BIOGRAPHY

Background

As a kid, Tony was suspended from school for taking photographs. After that, he took a break, and then, while living in Washington, D.C., he picked it back up and has since made photography a core element of his life. In 2004 Tony unexpectedly came face-to-face with a sow grizzly bear and her newborn cub and managed to politely talk his way out of becoming a statistic. It was quite a hair-raising experience.   

With 20 years of professional science experience working for federal, tribal, state, and private entities and nonprofits, coupled with his professional photography and video skills, Tony brings a unique, highly specialized set of tools to his conservation, commercial and photojournalism projects.

Crafting images, and directing shoots for a new whiskey brand (Midnight Forest), the revival of an old beer brand (Great Northern Beer), and a long-time European optics company (Hawke Optics) were recent commercial projects.  

2020-21 proved to test strength, stamina, and dedication. Said politely, there were a lot of ups and downs. Tony managed to push his vision and craft to new highs even despite the terrible loss of his mother. 2020-21 was one of Tony’s most rewarding years.

In June of 2021, Tony completed his third and final year as the President of the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA). Today, he can focus more on new work and build a stronger network of photographers, conservationists, and business associates.

Tony began working on a new documentary film in Scotland. The film is tentatively titled “The Last Keeper.” The film is about the rural people of the Scottish highlands, sporting estates, conservation, climate change, land use, and how the landscape and culture of Scotland are changing. Tony is the film still photographer, and subject matter expert. 

In 2016 Tony worked on the MacGillivray Freemen Imax film, "National Parks Adventure" (VOTED BEST GIANT SCREEN FILM OF THE YEAR

2016 GSCA ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS) where he was the location manager for the Glacier National Park segment. 

Tony is a westerner. Originally from Walla Walla, Washington, he's spent his life crisscrossing the wildlands of North America, hiking, fishing, climbing, hunting, and of course, taking photographs.

He's documented parts of Africa, Scotland, New Zealand, South America, Canada, Alaska, France, Switzerland, Mexico, Spain, Turkey, and Kyrgyzstan and has visited every state in the Union except Hawaii!  He’s an enrolled member of the federally recognized Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

Education

Tony holds a Master of Science in Resource Management (Watershed Restoration, Wildlife and Public Policy), an Undergraduate Degree in Geography and Land Studies, and a Minor in Environmental Studies from Central Washington, University.

Environmental Work

Tony worked for eight years for the Yakama Nation as an Air and Water Quality Scientist and later as the Tribe’s off-reservation senior water quality scientist. In 1998 he was detailed to the EPA in Washington, D.C., where he was a special assistant to the Senior Indian Program Manager in the office of the Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation. Later he became the acting Senior Indian Program Manager responsible for implementing and managing air pollution control programs in Indian Country. Tony was the Co-Chair of the Technical Oversight Committee for the Western Regional Air Partnership (WRAP), and a principal and founding member of the Tribal Air Monitoring Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In 2002 Tony went to work for a private consulting firm where he was a Senior Scientist and Project Manager responsible for designing and managing scientific research projects under a federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) contract specifically targeting Tribal Nations and Indian Reservations. During those years, Tony managed projects ranging from Porpoise sampling off the coast of Maine to emissions inventories in Alaska, California, Chicago, and Montana.

In 2005 Tony was appointed to the Central Montana Resource Advisory Council (RAC - a Federal Advisory Committee) to represent Native American interests by Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton. Tony served the RAC as a member for two years and the Chair for one.

Tony's been elected to the public office once as a member of the East Glacier Park School Board. He's working directly with the Glacier Two Medicine Alliance to bring permanent protection to the Badge-Two Medicine area of the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana.  

Tony served on the Board of Directors of the Professional Outdoor Media Association from 2010 until his final term in June 2021 as its President. 

Conservation Photography Projects 

Conservation photography was a natural fit. So natural that Tony describes it as the most rewarding work he does. Combining his profession as a scientist and resource manager with his life-long commitment to the outdoors makes Tony uniquely equipped to tackle any photographic assignment. 

Tony's most recent U.S. conservation assignment took him to the remote wildlands of central and southern Idaho to document lands with wilderness characteristics. This is his third assignment to document the remaining wildlands of North America and the most rewarding work he does. During the same year, Tony completed similar work in the Musselshell area in Central Montana.

Later that same year, Tony traveled to the South Central African Country of Zambia to begin work on a documentary of the Tsoli Tribe, whose lands have been poached and are largely void of game due to poaching. That work culminated in the final film Title: Killing the Shepard

Other conservation projects include documenting the development of the oil industry along the Rocky Mountain Front and the Blackfeet Reservation. This project was picked up by media sources all over the country, including the New York Times. 

Documenting the Burlington Northern railroad and the Bakken Oil Trains that cross the Blackfeet Reservation. Photographing the Badger-Two Medicine Area and the Rocky Mountain Front for use in conservation campaigns across the Nation.

In 2014 Tony completed over a dozen Wilderness Inventories (for the Montana Wilderness Association) of BLM lands in Eastern Montana. During the project, Tony prioritized a dozen areas within a 3,000,000-acre eastern Montana, identifying new areas with Wilderness Characteristics, resulting in some being protected.

Commercial Photography

Tony photographs outdoor products and lifestyle for major outdoor brands; his images have been used in advertising campaigns by brands, companies, and tourism offices globally.  

Photojournalism and Campaign Photography

One of Tony's core areas is photojournalism for magazines, major newspapers (Washington Post), private companies, and political campaigns. Tony's list of clients includes a current U.S. Senator. Contact us for more information about Tony's journalism and campaign photography. 

Present Day

Tony is a father, regularly speaks at conservation and outdoor media events around the country, has been on a dozen or more podcasts, and has done countless interviews (many can be found online) is the most recent past President of the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA - the largest outdoor media association in the United States), a past board member of the Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance. Tony currently resides in Great Falls, Montana.