~ Greg Cope - Biography ~

I am a part-time nature photographer who lives and works in the town of Menlo Park, just north of San Jose, California. I recently received my Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology in the field of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and currently work full time as a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, where I research cell division and cancer on the molecular level. I find this field of research challenging, and hope my research adds to our growing scientific knowledge, some day leading to effective cures of prevalent diseases.

Since I was a child growing up in the town of Santa Cruz, California, I have spent a great deal of time exploring nature. Be it hiking, skiing, backpacking, or simply walking through nature preserves close to my home, spending time out in nature is a spiritual experience for me. Nearly eight years ago, I began landscape photography with the hope of at least trying to share the experiences and feelings I had while outdoors. Inspired by my backpacking trips into the High Sierra Mountains and knowing virtually nothing about photography, I embarked on the slow and never-ending process of learning how to express my thoughts and feelings through a camera. Being the age before digital photography, I started to learn photography techniques and styles with film, using mainly Fuji Velvia, a film known for its high color saturation and a film I thought perfect for the colorful landscapes I had the opportunity to see.

About five years ago, given both the cost of film and the onset of digital photography, I re-invented my camera gear and replaced my film camera with a small, point and shoot digital camera. Over the following few years I carried this small camera around with me, but still missed my single lens reflex (SLR) camera - which allowed me to photograph nature in a whole different way. Finally I purchased the camera I use today, a canon digital SLR camera. With a much faster learning curve I began experimenting with many different subjects. It was around this time when I began my adventure into wildlife photography. Currently, the majority of my photography is centered around nature - which I have a deep love and passion for - but I also enjoy photographing many different types of subjects.

One of my goals as a photographer is to not only provide a unique perspective out into the beautiful world we live in, but also provide images that communicate words and feelings. Photography has not only helped me look at things in very unique ways, but also to see things beyond the scene in front of me I would never have noticed otherwise. I hope the pictures I provide here do a similar thing to those who view them.

Greg Cope