Mark Steinmetz

Mark Steinmetz (born 1961) is an American photographer. He makes black and white photographs "of ordinary people in the ordinary landscapes they inhabit".

His work is held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Hunter Museum of American Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Museum of Modern Art, New York and Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Steinmetz was born in New York City and raised in the Boston-area suburbs such as Cambridge and Newton until he was 12. He then moved to the midwest. At age 21 he moved to New England to study photography at Yale School of Art in New Haven, Connecticut. 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. He moved to Athens, Georgia in 1999 and was still living and working there as of 2017.

Steinmetz makes photographs "of ordinary people in the ordinary landscapes they inhabit", and "in the midst of activity". Most of his work has been made in the USA but also in Paris and Italy. His books combine portraits (portrait-like but spontaneous) and candid photos of people, and also include animals 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.

Steinmetz works with black and white film, usually medium format, developed and printed in his own darkroom.

In 1994 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

• Tuscan Trees. The Jargon Society, 2002. With text by Janet Lembke. ISBN 978-0912330839.
• South Central. Nazraeli, 2007. ISBN 1590051718.
• South East. Nazraeli, 2008. ISBN 978-1590052310.
• Greater Atlanta. Nazraeli, 2009. ISBN 978-1590052594.
• Philip and Micheline. TBW, 2010. Subscription Series #3, Book #1. ISBN 978-1-942953-07-4. Elaine Stocki, Dru Donovan, and Katy Grannan each had one book in a set of four.
• The Ancient Tigers of My Neighborhood. Six by Six, Set 1. Nazraeli, 2010. Anthony Hernandez, Todd Hido, Raymond Meeks, Martin Parr, and Toshio Shibata each had one book in a set of sex. Edition of 100 copies.
• Italia: Cronaca di un Amore. One Picture Book 64. Nazraeli, 2010. ISBN 978-1-59005-286-0.
• Idyll. Orchard Volume Three. Silas Finch, 2011. With Raymond Meeks. ISBN 978-1-93606-318-5. Some include the separate volume Pastoral by Steinmetz, in an edition of 90 copies.
• Summertime. Nazraeli, 2012. ISBN 978-1590053485.
• Paris in my Ttime. Nazraeli, 2013. ISBN 978-1590053744.
• The Players. Nazraeli, 2015. ISBN 978-1590054185. Edition of 1000 copies.
• Fifteen Miles to K-Ville. Stanley/Barker, 2015. ISBN 978-0995555501.
• Angel City West: Volume One. NZ Library Set Two, Volume Six. Nazraeli, 2016. ISBN 978-1-59005-441-3. Edition of 350 copies.
• Angel City West: Volume Two. NZ Library Set Three. Nazraeli, 2017. ISBN 978-1-59005-455-0. With an introduction by John Bailey. Edition of 350 copies.
• Past K Ville. Stanley/Barker, 2018. ISBN 978-1916410626.
• Angel City West: Volume Three. NZ Library. Nazraeli, 2019. ISBN 978-1-59005-484-0. Edition of 350 copies.

Steinmetz's work is held in the following public collections:

• Art Institute of Chicago: 5 prints (as of January 2019)
• Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN: 2 prints (as of January 2019)
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: 2 prints (as of January 2019)
• Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago: 1 print (as of January 2019)
• Museum of Modern Art, New York: 23 prints (as of January 2019)
• Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO: 5 prints (as of January 2019)