Emmet Gowin

Born in 1941, Emmet Gowin grew up in southern Virginia. He began photographing in 1961, at the Richmond Professional Institute, and went on to graduate study at the Rhode Island School of Design. His prints have been exhibited widely and are in the collections of museums and galleries throughout the United States. Gowin lives with his wife, Edith, and their sons, Isaac and Elijah, in a small Pennsylvania town and teaches photography at Princeton University. His books include Emmet Gowin: Photographs (1976), Emmet Gowin Photographs (1966-1983), Petra (1986), and Emmet Gowin: Aerial Photographs (1997). One of America’s foremost photographers Gowin’s first subjects were taken from his own world – his wife, children, and extended family in Virginia. Newer experiences have drawn him toward a wider view, encompassing landscapes of Europe, the devastation and beauty of Mt St Helens, the haunting emptiness of Petra, and most recently aerial views of mines, toxic waste dumps, nuclear test sites, and massive agricultural projects.