The idea for ANGALIA-PHOTO was conceived in Zanzibar, Tanzania, by PHILIPPE BLANC. "Angalia" means "to look" in Kiswahili. To look and to contemplate the beauty and rhythm of island living is precisely what initially inspired him to construct this photography website.

A plant biologist by training, Philippe Blanc's passion for travel photography first rooted itself in 1986, the result of a six month expedition in South America. Traversing Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil in a beat-up bedford truck, Philippe began to view the extraordinary magnificence of nature - human and animal form - through the eye of a new lens. Shortly thereafter, Philippe retreated from his land-locked homeland of Swiss cheese and chocolate to build a life in coastal California. Residing in both San Diego and San Francisco over the course of eight years, Philippe continued his career in biological research and ethnobotany, but never ceased expanding his photographic repertoire - such as experimenting with underwater photography while traveling in French Polynesia, the Seychelles, Reunion Island or Mauritius. Bit again by the travel bug in the mid 90's, Philippe packed his bags and departed for Africa, voyaging in several countries before settling down in the paradise of Zanzibar in 1996. After one year of island living, he returned to the Swiss Alps for a brief stint at the Geneva Department of Environment, upon where he decided to make the definitive leap into professional freelance photography.

A 2001 graduate of SPEOS Photographic Institute in Paris, Philippe remains committed to travel photography, where he can best display the power and energy behind human nature and wildlife. His ultimate ambition is to routinely document activities conducted during humanitarian missions in the developing world. Several of Philippe's photographs appear in publications by the World Health Organisation in its global fight to eradicate polio by 2005.

Philippe's work has been exhibited in galleries in Southern California and Switzerland, and his photos have been published in the magazines NEWLAND (No.34 Grand-Angle: "Entre art et science" 2003) PHOTO (French issue, Jan/Feb 2001), Photographer's Forum Best of Photography (1993 and 1994), and the Annual Award Exhibition of the San Diego Museum of Photographic Art (1992).

Currently residing in Thailand, Philippe continues to expand his collection of travel images throughout Asia. His most recent images capture scenes from Mongolia, Bali, Cambodia and Northern Thailand. His future travels will take him to Myanmar, and Laos.

He has definitely been charmed by the warmth and the beautiful smiles of Southeast Asia but also continues to visit the islands of Zanzibar (Tanzania) annually. As in 2003, this year Philippe will run a series of photography workshops for children during the 7th Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF).