Curiosity has taken me underwater, behind the camera and into linguistics.
This is a quiet corner of the web for the things that have shaped my life: diving, photography and linguistic research.
Diving
Diving is my passion and an important part of my life. I enjoy moving weightlessly through the water, observing and photographing marine life, spending time with trusted buddies and continuing to learn new techniques. Diving has also taken me to countries and places I might otherwise never have visited — and introduced me to many interesting people along the way.
How it all began
I obtained my Open Water certification at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in 1991. During the late 1990s, while living in the Netherlands, I dived frequently. A longer break followed, but since 2013 diving has once again become an increasingly important part of my life. Most of my dives take place in Swiss lakes and rivers, although warm water and coral reefs remain a very welcome change.
Confidence and trust
Diving requires both confidence and trust: confidence in your own abilities, without becoming overconfident, and trust in the people with whom you dive. Choosing reliable buddies, instructors and dive centres is therefore important to me. In Switzerland, I regularly dive with Tauchclub Aquarius. In Sharm el Sheikh and Dahab, I have a strong and long-standing connection with Circle Divers.
Technical and rebreather diving
Over the years, my diving has expanded beyond recreational diving. Technical diving and rebreather diving have added new challenges, new skills and a different way of moving through the underwater world. They demand careful planning, discipline and continuous learning — qualities that I value as much as the dives themselves.
Passing on the passion
Since 2020, I have also passed on my enthusiasm as a diving instructor. I currently teach only occasionally, but I still enjoy helping divers become calm, capable and self-reliant underwater. I am connected with TSK Zürich, where courses are offered at all levels.
Photography
For a long time, I deliberately avoided underwater photography. Diving, to me, is not a competitive sport or a hunt for subjects. It is a calm and absorbing way of experiencing the underwater world.
I eventually began taking a camera with me — first a GoPro, followed by an Olympus Tough camera. Photography has since become a natural part of my diving, but it remains secondary to the dive itself. My camera can stay attached to my equipment until something genuinely catches my attention. I want to return from a dive having enjoyed the dive, not merely having collected photographs.
My photography is not limited to the underwater world. I also photograph landscapes, animals, travel and whatever else makes me stop and look twice. A broader selection can be found on my separate photography website.
Visit the photo gallery ↗Linguistics
I am a linguist and worked at the University of Zurich from 2009 to 2023. My research focused particularly on linguistic variation, grammar, corpus linguistics and computer-mediated communication.
This part of the website preserves an overview of my publications and the research corpora I worked on. Linguistics is no longer the centre of my professional life, but the work remains an important part of my history and is kept here for reference.
View publications and corpora →