Teaching

I never planned on becoming a teacher, but in many ways, I've been teaching photography my entire life. My high school didn't offer a photography class, but it did have a darkroom. I taught myself how to use the equipment and took a photography course at a community college. Later, I was accepted to the University of Iowa, which had a strong art program, and I quickly declared a photography emphasis, falling deeply in love with the medium. After earning my BFA with honors, I was accepted into the MFA program in photography at the California Institute of the Arts. However, due to tuition costs, I decided to apprentice with a handful of professional photographers instead. In 1994, I moved to Manhattan and started my own business, primarily shooting still life for advertising agencies and magazines.

Along the way, I taught photography to kids at an arts summer camp in New Jersey, led a workshop at the International Center for Photography, and taught a studio photography class at FIT. Now, I’m the Photography Director and Gallery Manager at Newark Academy. Over the years, I've mentored more than a dozen young photography assistants who have gone on to become professionals in their own right.