Joel Meyerowitz

Joel Meyerowitz has been documenting the US''s ever-changing social landscape for fifty-eight years. An early advocate of colour photography, the master photographer has inspired and influenced generations of artists. For a while, during the late 1960s, Meyerowitz carried two cameras: one loaded with monochrome stock, the other with colour. Just how, when and why US fine-art photographers switched from black-and-white image-making, which was prized within the gallery system, to colour photography - once seen as the preserve of the holiday snapper - has been the subject of much debate. In A Question of Colour, Meyerowitz recounts the story of his early days as a photographer, when he was told that serious photographers only took black-and-white pictures. ''But why?'' he asked, ''when the world is in colour?'' He promptly bought a colour camera and various rolls of film, and began experimenting with colour techniques: a passion he has continued to pursue all his life.