SEEING THE MOMENT
With Craig Semetko
Recorded Thursday, June 18, 2020
Famous for his documentation of unposed moments on streets throughout the world, Craig Semetko sits down with Director of the Leica Akademie USA, Tom A. Smith for a conversation about his approach to photography and what he has learned during his time on lock-down.
ARTIST BIO:
Craig Semetko is an American photographer focusing on authentic human experience. Born and raised near Detroit, Michigan, Semetko became a professional comedy writer and performer after college and years later discovered photography as another means of storytelling. His comedic background has given him a highly developed sense of the absurd and ironic, resulting in a strong theme of humor throughout his work.
Semetko’s first book, UNPOSED, was published in 2009 with a foreword by Elliott Erwitt. Erwitt writes that Semetko is “...the essential photographer. That is, the one who sees what others could not have seen.”
In 2013 Semetko was one of 10 photographers chosen worldwide by Leica Camera to be a part of its “10×10” exhibition celebrating 100 years of Leica photography. He spent three months in the fall of 2013 traveling throughout India for the project and the resulting work was displayed at the grand opening of the new Leica headquarters in Wetzlar, Germany, in 2014. His second book, the award winning INDIA UNPOSED, was also born of this project and was published in the spring of 2014. Semetko has also contributed to “Both Sides of Sunset-Photographing Los Angeles,” (2015) and the recently released “Inspiration Leica Akademie” (2020).
Semetko spent much of 2011 and 2012 working on a long term project on the United States. The project was partially funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign and Semetko is continuing work on the series.
Semetko graduated from Northwestern University’s School of Speech in Evanston, Illinois, and holds a masters degree in consciousness studies from the University of Philosophical Research in Los Angeles. He teaches workshops regularly for the Leica Akademie worldwide and his photographs can be found in private collections in Europe, Asia, and the United States.
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