Duane is a freelance photographer based in San Francisco who uses his skills to highlight social issues. He tirelessly advocates for HIV/AIDS awareness.
Born in Bloomington, Ind., in 1962, he earned a degree in finance and marketing from the University of Southern California in 1984. Duane had a career with Xerox Corporation that lasted 18 years. Cramer's tenure with Xerox ended in 2003. During his years at Xerox, he held numerous sales and management positions within the company ranging from account manager, product manager to integrated sales manager.
He is deeply involved with community events and community organizations. Duane was a founding member on the board of directors of the of San Francisco LGBT Community Center, Board Emeritus, NAMES Project Foundation AIDS Memorial Quilt. Board Emeritus, co-chair for the Millennium March on Washington for Equality in 2000. He currently serves as vice president on the board of directors of Frameline.
He donates significant time to the Black AIDS Institute. In 2001 the San Francisco community elected Duane as one of the Grand Marshals for the San Francisco GLBTQ Pride Celebration.
"As a Black Gay artist living with HIV, I work to find the connection between my human experience and the human experience of the subjects I capture with my camera," said Duane. "And I look for subjects and projects where that connection can be maximized--whether it's realizing the term "African Orphan" applies to me (as well as the 10 million AIDS orphans in Africa) or volunteering my time to chronicle Black Heroes In The Struggle against AIDS, I look for the human bond."
Duane lost his father Joe J. Cramer, Jr. PhD to AIDS in September 1986. The elder Cramer was associate dean of the Business School at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He also was a professor at Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Southern California. Cramer Sr. also was a faculty Fellow at Arthur Andersen & Co. world headquarters in Chicago. Duane himself has been living with the HIV virus since September 1996.
In 1998, Xerox Corporation, his former employer, awarded Duane a one-year Social Service Leave. He used the time to travel with sections of the quilt to large cities - as well as small towns like Loachapoka, Ala., where he spoke to elementary and high school students about HIV/AIDS.
In December 2000 Duane was awarded the Umoja award by Black Brothers Esteem (San Francisco AIDS Foundation) for his outstanding community service and leadership.
Duane is very active in the arts community. His photographic images have appeared in publications internationally including "Harper's Bazaar" (Latin America), "Blue" (Australia), "Oggi" (Italy), "OUT" and the "Advocate." His subject matter extends from portraiture and fashion to architecture and journalism. Cramer is particularly noted for his nudes - images at once sensitive, thoughtful and erotic. In the September 2002 "Blue" magazine (Australia) issue #40, he was profiled as one of "The Magnificent Seven Photographers" in the world contributing to the publication.
In 2006 Cramer embarked on a national exhibition of his black and white photographs called ELEGANT, which positively reflected the broad spectrum of the community. It includes a diverse selection of LGBT individuals. Diverse in gender (including a transgender woman), ethnicity and race. The "Advocate" magazine featured one of his photographs on the cover and an 8-page photo spread inside of male/female and transgender nudes. This was unprecedented.
