Press Releases

September 24, 2001
Fall Honors Program Lecture Series Welcomes Nature Photographer Robert Fournier

Contact:
Patricia Conway (PR@southampton.liu.edu)
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081

Nature Photographer Robert Fournier (aka The Wild Lensman), will be at Southampton College's Duke Lecture Hall on Wednesday, October 3 at 9:00 p.m. as part of the Honors Program Lecture Series.

Fournier, a 1988 Marine Science graduate of Southampton College, has photographed and researched wildlife around the globe. After earning a Masters in Biology from Hofstra University in 1996 Fournier studied white sharks in California, coral reefs in Belize and led a filming expedition to western Australia for whale sharks. He has photographed in Fiji, Australia, Kenya, the Galapagos Islands and all through the Caribbean. He recently returned from southern Belize, where he photographed whale sharks during the snapper spawning.

"The "Wild" in Wild Lensman refers to the lengths to which I am willing to travel in order to capture the perfect image, since every photo I take has the potential to be the ambassador for its species," said Fournier. "I seek to capture wildlife images as seen

through the eyes of a scientist, but infused with the passion of a nature photographer and

inspired by the soul of a conservationist. My mission is to capture images of nature which fuel

education, interest and ultimately preservation."

Fournier has worked for many years in public aquariums, rising through the ranks from animal keeper to director. During that time, he worked directly with fish, sharks, marine mammals and birds. "This hands-on experience gave me a tremendous level of insight and knowledge towards animal behavior," said Fournier. "My goal is a form of symbiosis - the animal and the camera working together to form a mutually beneficial partnership."

Columbia University's Dr. Rhodes Fairbridge, will speak the following week on "Evolution and the Shiva Hypothesis." Fairbridge's talk is scheduled for 4:00 p.m., Wednesday, October 10 in Duke Lecture Hall. The lecture will focus on catastrophic events and their impact on natural selection.

The lectures are free and open to the public. For more information on these and other Honors Program lectures, please call Robert Turner at (631)287-8396.

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