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Instructor

Daniel Girard

Bio

Dan Girard teaches Nature Photography: From Vision to Print for the Photography: Images and Techniques certificate program. Dan earned his B.S. in Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Arizona State University. He is a scientist in the local biotechnology industry in San Diego doing antibody drug discovery and engineering. Dan is an avid backpacker, world traveler, photographer, lifelong learner, and teacher. He has been obsessed with photography for over 15 years and his passion for learning brought him to the Photography: Images & Techniques program at UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies, which he completed in 2017. The quality of his work impressed the director of the photography program so much he was asked to start teaching when an opening became available in 2020. He has been teaching Nature Photography ever since.

He approaches his photography very analytically and likes to teach his students how to break down what is happening within an image so they can become more critical of their own work and create more compelling images. Dan has been an instructor for the Sierra Club’s “Wilderness Basics Course” for over 10 years. He spends every free moment backpacking and trekking across mountain ranges all over the world. His favorite destinations are the Sierras, the Himalayas, and the Andes, but he will go anywhere where there are mountains and won’t stop until he’s seen them all!