Born in 1967 to German parents, Jan Stürmann grew up in South Africa where he studied photography at Pretoria Technicon. Impending conscription prompted years of travel, during which he earned his way as a klutzy dishwasher, a left-handed tree planter, a vegetarian ranch hand and a numerically challenged carpenter.

He now, thankfully, works as a photographer and writer from his current base in San Francisco. He has published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Marie Claire, Ms., Le Nouvel Observateur, and many other publications too obscure to mention.