I began my journey documenting the devastation of civil war, poverty, and vanishing cultures in Central America as an Associated Press photojournalist. My work has appeared in many publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, and Newsweek. I continued my international career while living in Asia and Latin America.
In Thailand and China I photographed medical research projects for the United States Army. I also wrote and photographed magazine articles and books on Asian art and culture, including Birds, Beasts and Blossoms in Thai Art, published by Oxford University Press.
In Peru I documented the work of a Peruvian poet/weaver who wove into tapestries the stories of his country’s civil war. After getting an MA in Education from Johns Hopkins University, I taught international high school students in northern Arizona. At that time I became interested in digital storytelling when it was still in its infancy. My students and I, received a grant to create a digital story called The Arizona Heritage Project, which is now archived in the US Library of Congress.
Returning to my first love, photography, I updated my skills, worked for local newspapers, worked with local museums including Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott Arizona, and produced promotional packages for artists, including multimedia stories. Recently I have focused my photojournalist skills towards creating social change documentaries. I received a grant to teach a multi-racial group of teenagers in America’s “hometown” Hannibal, Missouri how to interview community elders about racism and create audio digital stories. From countless interviews, and images I created a documentary video, The Hannibal Oral History Project, which currently is sold in the Mark Twain Museum, Hannibal.
Closer to home, the Justa Center for homeless seniors asked me to do a fundraising documentary about homeless veterans in Phoenix Arizona. The resulting multimedia documentary DMZ_Phoenix involved street photography, studio portraits, and audio as well as video interviews.
I have spent the last several years documenting rural hunger in Northern Arizona.