a step back and reconnect with that first inspiration.
2018 will be my refocus year as a photographer. Many techniques I’ve developed will be fine-tuned and put into practice to give you, my friends and audience, a new outlook on our natural world.
As usual I will maintain and continue to preach ETHICAL Nature and Wildlife Photography in every aspect of my work.
PEOPLE WHO LEFT A LASTING MEMORY
Naturally there are a great deal of individuals who had an impact on life and my vision as I was directly involved in conservation efforts. No matter how small or how big of an impact they had, they were an important part of my past journey and I wish to thank them as I make my temporary goodbye.
Amis du Parc National des Îles-de-Boucherville
Claude Dionne
Gérald Taliana
Hélène Pelletier
Jean Hubert
Josée Dandurand
Marcel Couture
Pierre Vaillancourt
Serge Charron
Yves Lamarche
Denis Fournier
Alexandre Brosseau
Annick Boisvert
Annie Levesque
Cédric Landuydt
Daniel Groleau
John McKay
Nathalie Rivard
Pierre Wery
Robert Renaud
Alain Branchaud
Silva Semadeni
Rosmarie Eichenberger
Jean-Sébastien Guenette
Stéphane Lamoureu
Cédric Yoder
Elise Renaud
Erik Grumberg
Christian Simard
SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS CONSERVANCY
David Szymanski
POLITIQUE
Isabelle Tessier – MFFP
Ministre Luc Blanchette – MFFP
Ministre Lucie Charlebois –
Manon Carignan – MFFP
Jean Martel – Boucherville
Johann Schneider-Ammann – Federal Council
Xavier Barsalou-Duval – Bloc Québécois
POLICE
A special Thank You to Denis Caouette – Inspecteur chef, Police de Longueuil for his incredible help and work in getting the Nautical Patrol back on the water.
SPECIAL THANKS
A special thanks goes out to Nikon France, Oracom, Lexus Canada, Patrick Langlois and Flavia Dalmasso for giving me public opportunities to communicate my message of awareness and appreciation of nature.
If I missed anyone, I do apologize, I’ll come back and adjust things as I remember them.