My work began with the history of science

I began my career at the Rockford Time Museum in the 1980s, working as a collection conservator and later becoming the museum collections photographer. Surrounded by extraordinary objects, historic scientific instruments, fine art, and rare timepieces, I was immersed in an international culture of profound expertise and mentored by world-renowned experts and connoisseurs.

Working closely with my mentors, I came to understand that photographing an object begins with an intimate understanding of what it is, how it was made, why it matters, and then finding a way to capture a reflection of what makes it beautiful and, ultimately, what makes a riveting photograph.

That experience shaped an approach to photography that has carried throughout my career, from the very beginning.

With the guidance of remarkable mentors, I established Pitkin Studio in 1987. Over the following decades, my work expanded to museums, private collections, artists, musicians, and publishers. I have photographed important collections for institutions beginning with the Adler Planetarium and have worked with Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and private collectors.

My work with African American artists from the South began in the 1990s and led to a long collaboration with collector William Arnett and, later, the Souls Grown Deep Foundation.

In 2000, approximately 250 quilts from Gee’s Bend, Alabama, were brought to my studio for photography. Those photographs became part of the visual record surrounding the landmark 2002 Museum of Fine Arts, Houston exhibition, The Quilts of Gee’s Bend, and the recognition that followed. In 2006, ten of my photographs of Gee’s Bend quilts were selected for a United States Postal Service commemorative stamp series, with 500 million stamps featuring those photographs issued nationwide.

I have continued photographing the quilts and artists of Gee’s Bend for more than twenty-five years. The work has grown from photographing quilts to portraits of the artists, quiltmakers at work, and the environment in which they live and create. More recently, my work has expanded into documentary film, preserving conversations with the artists as they speak about their lives and work, in their own words and in their own environment.