Ian Parker- I emigrated from London to Southern California in the 1980’s and am currently a distinguished professor of neurobiology and biophysics at the University of California. My research interests include cellular calcium signaling, development of novel microscopy techniques, and immunology. I am an elected Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science, and a Fellow of the Royal Society, The latter is world's oldest scientific society, and it was a singular honor to sign my name in the Society's Charter Book ('the World's greatest autograph book), alongside the signatures of Newton, Darwin, Benjamin Franklin, and Stephen Hawking.

My leisure activities have included hiking, rock climbing and ultra-distance running; including 9 repeat finishes of the Badwater Ultramarathon; a 135 mile trek in 120+ degree heat from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney, rated as the ‘toughest footrace in the world’. 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 M5 when traveling light on foot (like running across the Grand Canyon), and Canon 5D MkIV and R5 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.