At the age of 13, his father, showing him how to develop his first pictures in the family darkroom, introduced Kretschmer to photography. From that point forward, he never looked back, and went on to study photography, receiving a BFA from Art Center College of Design in 1984, graduating with honors.

Since then, Kretschmer has been creating conceptual photo-illustrations for a large number of editorial and advertising clients, both here in America and abroad, most notably Vanity Fair, New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Fortune, and GQ, as well as Old Spice, Toyota, Honda, Huggies, Penn & Teller, and Purina.

His work has garnered numerous industry awards in Communication Arts Magazine, American Photography, Graphis Publications, The International Photography Awards, and The Society of Publication Designers. His work has been the subject of many articles and profiles appearing in Plastik Magazine, Communication Arts, Juxtapoz, Graphis, Vision and Shutterbug Magazines. His
work is collected through Fathom Gallery in Los Angles, Sakura Gallery in Paris, and in 2018, HEPTA Gallery in Seoul.

Kretschmer’s teaching career started at the age of 32 at Art Center College where he taught advanced still life for 3 years, until moving to New York. After moving back to Los Angeles, he has since taught photography at Santa Monica College, and, presently, UCLA and The Los Angeles Center for Photography.

Artist Statement
My photographs have been described as fanciful, curious, imaginative, unusual, or a little creepy. Some are influenced by myriad dreams and desires of what life could be like…if only.
While others are commentaries on the human condition, influenced by a perspective that honors and embraces the assets and deficits we all share as human beings, seasoned with a touch of quirk and irony."

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