Mark Christopher Steinmetz (born 1961) is an American photographer.[2][3][4] He makes black and white photographs "of ordinary people in the ordinary landscapes they inhabit".[5]
Steinmetz was born in
New York City and raised in the
Boston suburbs of
Cambridge and
Newton until he was 12.[3][10] He then moved to the midwest before, aged 21, he went to study photography at the
Yale School of Art in New Haven, Connecticut.[3][10] He left that MFA program after one semester and in mid 1983, aged 22, moved to
Los Angeles in search of the photographer
Garry Winogrand, whom he befriended.[10][11] He moved to
Athens, Georgia in 1999 and was still living and working there as of 2017.[3][10]
Steinmetz makes photographs "of ordinary people in the ordinary landscapes they inhabit",[5] and "in the midst of activity".[12] Most of his work has been made in the USA but also in Berlin, Paris, and Italy.[13][14][15] His books combine portraits (portrait-like but spontaneous) and candid photos of people,[14] and also include animals[16] and still life photos. He finds many of his subjects whilst walking around but he has also spent time at
Little League Baseball and
summer camps.[17][18]
Steinmetz predominantly works with black and white film, usually
medium format, developed and printed in his own darkroom.[10][14][16] He has mostly worked the same way with the same film, chemicals, and cameras since beginning in the mid 1980s.[19]
Italia: Cronaca di un Amore. One Picture Book 64. Portland, OR: Nazraeli, 2010.
ISBN978-1-59005-286-0.
Idyll. Orchard Volume Three. Silas Finch, 2011. With
Raymond Meeks.
ISBN978-1-93606-318-5. Some include the separate volume Pastoral by Steinmetz, in an edition of 90 copies.
Paris in my Time. Portland, OR: Nazraeli, 2013.
ISBN978-1590053744. Edition of 1000 copies.[15]
The Players. Paso Robles, CA: Nazraeli, 2015.
ISBN978-1590054185. Edition of 1000 copies.[21]
Fifteen Miles to K-Ville. London: Stanley/Barker, 2015.
ISBN978-0995555501.
Angel City West: Volume One. NZ Library Set Two, Volume Six. Paso Robles, CA: Nazraeli, 2016.
ISBN978-1-59005-441-3. Edition of 350 copies.
Angel City West: Volume Two. NZ Library Set Three. Paso Robles, CA: Nazraeli, 2017.
ISBN978-1-59005-455-0. With an introduction by
John Bailey. Edition of 350 copies.