That's me with my good friend, BBC reporter Kate Arkless Gray. Many thanks to Drew Altizer for the photo.
I started shooting fashion photography in San Francisco in 1984 when I was nineteen years old thanks to an amazing man named Michael DeMartini who took me under his wing and kicked my ass into a decent photographer. After a few years in San Francisco I took my new trade down to Los Angeles so I could continue shooting fashion while also attending the University of Southern California. I graduated with a double major in writing and literature.
Naive and idealized, I ventured forth to save the world through photojournalism. An all night party followed by an early morning cappuccino landed me my first assignment which was in the Soviet Union in 1989.
Being a photojournalist for two years was a bliss, I never learned so much and made so little. I’m still unclear how much of the world I saved as a result of my journalistic efforts, but I ended up very well traveled with a completely new perspective of storytelling. So I returned to fashion photography to turn that new perspective into a paycheck. Seeking a more than a starving artist living I went on to pursue commercial photography which was extremely difficult to get into for an editorial shooter. To be completely candid, if the advertising industry had not trended toward an editorial look, I would have never broken in at all. But it did, and I did, so there you have it.
In 1999 I caught a lucky break and was asked to write and direct a public service announcement (PSA) for breast cancer awareness. The damn thing had legs and it ran for three years nationally. More importantly the PSA was the catalyst for a healthy addiction to writing and directing. Which is mostly what I do today.
I am currently the managing editor at the National Geographic Assignment Blog. I’m also one of the founders of PhotoCine News and the founder and chief chaos master at Blinkbid Software, business software for creative professionals.
On most days you can find me in my office in Sausalito writing some such nonsense or other. Or you’ll find me in my favorite city and second residence, Los Angeles, where I’m usually pitching some nonsense I wrote to the entertainment industry.
Press material for me can be found here.