Andy graduated from high school in 2002 and went on to college at the University of California: Santa Cruz to major in marine biology. During spring break of freshman year, Andy accompanied his college roommate on a surf trip to northern Baja, Mexico. Instead of surfing, Andy spent all his spare time finding red diamond rattlesnakes in the coastal desert. Thus began a lifelong love of field herping.

In the summer of 2004, at age 20, Andy journeyed to north Queensland, Australia, for the UC Education Abroad Program (EAP). This was a life-changing experience for Andy. When he wasn't studying tropical ecology or marine biology at James Cook University, he was out catching pythons and tree frogs or diving on the Great Barrier Reef, seeking out sharks and rays. It was here in Australia that Andy saw his very first shark underwater - and was instantly obsessed with seeing as many sharks and rays as humanly possible in the short 5 months of his visit. By the time he left Australia, Andy had logged 47 dives and had swam with a 12 foot tiger shark, 2 bull sharks, a scalloped hammerhead, several silvertips, and countless other reef sharks. Andy also began developing his free-diving (breath-hold or skin-diving) skills while in Australia. By the end of the trip, Andy was able to dive in excess of 60 feet on a single breath of air, enabling him to approach sharks and other pelagic fish more closely than usual.

Andy had started taking digital photos underwater while in Australia but had limited success. However, he had accumulated several good topside shots of frogs and snakes. A September 2005 trip to southern Baja in search of scalloped hammerhead sharks yielded no hammerheads, but a beautiful whale shark instead. However, Andy was still unsatisfied with his whale shark photos. A lucky opportunity landed Andy in Thailand in December to scuba dive the Similan Islands. Finally, Andy was able to move slowly and steadily enough to secure a few excellent shots of anenomefish, coral grouper, and a zebra shark, with only the camera's natural flash!

Upon returning to Santa Cruz, Andy printed out several large prints and found that his friends gobbled them up. Thus the idea of toothandscale.com was born. Andy hopes that he can sell enough prints through toothandscale.com so one day he can afford a quality underwater strobe for his camera in order to take his photography to the next level.

Andy is currently a master's student at Humboldt State University studying the evolution of reptiles using genetic data.

Enjoy toothandscale.com!