A proud graduate of California State University, Chico, with degrees in English and Journalism, began a career as a freelance photographer before joining the East Bay Express, a free-circulation newsweekly based in Berkeley, California — eventually becoming its Operations Manager, and later Managing Director.
Leaving the paper to start Offsite Web, developed automated software tools that allowed newspapers to publish online, including the Classified Flea Market (CFM) in 1994, among the early newspapers to do so. In 1997, joined University Press Books, the publishing arm of the University of California, and helped develop what was possibly one of the first online book-purchasing platforms — two months before Amazon went live.
In 1998, following my spouse's appointment to the Foreign Service, became the Online Managing Director of the Gleaner Newspaper in Kingston, Jamaica. From that first posting, and through relocations every two to three years throughout Europe and Asia while accompanying her to various U.S. embassy postings, continued building an international career in digital communications and information management, including serving as Managing Online Director of Press and Public Relations for the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) Secretariat in Vienna, Austria.
Returning to the U.S. during my spouse's two-year domestic assignment, served as Knowledge Manager for the Office of the Executive Director / Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs (NEA-SCA/EX), U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C.
Back overseas, continued working for the U.S. Government as a contract Special Investigator for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), under the direction of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Personnel Security and Suitability (DS/PSS), conducting background investigations of civilians and military personnel who were renewing or applying for select U.S. government positions requiring security clearances throughout the South Pacific, India, Asia, and China.
Offsiteweb.com is now osw.com, solely focused on photography. The link between how we naturally desire to do things and our want to express our humanity is not so dissimilar. A smile is a universal “decisive moment,” understood without explanation. The cry of “all I want to do is…” from a bewildered user of our current technology is, I believe, a yoke placed upon us by software designers who fail to see our humanity. Viewing a photograph, like pulling a blanket around yourself on a cold night, should feel welcoming and require no user-manual. It should be immediately understood; such photographs leave us with an enduring sense of wonder and imaginative possibility — a ladder I strive to climb.
Many images that originally appeared in the East Bay Express are now being uploaded to Wikimedia Commons for public use, free of charge.
Currently living in New York's Hudson Valley and accepting assignments when possible.