AROUND OUR WORLD

My Story

My travels are driven by my passion for documenting our world and those with whom we share it. I use photography as a means to tell the stories of those from differing cultures in order to build universal appreciation and respect for our world’s cultural richness and diversity while emphasizing human similarities to drive home the idea that “people are people”. We may do things differently, but we all are part of the human experience.

My ongoing growing portfolio “Photographs from around our World” is a compilation of my travels, which to date includes visits to over 40 countries. My exhibit in Washington DC, “Reconciliations with Home”, featured photos from Kenya taken during the years I was conducting animal behavior research on wild hyenas and living amongst the Maasai. I captured my long-lasting friendship with the Maasai during my reunion with them in 2008 and 2010 in my book “The Maasai of Talek.”

In 1999-2000, I traveled around the world to document the end of the 20th century by recording views on the changing millennia through 50 portraits counting down the last 50 days of 1999. I have also trekked to the top of the world, hiking up over 17,000 feet to Gokyo Ri for a view of Mt. Everest and traveled to Timbuktu, just to say I've been to Timbuktu and back. Throughout each journey, the camera is my loyal constant companion.

MALI

The town of Djafarabe is the site of an annual festival of cows crossing the Niger River to access the more fertile grazing grounds based on the change in season. Villagers from around the region gather for the spectacle, which not only highlights the crossing of the cows but also serves as a major community celebration of coming together.

MALI

BURKINA FASO

Photos taken at the city market in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso’s second largest city and the country’s chief trade and industrial center.

BURKINA FASO

THE MAASAI

I know more people in the town of Talek, on the border of the Maasai Mara in Kenya, than I do in Chicago where I lived for 10 years.

THE MAASAI

MAINE

I almost made Sumner, Maine my home after 9/11. I was attracted to the landscape, remoteness and fierce independence of its residents, who still valued strong community ties. Simplicity mixed with survival.

MAINE

MAASAI MARA

I spent two years living my own safari doing research on a clan of 80 wild hyenas in the Maasai Mara, a major wildlife reserve in Kenya, . The Mara is home to an abundance of wildlife.

MAASAI MARA