Ian Parker- I emigrated from London to Southern California in the 1980’s and am currently a professor of neurobiology at the University of California. My leisure activities include hiking, rock climbing and ultra-distance running; including repeat finishes of the ‘toughest footrace in the world’, a 135 mile trek in 120 degree heat from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney. These activities mesh well with my landscape photography, which aims to capture the spirit of wild and remote places. I particularly enjoy the deserts and canyons of California and Utah, and look for images that embody the wonderful, but often frustratingly fleeting, quality of light in these regions. Nowadays I shoot only digital, using a Canon Elph when traveling light on foot (like running across the Grand Canyon), and a Rebel XTi and D40 when our 4WD SUV will get me closer to the shooting location. Processing is done in Photoshop, and I am not averse to doing some tweaking – levels, saturation, USM, etc; but not (usually!) manipulation of elements within the picture – so as to achieve an end result that reflects my vision of the scene at the time of capturing the shot.