Zach (a.k.a. “Z”) McDuffie is an award winning photographer, artist, and learning vacation expert. After receiving a BFA degree from the University of Georgia, where he studied painting and photography, Z moved to Costa Rica and founded his own school for travelers called School of the World, which offers courses in photography, surfing, Spanish, and yoga.
After several years spent establishing his school and designing a custom boutique hotel for its guests, Z returned to the global pursuit of his own art and photography. He went on to study advanced portrait, beauty, and fashion photography in Los Angeles and Paris. In his travels, which have taken him to over 20 countries, he learned Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, trained with a world champion free diver, learned underwater photography, filmmaking, and sailing among other things.
Z went on to become one of the foremost experts in the multi-billion dollar niche travel genre known as learning vacations and wrote a popular blog about it called Learning Experience for several years, reporting on everything from the best cooking retreats to race car driving schools all around the world. While working on a pilot for a travel show about learning vacations he met his muse, best friend, and wife, Natazha.