William Garnett

Who was William Garnett?

William A. Garnett was an American landscape photographer who specialized in aerial photography.

Garnett was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1916, and in 1920 his family moved to Pasadena, California. After graduating from Pasadena's John Muir Technical High School he studied for one year at the Art Center School in Los Angeles and then, beginning in 1938, he worked for two years as an independent commercial photographer and graphic designer.

In 1940 he was hired as a photographer by the Pasadena Police Department, where he was employed for four years. In 1944 he worked briefly for the Lockeed aircraft company before being drafted into the U.S. Army, where he assisted in the production of training films for the U.S. Signal Corps.

After leaving the Army in 1945 Garnett used the G.I. Bill to pay for flight instruction and by 1949 he had purchased his first plane and begun capturing the aerial photographs for which he is admired. His work began to attract critical attention and in 1953 he won the first of three Guggenheim fellowships for his beautiful landscapes.

In 1955, Garnett had his first one-man show at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York.