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. 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 as one of the top 100 college photographers in the nation and I 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). It was through this project that I began freelancing for Sygma News Photos and was published in Newsweek as well as numerous magazines around the world.

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 for the Village Voice newspaper. Enthralled with this island nation, I self-financed numerous return trips to document daily life throughout the country.

Also in 1998, 50 photos from my Green Bay Packer project began a multi-year, multi-museum tour throughout Wisconsin. 

In 2002, I received a grant from the Montana Humanities Council to work on a documentary about my grand-aunt-in-law Bobby Brooks-Kramer. Bobby was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2005, at the age of 91 she passed away peacefully at her Montana home. I am very fortunate to have met and photographed her.

I began my run as Staff Photographer of the Houston Press in 2003. Two years later, I started my weekly photocolumn called BayouSphere.

In 2006, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts acquired two of my photographs; I also exhibited at Fotofest and had my first international exhibition.

So far, 2008 has been great. I taught my very first photography class and was actually invited to teach again in the fall - what a gas... the kid who barely graduated from high school is now teaching at Rice! I was published on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and I was selected as Photojournalist of the Year by the Houston Press Club.