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John T. "Jet" Lowe is an American
photographer A photographer (the 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 photographers As in other ...
. He is one of the photographers employed by the U.S.
National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
on the
Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...
(HABS) and
Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...
(HAER) projects, and was the supervisor of engineering photography for HAER until his retirement in July 2013. His book, ''Industrial Eye: Photographs by Jet Lowe from the Historic American Engineering Record'' was published in 1986 by the Preservation Press.


Early life and education

John T. Lowe III was born in 1946. His father, a U.S. Navy aviator, called him "Jet." While at New College of Florida, Lowe went to Haiti for an independent study program, taking a camera with him at the last minute. He shot 20 rolls of film in the region of
Cap-Haïtien Cap-Haïtien (; ht, Kap Ayisyen; "Haitian Cape"), typically spelled Cape Haitien in English and often locally referred to as or , is a commune of about 190,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the department of Nord. Previousl ...
. The resulting pictures were well received by his professors. In 1970 Lowe graduated from
Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
with a degree in art history, and started working for the Georgia Historical Commission, doing HABS documentation. After changing jobs, his equipment was stolen, and he worked in construction and as a courier. He was encouraged to return to photography by
Richard Avedon Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''Vogue'' and ''Elle'' specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and danc ...
, and moved to Washington, D.C. in 1974. He started working for HAER in 1978.


Work

Lowe uses
large format Large format refers to any imaging format of or larger. Large format is larger than "medium format", the or size of Hasselblad, Mamiya, Rollei, Kowa, and Pentax cameras (using 120- and 220-roll film), and much larger than the frame o ...
images to record significant and often threatened American industrial sites for the National Park Service's HAER program. These images along with an extensive architectural history and measured drawings constitutes a permanent record of the industrial sites he documents. HAER projects are housed at 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 ...
, and many of the records are available on-line from the library's website. Lowe's industrial photographs make up a significant portion of the HAER images collected since the founding of HAER in 1969. The National Park Service, the
American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
and the Library of Congress reached an agreement to document historic sites and structures related to engineering and industry. This agreement was later ratified by four other engineering societies: the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...
, the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...
, the
American Institute of Chemical Engineers The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was actually established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as a profession independent of chemists and mechanical engineer ...
, and the
American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) is a professional association for mining and metallurgy, with over 145,000 members. It was founded in 1871 by 22 mining engineers in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Uni ...
. In 1986 Lowe's work was published in the book Industrial Eye, published by the Preservation Press of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Lowe's images include a 2001 remake of the famous
Charles Sheeler Charles Sheeler (July 16, 1883 – May 7, 1965) was an American artist known for his Precisionist paintings, commercial photography, and the avant-garde film, ''Manhatta'', which he made in collaboration with Paul Strand. Sheeler is recognized ...
1927 image of crossing conveyors

taken at the Ford River Rouge Steel Complex .


Awards

He received the Society for Industrial Archaeology's highest honor, the General Tools Award. Lowe's work is a major part of the permanent collections of The Library of Congress HABS/HAER program, and has been the subject of exhibitions at the CEPA Gallery, _the_Burchfield_Penney_Art_Center.html" ;"title="ref name="cepa1"> the Burchfield Penney Art Center">ref name="cepa1"> the Burchfield Penney Art Center, and a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition, ''Covered Bridges: Spanning the American Landscape''.} File:Big Black River Railroad Bridge.jpg, Big Black River Bridge File:Brooklyn Bréck.jpg, Brooklyn Bridge File:Chestnut Hill Water Works high-service pumping station.jpg, Chestnut Hill Pumping Station, Boston


Gallery

File:Central Park New York City New York 23 cropped.jpg, Central Park File:NORTHEAST VIEW OF BLOW ENGINE HOUSE No. 3, WITH FILTER CAKE HOUSE IN CENTER FOREGROUND, AND EVAPORATIVE WASTE WATER TREATMENT COOLING TOWER TO THE LEFT. (Jet Lowe) - U.S. Steel HAER PA,2-DUQU,3A-42.tiff, wastewater treatment plant File:14. Jet Lowe, Photographer, June 1978. MCINTYRE IRON WORKS. VIEW SOUTHEAST OF TOWER. - Adirondack Iron ^ Steel Company, - LOC - hhh.ny0915.photos.116619p.jpg, McIntyre Iron Works File:Dauphine2519JetLoweNOLA1979.jpg, 2519 Dauphine Street in
Faubourg Marigny The Faubourg Marigny ( ; sometimes called The Marigny) is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Its boundaries, as defined by the City Planning Commission, are North Rampart Street and St. Claude Avenue to the n ...
, New Orleans


Publications

* ''Buildings of Alaska'', author Alison K. Hoagland, photographer Jet Lowe, (1995) * ''Le patrimoine industriel des États-Unis'', authors Maria Theresa Maiullari-Pontois, and Louis Bergeron, photographs by Jet Lowe (2000) * ''Industrial Eye: Photographs by Jet Lowe from the Historic American Engineering Record'', authors Michael Leccese and David Weitzman (1987)


References


External links


Library of Congress: Online HABS/HAER photography archives
— ''public access''.
''American Place: The Historic American Buildings Survey at Seventy-Five Years''
including photographs and writing by Jet Lowe {{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, Jet Architectural photographers 1947 births Living people
In typography, a bullet or bullet point, , is a typographical symbol or glyph used to introduce items in a list. For example: *Point 1 *Point 2 *Point 3 The bullet symbol may take any of a variety of shapes, such as circular, square, diamo ...
20th-century American photographers 21st-century American photographers