Villa Ndio is a 300+ year old house in the South of France, on the edge of Grasse, 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the legendary French Riviera. She lies on a terraced plot of 1500 square meters, with the Med to the south, the Alps to the north, and Provence to the west. Ralph “Peppy” Doggett, photographer, musician and economist, has called Villa Ndio home for over two decades, along with his wife of nearly 30 years, Katherine Hagen. Over the years, Villa Ndio has undergone a variety of changes and upgrades, but its ancient charm and character have been preserved. A view of the courtyard and veranda is shown here. Click on this image to see a gallery of photos taken in and around Villa Ndio.
The photographs shown on this site are all of Peppy’s making. They are the product of his sense of art, history, life, family, and spectacle. Peppy spent his childhood, teen and young adult years living in seven different countries on four continents. At university he studied economics, receiving undergraduate and advanced degrees at the University of Maryland in College Park Maryland, USA. He built a career working for premier economic consulting companies, and later, along with his wife and business partner, Katherine Hagen, formed one of his own, in Geneva, Switzerland.
Peppy has three brothers and two sisters, and is a very proud father of two daughters and a son. His travels, his family, and his passion for acoustic blues guitar music have very much influenced his work in photography, a hobby that he has pursued in earnest for over a decade. He now works as a free-lance professional photographer in Grasse, shooting the vistas of the Mediterranean, along with major events in the area and, his special interest, the local fauna – birds, insects and butterflies.
Music has been included as an option when viewing his collections on this site. The music has been chosen from among the works of his favorite fingerpicking blues artists. Included are pieces by Stefan Grossman, John Renbourn, Tim Sparks, Leo Kottke, John Fahey, and others.
All of the photos shown on this site are available for sale, as digital downloads or in high quality glossy or matte finished hardcopy, mounted on foam board or framed. Peppy works mostly with A4 (210 mm × 280 mm or 8.3 in × 11.7 in) and A3 (297 x 420 mm or 11.7 in x 16.5 in) sizes, though larger (and smaller) prints can be provided. See details on the Sales page (forthcoming).
Peppy’s wife Kathy has her own website at www.katherinehagen.net where she writes commentaries on international affairs as well as more personalized musings. The website also contains archives of Kathy and Peppy’s work in Geneva. On this website, she writes the commentary for photo essays in the “Adventures ” section, and we include some samples from her website in the “Kathy’s Corner” section.