About Joel Meyerowitz

The acclaimed photographer Joel Meyerowitz was born in 1938 in the Bronx, New York, where he also grew up. Starting on the streets of New York in the early 60’s with friends like Tony-Ray Jones and Garry Winogrand, he studied painting, and initially worked as an Art Director in advertising. Meyerowitz began shooting on 35mm color film in 1962. In the following year, he alternated this with black and white before returning to the richness of storytelling in color. New York always remained the dominant focus of his life as a photographer – from his early works in the sixties to his evocative images taken at Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9/11.

In 2017, Joel Meyerowitz was honored for his lifework with the Leica Hall of Fame Award. Meyerowitz lives and works in New York and Tuscany. Joel is recognized around the world as one of the most important street photographers of his generation, a pioneering artist in the use of color, and a highly influential teacher.

Joel’s current preoccupation is sharing a life’s worth of learning through his Masters of Photography Class.

About Melissa O’Shaughnessy

Melissa O’Shaughnessy was born in 1960 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and studied at Georgetown University and the University of St. Thomas, graduating with a degree in journalism. She is now a photographer based in New York City. Her work has been featured in numerous international exhibitions and publications, and is also included in the book “Bystander: A History of Street Photography and the recently published Women Street Photographers“.

She is a member of UP Photographers, a collective of 24 international street photographers.

Her first monograph, “Perfect Strangers: New York City Street Photographs,” was published by Aperture in October, 2020.