About Denis
About Denis Glennon
I spent over thirty five years in the corporate world, and was appointed as an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO) for “service to environmental protection through management control and treatment of industrial and hazardous wastes, and to the community”. My deep interest in conservation of nature continues today.
For nearly 20 years, the ocean is where I found, and still find, solitude.
Nature is where I find quiet contentment, balm for spirit, and a place of healing for my soul when hurried and harried .
In 2006 I discovered the world of digital photography. This world is now combined with my affections for sailing, travel, nature preservation, and conservation photography.
I photograph to convey the intrinsic value of the natural world.
My photography is not a portrayal of environmental vandalism or an elegy to vanishing places. I leave that mission, to other, equally ardent photographers.
Rather, my focus is on the use of imagery to encourage the preservation of what is, in a context of sustainability and eco-tourism, whilst understanding the attendant challenges.
When I photograph wild creatures, I see them in my viewfinder as ambassadors, simply asking for the preservation of their frequently diminishing habitat.
The images I make, seek, to be beacons to a stronger connectedness with our natural world, to inspire a more respectful interaction with our unique environment.
If we are to know a true connection to our surroundings it will have to happen in our own hearts and souls.
If my images help others to embrace even a small part of their Earth again, I would be rewarded.
My frame seeks to protray the subject’s individuality, wherever I can.
Every place, mammal, animal, bird has an individuality.
Some are sensual, some are rugged.
Others are wild, gracious or serene.
Like each human being, individuality is unique to any place or wild species.
It changes through the seasons, and even throughout the day.
A peaceful zen morning can quickly turn into a perfidious stormy afternoon.
A gracious cheetah, can, within minutes, turn into a ferocious killing beast.
It is nature’s spirit that I seek to frame.
Like any friend, it is important to treat her with respect and curiosity.
It’s the little details and delightful idiosyncrasies, that give those special connections; that makes an iconic image.
In order to portray the individuality of an animal or bird, it is important to get to know them; to be with them when they are being themselves, as if they did not know they were being comosed in my frame.
Then, as photographers, we become connected to the natural world, to the matrix from which we were born, which sustains us, and to which we will, one day, return.
Each of us is a very important part of this matrix, and we are in a position to sustain and enjoy it, or destroy it.
This position is a privileged one, but is accompanied by an authentic calling to recognise the fragility of this matrix.
I call all of this, conservation photography.
I am fortunate to live in a rather unspoilt and unpolluted part of the planet, under forever changing light, under clear skies, in the midst of magnificent land and seascapes, and within driving distance of one of only five universally recognized biodiversity “hot-spots” on the planet.
A blessing afforded to a few on this planet.
All images shown here are of wild creatures, treated with respect and photographed in their natural habitat and behavior.