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Faculty Biographies
Doug Schwartz
My life has focused on the outdoors - hiking, backpacking, kayaking, mountain biking, and more. These pursuits have taken me around the globe and have provided opportunities to witness the extraordinary beauty of the natural world. My education as a biologist at U.C. Irvine focused my vision on nature and introduced me to photography as a way to document my field observations. Over the years, my photographic interests have evolved from a purely scientific documentary style to a decidedly artistic one. In retirement, I have enjoyed the freedom to explore numerous photographic genres: landscape, wildlife, macro, and plant/fungal photography, which collectively have propelled me into the world of conservation photography. For the past few years, I have been working with my wife, Joanne (also a presenter at SOMA Camp), on several Fungal Diversity Survey (FunDiS) projects to document, through photographic records and DNA barcoding, fungal diversity on California’s Santa Cruz Island, and on select sites near our home in Orange County, California. Visit our nature photography website ExplorerDJ.smugmug.com and see a sampling of fungi in Gallery:On Exhibit.