Dr. Dan Schual-Berke, long-time emergency room physician and husband of State Representative Shay Schual-Berke, has his debut photography exhibition April 26th from noon to 6 pm at the Des Moines Activity Center, 2045 S. 216th St.

He will be the first artist sponsored by the Des Moines Arts Commission. With this exhibition, he said he feels he is metaphorically emerging from the darkroom and embarking on the humbling transition of publicly sharing his art.

Schual-Berke has traveled from Antarctica to the Arctic capturing photographs of a wide variety of subjects.

Born in Egypt, immigrating to New York at a young age, and raising his two sons here in the Northwest, he worked in the emergency rooms of Providence and Everett General Hospitals for two decades.

He spent several years at Highline Medical Center, and more recently has worked all over the country, choosing locations and seasons which allow him to pursue his passion--photography.

"Spending a month this past fall in Maine allowed me to absorb fall colors to my heart's content!" said Schual-Berke. On his days off he said he explored the state and its photographic opportunities: from the coastal granite of Acadia National Park, to ubiquitous lobsters pounds, to fields and mountains draped in prime fall colors.

Schual-Berke also works as ship's physician on expedition ships that frequent exotic places such as the Falkland Islands, the high Canadian Arctic, Greenland, and the Antarctic Peninsula.

As a photographer, Schual-Berke describes these trips as "what Alice must have felt like when she entered Wonderland. "

"It's amazing how an area so dominated by ice has the capacity to nurture such abundant life. There is probably no other place on earth where a human being can be so close to wildlife without frightening it away."

View Schual-Berke's photos and information about the show at www.danielschualberke.com.