I grew up the youngest of three children in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The second son of a second son
- legendary Green Bay Packer, Jerry Kramer - I barely graduated from high school and went on to a less-than stellar academic performance at the University of Minnesota.
I played rugby for the U. of M. for five years. The team needed some press so I started writing and photographing freelance articles for The Minnesota Daily. That experience led to a sports reporting internship with the Star Tribune and, ultimately, to a Bachelors degree in Journalism. After graduation I traveled through India for three months. When I returned I took the Sports Editor job with the Record-Gazette newspaper in beautiful downtown Banning, California. I was responsible for writing and photographing sports, news and feature articles, laying out the sports page and directing a three-person photo staff.
After three years I returned to school and obtained a Masters of Fine Art in Documentary Photojournalism at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco, where I studied with Kim Komenich, Ken Light, Fred Larson and Paul Kuroda. While living in San Francisco I freelanced for the San Francisco Examiner and the Contra Costa Times. With the portfolio I put together in school, I was selected to the Eddie Adam’s workshop and won an internship with Newsday.
After witnessing the demise of New York Newsday I decided to document Mark Twain’s 1895-96 trip around the world. I traveled through 11 countries in 10 months and funded it all with 9 credit cards (and a $50,000 film grant from ShopKo). I have tentatively titled the book, Re-Marking the Twain and I am still seeking a publisher. It was through this project that I began freelancing for J.P. Pappis and Sygma News Photos.
When I returned to Green Bay, I photographed the Green Bay Packers for Dick Schaap’s book, Green Bay Replay, the story of the Packer’s run to Super Bowl XXXI.
In January of 1998, I covered the Pope’s visit to Cuba. I returned twice that year and multiple times in 1999 and 2000. Also, in 1998, I received an exhibit production grant from ShopKo for a three-year, seven-venue Wisconsin tour of 50 photographs from Green Bay Replay, produced by the Leigh-Yawkey Woodson Museum in Wausau, Wi. This exhibit is also slated to run at the Neville Museum from September through October of 2006.
In 2003, I received a grant from the Montana Humanities Council to work on: “Bobby Brooks-Kramer: A Montana Legend.” Bobby is my grand-aunt-in-law and was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 2000. She passed in 2005 and I am very grateful I was able to meet her and share my project with the readers of Montana Living and exhibit the photographs at the Montana Historical Society.
Currently, I am living in Houston, Texas where I am Staff Photographer for the Houston Press.
