UMSL alumnus Gregory Basco

University of Missouri–St. Louis alumnus Gregory Basco (MA political science 2000) is proof that you never know where your degree will take you. He researched environmental politics in Latin America and tropical ecology at UMSL.

Now a professional nature photographer, Basco lives in Costa Rica and owns two photo companies, Foto Verde Tours and Deep Green Photography. His photographs have been used by Lonely Planet, National Geographic Kids, Newsweek, Cannon and the Sierra Club.

“I hope that my images represent more than a simple documentation of nature,” Basco wrote on his Web site. “My vision of rainforests and cloud forests and the biodiversity they contain is more of a feeling rather than a recording.”

He first came to Costa Rica in 1992 as a volunteer forestry extensionist with the Peace Corps. Sandwiched between his past and present stints in Costa Rica, Basco worked at the Missouri Botanical Garden while attending UMSL.

“Greg was an outstanding graduate student and passionately involved in community-oriented approaches to sustainable development,” said Eduardo Silva, chairman of the Department of Political Science at UMSL. “His heart always belonged to Costa Rica and nature, and I’m happy and proud he has found his way in both. His artistry is proof of that.”

“Images of Costa Rica,” an exhibit of Basco’s photography, can be viewed between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. through Sunday at Monsanto Hall in the upper level of the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Ridgway Visitor Center, 4344 Shaw Blvd. in St. Louis.

Visit http://www.deepgreenphotography.com/MBGfinal/index.html to view a slideshow of photos from the exhibit.

More information:
http://www.umsl.edu/~polisci/
http://www.deepgreenphotography.com/
http://www.mobot.org/