Pete Turner

American, 1934 -

Pete Turner was born in Albany, New York. An early interest in chemistry led him to a lifelong fascination for photography and to a great affinity for color. He graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology. A seven month expedition to Africa for the National Geographic magazine, from the Cape to Cairo in a caravan, was a turning point in his career. Africa has been a constant place of inspiration and renewal for him. At the same time, his editorial photo essays began to be published regularly in Esquire, Look, Holiday, Sports Illustrated among others, and photo portfolios appeared in Camera (Switzerland), Twen (Germany) and Photo (France). His work has been used on numerous jazz album covers including A&M and CTI labels. Maintaining a studio at Carnegie Hall in New York City, Turner gradually shifted his main emphasis from editorial to advertising photography while pursuing his personal work and becoming more involved in conceptual photography. Some of his best known campaigns were done for Esso, Kohler, United Airlines, Philip Morris, BMW, and Bell Atlantic. Early on, the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibited Turner's most controversial image for the time, "The Giraffe". The red giraffe illustrated his growing interest in treating color as a graphic element. Since then, his work has been exhibited in Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and the United States. His photographs are in the permanent collections of major museums. Turner has received over 300 awards from various design groups and photography associations (including "The Outstanding Achievement in Photography" award from the A.S.M.P .). His work is included in numerous books. Harry Abrams published his first monograph "Pete Turner Photographs". His second monograph "Pete Turner African Journey"(Graphis) is the visual diary of Turner’s on-going adventure in Africa which begins with his first journey in 1959 from Capetown to Cairo.