Dennis Gregorius Takes Us to the Cosmos in a Stunning Photo Essay from Monument Belgium
March 20th, 2023
“I Created It to Share the Beauty I See”
A Conversation with Dennis Gregorius about This Stunning Photo Essay
In his photo essay, Dennis Gregorius takes us into the cosmos — and around the Monument Kallo site — in a way we’ve never experienced before. As Field Coordinator at Kallo, Dennis spends most of the year sampling, servicing, and filling the site’s chemical-storage tanks. It’s work he’s been doing since 1999, initially during summers as a college student and, following graduation, as a full-time Monument employee. Dennis is an avid world traveler, primarily to South America. His most-frequent destination on that continent is Ecuador, where he’s taken approximately 12,000 photographs. We recently had the opportunity to ask him a few questions about his photo essay and his travels on Earth — and via reading and photography — to space.
SEE DENNIS' PHOTO ESSAY HERE
What inspired you to create your photo essay?
I created it to share the beauty I see. I believe we can glimpse the divine even in simple things, and when I see it, I want to share it. There’s a character in the film “American Beauty” who expresses what I feel. He says, “Sometimes there is so much beauty in life, it’s like God is looking right at you, just for a second, and if you're careful... you can look right back.” That’s how I feel when I look at the stars and am reminded that we humans are made of the same material — we are stardust. It’s an amazing feeling, and I hope my photographs allow others to experience it.
Is your interest in the cosmos a lifelong passion or something more recent?
I’ve long been fascinated by space, but I became passionate about learning about it and photographing it during a visit to the Cuyabeno Reserve in Ecuador, a 2,330-square-mile nature preserve at the foot of the Andes. I was in the rainforest at night, photographing insects, when I looked up and saw the billions of stars of the Milky Way through the forest canopy. I was amazed. And that’s when I first pointed my camera up — at our galaxy.
Did you study astronomy or photography?
I didn’t formally study astronomy, but I read lots of books written by scientists — some of them four or five times. The physicists Stephen Hawking and Brian Cox are two of my favorite authors. My university degree is in design and illustration, and I studied photography as part of that curriculum. Learning photography began with the professor asking us to cut a piece of cardboard into the shape of a camera lens and walk around viewing the world through it for several weeks. That experience helped me learn to “see,” rather than just “watch,” and I am very grateful for that.
Would you want to travel in space if you had the opportunity?
True space? I believe not! It’s a void — and we are all traveling on an amazing “spaceship” right now! It would be wonderful to be able go up and see our entire incredible planet from that distance — but I would want to come right back down. That would be enough for me!
What’s your next adventure here on Earth?
In September, I will return to Ecuador, where my companions and I will journey 120 km down the Cuyabeno River. There — very close to the Peruvian border — we will create an “ambush,” remain hidden, and attempt to capture photos of wild jaguars. We’ll sleep and eat in the forest for 12 days. To be successful, we’ll have to take measures that include disguising the smell of our sweat by eating only fish for three days and finding and baiting a trail. If a jaguar finds us before we find him or her, we’ll use a hand-woven rope called a pequoña to quickly climb a tree too small for it to climb and trust it will eventually lose interest in us.
That sounds amazing — we can’t wait to see those photos! Safe travels!
Thank you! I look forward to sharing them with my Monument colleagues when I return.
TOP PICTURE: Dennis in Ecuador in 2014 at the conclusion of a 12-day jungle expedition. He plans to return in September for what he estimates will be his ninth visit to the country. His mission on that trip will be shoot photos of wild jaguars.
When Dennis isn’t pointing his camera at the cosmos, he’s focusing on nature, including (above) a glass frog and (below) a sleeping anaconda — both photographed in Ecuador at night.
