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Looking back, Gaia Archives is a project which originated many, many years ago without my conscious knowledge. It began with my childhood love of the mountains and of the diverse creatures living in harmony with such unforgiving surroundings. The first books I ever bought (at a fourth grade book fair) were The Art of Survival by Cord Christian Troebst and Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island. These books instilled in me the belief that man and nature can indeed coexist given a certain level of understanding and respect for the limits of both. This conviction has been continuously reinforced over the years and remains the core of my being.
I took my first photo at high school graduation. The victim was my friend Lisa who, having been voted best-looking of the class, certainly had better things to do than pose for the poor fellow fumbling away at the unfamiliar knobs and buttons of his brand new camera. Naturally the photo was no masterpiece, given the liquor store in the background over her right shoulder. But it was the beginning of my desire to capture the special moments, not merely for their visual beauty, but more importantly as a reflection of my inner being at that particular instant in time. My graduation from university was marked by the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a political, social, and religious realignment of Darwinian nature which continues to this day. The resulting chaos represented a grand opportunity to experience the unfamiliar and to cross the cultural divides which are often exploited to perpetuate a climate of fear and hate among the world's peoples.
A personal transition occurred in 2003, when I was fortunate enough to visit Afghanistan during a short period of relative calm. I witnessed firsthand the result of big-power politics and proxy wars: the complete and utter devastation of an erstwhile proud and prosperous nation. Through chance encounters and lengthy discussions, I realised that the current state of this land was the inevitable result of everything gone wrong with the world. I would like to express my deepest heartfelt respect for the brave and indomitable spirit which the Afghani people maintain in the face of overwhelming adversity and the continued occupation of their nation.
As a traveler and photographer, I cannot single-handedly relieve the suffering of our planet's downtrodden masses. I can only share my experiences and my knowledge in the hope that these people will not remain ignored and forgotten.
This is my mission and this website is my story.
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