I was born in Paris, France, and attended school in Paris, London, Barcelona, and several cities in Germany.

A couple of years after college, I did the best thing a young person can do to widen his or her horizons and gain an understanding of our world and its wonderful diversity: I set out on a 20‑month trip around the world.

From 1976‑1981, I lived in Tokyo, becoming a permanent resident of Japan and teaching French Studies at Sophia University. During this time, I also worked as a freelance photographer and pursued my research on the origins of Sumo and its ties with the Shinto religion, resulting in Sumo – Le Sport & le Sacré, published in 1984. My years in Japan have had a profound influence on my life, my philosophy, and my photography.

I immigrated to the United States in 1982, settling in Southern California where I created a firm specializing in software rights acquisition, as well as creation and management of corporate subsidiaries of European corporations.

In 1999, I permanently switched the company's focus to book publishing under the PhotoTripUSA Publishing imprint, spending a great deal of my time on the road writing and photographing my award-winning Photographing the Southwest series.

These days I do a fair amount of world travel and display my photography at a limited number of high-end art festivals, where I greatly enjoy interacting with patrons.