My full name is Alessandro (Alex) Grioni . I was born in Milan, Italy. Since an early age I have grown up with a very strong interest in animals, until that passion found its fulfillment in 1997 when I graduated in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Milan. I worked for two years in a clinic near my home dealing with exotic animals, birds in particular. Then I moved to Hong Kong where, after few years of experience in clinic posts, I am now living and working in a wild animal rescue centre.

At the same age that I was pulling dog’s tails, I had my first compact camera. It didn’t last very long, but the good thing was that I had learned its anatomy…! I had few other small cameras after that one until 1984 when, during one of my holiday trips to Hong Kong, my uncle bought me an Olympus OM30. It was a monster of a camera at that time and, for my age, a very sophisticated piece of equipment. However, growing and becoming a bit more mature, I wasn’t interested in its anatomy any more. And that’s why it has lasted till today …in one piece…!

Diving was not yet in my plans, then. But when I met Vicki, it didn’t take too long to hop into the water with her. We joined a BSAC club in Hong Kong, South China Diving Club, www.scdc.org.hk . Great group of people, great social events and, although the state of diving in HK’s water is not up to some other countries’ standard, at least we had the chance to keep our skills up to scratch. Our experience grew and the passion for diving became so strong that we felt the necessity to combine our underwater exercise with photography.

In 2005, during one of my dives in HK’s water, I had the chance of taking a picture of a strange scorpionfish, unknown to me and foreign to these coasts. Later on, I discovered that it was a Rhinopias frondosa – Weedy scorpionfish and it was the first record of such an animal in HK’s seas.

The best dive sites in Hong Kong are mainly located in the East and South side of the region. The West side is not really diveable being directly located beside the Pearl River delta. The waters there are murky and the ships traffic is very intense.

The place where I am now working, being a nature reserve, has made me interested in  taking pictures of insects’ life. I would have never thought of spending hours walking around capturing every small creature, but I do enjoy very much and it is in some way relaxing.

Conservation and preservation of the animal kingdom is a message that I would like to send through. Many animal species are disapperaring from the face of the earth just because of human unsustainable living. Not matter if they are on land or underwater, pollution, overfishing, deforestation are only the tip of the iceberg of what humans are doing towards our planet. Without sounding pathetic and extremist I do believe that in a not too far future all of us, or our generations, will suffer the consequences and not only animals may disappear but even the human species.
Thus if everyone commits to change insignificant but unsustainable habits, a lot of “everyone” will make a difference for a better future.

So, here is my web site. I’m not a professional photographer and the site is not very sophisticated. But the purpose of it is to show a very small part of the wonderful natural world which has to be preserved and protected.

Rhinopias frondosa - Weedy scorpionfish