Garry Winogrand was born in the Bronx, New York and studied painting and then photography at Columbia University, as well as photojournalism. His early work was dedicated to photography of subjects in New York City.

His work was exhibited in the New Documents exhibition at MOMA, and John Szarkowski, Director of Photography, who was an editor and reviewer of Winogrand work. Winogrand was recognized by three Guggenheim Fellowships for: travel throughout the United States, studying the effect of the media, and photographing subjects in California. He also had a teaching career with the Institute of Design & Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and also the University of Texas, Austin. Winogrand passed away in 1984 leaving some 300,000 raw images, some of which have been exhibited and published posthumously by MOMA.