Growing up in the Swiss midlands, I was drawn to the river for fishing as a schoolboy. In our area there were countless streams, rivers and lakes, which awakened my curiosity about water again and again. Mom was not always happy.
With scuba diving I started about 40 years ago - I really wanted to know what the world was like underwater and why I caught so few fish as a kid. Soon I started underwater photography with a friend's Nikonos III. Family, job, and in between service in the Army and as a volunteer firefighter pushed underwater photography back for a few years. At some point I bought a Canon 40D, an Ikelite housing and a DS125 flash. Since then I am only very rarely to be found without a camera in the water.
Since 1995 I've been a diving instructor and now, for some years, CMAS Photo Instructor III and national staff instructor. I teach divers and diving instructors in underwater photography. The shine in the eyes of my students when they bring home better photos after the course than before is for me the greatest reward one can wish for.
For me, every dive is an adventure. You never know in advance what you will experience together with your friends. I am especially fascinated by rivers and mountain streams in our country, but also have some super spots in the lakes, where I often go with macro or wide angle. Diving under ice is also quite cool. Together with my wife I also love to travel to remote areas in Asia, Africa or Canada and explore nature above and under water.
For nearly 10 years I've been active in life photo competitions (you go down, take pics and give them directly to the judge without editing at a computer). Nationally and internationally I have made so many friends and great photographers and learned a lot about photography. On the other side is submitting photos to competitions, which is not really my thing. The best cracks in photo editing always win anyway and I hate to spend hours working on photos at the computer.
The plastic and garbage in all our oceans depress me and angers me enormously. I worry about the underwater world that future generations will encounter.
Awards + Achievements
- 2022 Mares UW Photo Marathon in Rab (CRO)
- 2021 CMAS Underwater Photo World Championship in Porto Santo (POR) / 6th rank
- 2019 CMAS Underwater Photo World Championship in Tenerife (ESP)
- 2016-2022 Swiss UW Photo Challenge (Swiss Championships): 1st - 3rd ranks / 9 medals
- Photo publications in CMAS Swiss Diving, The Nereus (Switzerland), The VDST Coldwater-Diving (Germany), various TV channels.
