Lyle Owerko is a

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

and

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

whose work has ranged from

Sundance Channel Sundance Channel can refer to: * Sundance TV, formerly known as Sundance Channel (United States). * Sundance Channel (Canada) * Sundance Channel (Netherlands) * Sundance Channel (Europe) Sundance Channel can refer to: * Sundance TV, formerly kno ...

to ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' to

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. His photos are collected by many business, entertainment and celebrity clients. They have been used in several films including

Henry Singer Henry Singer is a documentary filmmaker. Born in 1957, he holds a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and a master's degree from Cambridge University. He produced the documentary ''9/11: The Falling Man'' which dealt with the attempts to ...

's ''

The Falling Man ''The Falling Man'' is a photograph taken by Associated Press photographer Richard Drew of a man falling from the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks in New York City. The Unidentified Man in the image was trapped on the uppe ...

'' and ''

The Omen (2006 film) ''The Omen'' (also known as ''The Omen: 666'') is a 2006 American supernatural horror film directed by John Moore and written by David Seltzer. The fifth installment in ''The Omen'' series, it is a remake of the 1976 film of the same name, whi ...

'', as well as books such as

Jonathan Safran Foer Jonathan Safran Foer (; born February 21, 1977) is an American novelist. He is known for his novels ''Everything Is Illuminated'' (2002), '' Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'' (2005), '' Here I Am'' (2016), and for his non-fiction works ''Eatin ...

's ''

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ''Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'' is a 2005 novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. The book's narrator is a nine-year-old boy named Oskar Schell. In the story, Oskar discovers a key in a vase that belonged to his father, a year after he is killed in ...

''. His work is also included in the permanent archive of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

. Owerko travels extensively around the world each year shooting assignments and personal work. He resides in New York City.

Early life

Lyle Owerko was raised in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,30 ...

, Canada. He studied at the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. This is where he earned a Masters in Science degree in the communication arts program.

Career

Photography and fine art

In 2005 Princeton Architectural Press publishe
Jennifer New's
boo
''Drawing From Life''
which featured Owerko's journals as well as those of

Mike Figgis Michael Figgis (born 28 February 1948) is an English film director, screenwriter, and composer. He was nominated for two Academy Awards for his work in ''Leaving Las Vegas'' (1995). Figgis was the founding patron of the independent filmmakers o ...

David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...

, Carol Beckwith and

Maira Kalman Maira Kalman is an American artist, illustrator, writer, and designer known for her painting and writing about the human condition. She is the author and illustrator of over 30 books for adults and children and her work is exhibited in museums a ...

. In 2006 Owerko traveled to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

as part of Dr. Jeffrey Sachs�
''Millennium Promise''
initiative, documenting the lives of the Lau people of Sauri,

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. Current initiatives range from the multi-media exhibition, to an art installation of large-scale portraits of the Samburu Warrior tribe. In 2010 Abrams published ''The Boombox Project'', his historical overview of the history of a seminal pop-culture icon. The books release was covered by many news outlets including The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, Fast Company, CBS News, and National Public Radio. That same yea
Hasselblad Cameras
named him a "Hasselblad Master" for his work as a fine art photojournalist. Lyle's work can be seen in many museum and private collections including th
Victoria & Albert
in London, which holds part of his ''Boombox'' collection in their permanent archive of 20th-century historically significant objects. His work can be seen a
Jackson Fine Art
in Atlanta, an
Whisper Fine Art
in London.

Journalism

Owerko shot the photograph featured on the cover of ''

'' on

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

, the day of the 9/11 attacks, which showed an explosion at the WTC. In 2005 the

American Society of Magazine Editors The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) is an industry trade group for magazine journalists and editors of magazines published in the United States. ASME includes the editorial leaders of most major consumer magazine in print and digital ex ...

ranked it as 25th out of a list of the 40 most important magazine covers in the last 40 years. Since 2001, Lyle Owerko has been profiled and given interviews about that day and his work. A portion of Owerko’s personal work as a photographer can be viewed in the self-published boo
'' And No Birds Sang''
featuring images he took from

.- Total pages: 92

Music videos

Owerko has worked with a number of musicians including

Jesse Harris Jesse Harris (born October 24, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, producer, and guitarist. He has worked with Norah Jones, Melody Gardot, Madeleine Peyroux, Nikki Yanofsky, and Lizz Wright. Early life and education Harris and his twin sist ...

Rufus Wainwright Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and composer. He has recorded 10 studio albums and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written two classical operas and set ...

and

American Hi-Fi American Hi-Fi is an American rock band formed in Boston in 1998. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Stacy Jones, lead guitarist Jamie Arentzen, bassist and backing vocalist Drew Parsons, and drummer Brian Nolan. Prior t ...

. He shot the music video for the first single on Jesse Harris' 2007 album Feel. He also directed a tour documentary for American Hi-Fi's 2001 tour and his photo of a smashed boombox became the cover for the album Rock n'Roll Noodle Shop: Live from Tokyo. In 2012 Lyle directed a series of music videos for Jesse Harris using purely an iPhone, which included the songs Sad Blues and I Won't Wait In 2013 he also directed the video for the title track of Jesse Harris' album "Borne Away".

Advertising

Owerko has directed

Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...

in a series of Sundance Channel commercial spots. He also worked with Compound shooting live action elements for the 1999 IBM e-culture campaign that led to a Grand Prix at the

Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (formerly the International Advertising Festival) is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the ...

Awards

New York Art Directors ClubNational Press Photographers AssociationAmerican Photography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Owerko, Lyle Living people American photographers Canadian photojournalists Canadian expatriates in the United States Year of birth missing (living people) Artists from Calgary Pratt Institute alumni