In college at the University of Maryland, Dennis Drenner was studying to be a biologist when he began taking pictures for the student newspaper and fell in love with photography. Fascinated as he was by the workings of the natural world, Dennis found the observation of our own peculiar species even more compelling. By graduation, he had decided to trade in his microscope for a camera lens.

Fifteen years later, Dennis has now photographed extensively around the United States and in over 15 countries, always with the scientist's habit of looking for the basic truths under the surface of things, the common human stories that lie beneath our external differences.

Dennis' work has won awards in the national Pictures of the Year competition, three Maryland State Arts Council Grants, an Arthur Burns Fellowship to work at the German magazine Stern , and a Fulbright Fellowship to photograph in Pakistan.

Over the past five years Dennis has developed a passion for Latin America, has traveled extensively in the region and speaks fluent Spanish.