He was born in Chicago, graduated in the class of 1965 from Eisenhower High School[1] in Blue Island, Illinois and attended the University of Illinois at Chicago (then the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle). He worked as a Quality Control Technician at the Johnson and Johnson Midwest Surgical Dressing plant in Bedford Park, IL and later as a studio assistant at Shigeta-Wright Photography Studio in Chicago. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1974 from Columbia College Chicago with a concentration in photography and additional work in ceramics and printmaking. He received a MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1976, after study with such noted photographers as Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind.
After two decades of teaching, Boersma became increasingly involved with the Internet and the World Wide Web, which led to his changing careers in 1996 and becoming the Creative Director for Playboy Magazine's web presence, playboy.com.[1]
Along the Mississippi River, a documentary project spanning several years that covered several towns and small cities along the northern Mississippi River.
The Reliance Building, a record of Chicago's famous early "skyscraper" at the lowest point in its history, just prior to its restoration and rebirth as the Hotel Burnham.