My name is Pascal Francis Durrenberger. Born in the North-Est of France, I grew up in the somewhat picturesque rural Alsatian countryside. But most of my genes come from the former Est Germany (Halberstadt) and from Switzerland (Basel). Literally, I come from a lineage where immigration was the norm. Destined to follow a path in the car industry as an engineer in metallurgy, things started to get a bit pear-shaped. Nothing serious just your usual all around suffocating rigidity. I was already a free spirited progressive then and there are only really 2 paths for these types of characters; live out of a suitcase or end up in the gulag writing endless manifestos, So I packed my things and settled for London. 

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I was working in hospitality then, at Claridges Hotel till I realised I needed to do more.  Despite having adored the hospitality business, the family, it was time to move on. So a dramatic change ensued with relentless stays in Universities. I graduated, graduated and graduated again so to have on my wall, at last, a PhD award. Yes, you can call me Doc. I was mostly working in Brain Sciences at Imperial College London. Microscopy was my thing, you see and brains obviously. I was very privileged to assist the Parkinson and Multiple sclerosis brain bank. I was a brain collector for a while; “from the carvery to the dissection room” was always how I summed up this part of my journey. Now I work at UCL in Respiratory to share and pass on my expertise. I love science. I love microscopes. I love taking pictures. But lately am not so sure that disease and death should have such a big part in my life. These elements no matter where you are or what age you are, are always around or part of you to a certain degree. I am coming closer to that age where they will be probably more part of me than around me. So for the last stretch of my life on this wonderful blue planet, I have decided to take the camera of the microscope, hang it around my neck and go out there and explore streets, parks, fields, mountains, skies, cities, countries, people, all that the world has to offer and just be LIFE.

 

So introducing Pascal, the Photographer/Artisan/Writer.