Russell Creger Barajas was born in Stanford, California. She attended UC Berkeley for two years before realizing she was in the wrong place. She traveled across the country by train, and wondered if there was a right place.

Upon returning to the Bay Area, she attended College of Marin. She reluctantly transferred to San Francisco State University, where it was rumored a 4-year degree could be had, and received her BA in sculpture in ‘83.

For the next 10 years, she worked as a goldsmith’s apprentice, honing her technical skills, including how to brew a proper cup of tea.

One day she stumbled into the darkroom and fell in love with analogue photography. She now spends an inordinate amount of time exploring lens-based and pinhole photography and teaching the art to unsuspecting students. Her photography has been exhibited and published in the U.S. and Canada.

While living with her husband in Colombia in the early '90s, she began writing non-fiction--and non-non-fiction--and discovered the addictive and torturous delights therein. Her work has been been published in the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Twins Magazine, Cleaver Magazine, Please See Me, Fatal Flaw, Defenestration, Hole in the Head Review, and Northern Virginia Review.

Russell currently lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband and two loopy dogs.

About R. C. Barajas