ITER NEWSLINE
185
Dances with whales
Iris Rona
This picture of a ''breaching'' humpback whale was shot in October 2005, some 30 miles off the coast of San Francisco, California. ''The sea was very rough!'' recalls Patrick...
According to Patrick Vertongen, a passionate whale watcher, "a touch of luck and a lot of patience" is the recipe for a perfect photo shot of a whale. It's also helpful to have a bit of a natural gift ...
When he was only 12 years old, school tests in his native Belgium had already revealed his talent for photography. The advice his parents received for their son was to pursue photography and the arts. Perhaps Patrick would not be working for ITER today if his parents had followed this advice, but they ignored it and never told their son about it until he was 30 and a passionate amateur photographer but with a very different career path.
Patrick, who is quality assurance engineer for the vacuum vessel within the Safety Quality and Security Department, obtained his engineering degree at the Nautical College in Antwerp, Belgium and joined the Merchant Navy in 1978.
After 10 years of sailing the seven seas, he joined AIB-Vincotte, an internationally recognized inspection body for product and materials analysis, as a nuclear inspector. Patrick mainly worked on the inspection and certification of nuclear installations and in the scope of these responsibilities even lived in Kobe, Japan for four years.
After spending 22 years with AIB-Vincotte, where he acquired broad experience in materials, techniques and manufacturing procedures, Patrick joined ITER in January 2010.
Two professional cameras and six lenses—whenever his busy job allows it, Patrick travels the globe to capture exotic places, people and most of all whales.
As quality assurance engineer his job is to give quality assurance advice on procedures, design, materials, manufacturing, inspection, testing and documentation on all parts of the vacuum vessel. "My job is extremely diversified which makes it very interesting," says Patrick, "and I find the multicultural work environment at ITER particularly stimulating and inspiring."
But whenever his busy job allows it, Patrick travels the globe with his two cameras and six lenses to capture exotic places, people and most of all whales. He has travelled from the extreme north of Alaska to the extreme south of Patagonia and many places in between to admire the dance of these gigantic marine mammals and is getting ready for his next expedition to the peninsula of Kamchatka, situated all the way up the northeastern coast of Russia.
Click here if you are interested in seeing some of Patrick's pictures.
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