Straight out of college I jumped into newspaper photojournalism and discovered how photography can capture the essence of a story as nothing else can. I worked for two local newspapers (The Sun and The Press-Enterprise) as a spot-news and assignment photographer. During this time, I was 1 of 100 photographers, including a number of Pulitzer Prize winners, selected from more than 40,000 global entries, in one of the most ambitious photographic competitions ever staged: M.I.L.K.: Moments of Intimacy, Laughter, and Kinship. As newspaper subscriptions dwindled and the print age transitioned into the digital age, I was forced to move on as well. I became a graphic designer and a photo retoucher. I designed numerous covers and ads for Muscle & Fitness, in which I photographed the subject and performed the retouch as well. I created the album cover for Raekwon of the Wu-Tang Clan. I produced a magazine cover featuring Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction. I have photographed and retouched countless fashion ads in both print and online. Essentially, my design background includes photography, matte painting, retouching, graphic design, and resource- based film making.

I became interested in self-reliance in 2008 and have made it a point to train in a well-rounded manner. My skill-set range runs the gamut, from primitive living, thru bushcraft, to urban survival. I want to be able to thrive regardless of my environment! Part of my training comes from Dave Canterbury’s The Pathfinder School and Christopher Nyerge’s School of Self-Reliance. I have eight certifications, which include, but are not limited to, bushcraft, ethnobotany, urban survival, advanced navigation, trapping, shelter building, advanced friction fire with the bow drill and the hand drill, as well as primitive-skills living. I was also invited to be one of the contestants on Naked and Afraid and Alone. My abilities have been tested and honed with endless hours of dirt time, so hopefully I did most of the hard work for you. My goal is that you won’t make the same mistakes that I have. My hope for this course is that it is a short cut to your success!