Author's Biography
Bill Lowenburg

Bill Lowenburg’s photography is the fusion of his lifelong passion for visual art, literature and athletics. Before taking up photography in his late twenties, Lowenburg sharpened his reflexes and his eye first on the basketball court and then in the boxing gym, where he served as a sparring partner and an assistant trainer to Earnee Butler, one of the sport’s respected teachers. It was through their common interest in boxing that Lowenburg connected with his mentor in photography, two-time Guggenheim Fellow Larry Fink. Fink’s landmark book, Social Graces, influenced Lowenburg to begin a chronicle of his family, friends, and students, which has continued for twenty years.

For the six years prior to photographing demolition derbies, Lowenburg documented the backstage world of bodybuilding. Analyzing the resulting series of photographs at length in Bodymakers (Rutgers University Press, 1998), critical theorist Leslie Heywood said Lowenburg’s work "creates a bond with the viewer that is irresistibly moving" and that his work "humanizes in the deepest possible way." Declining all commercial photographic work, Lowenburg photographs the people and events in his life as a form of discovery and reflection.

Before becoming librarian at Stroudsburg High School (Pennsylvania), Lowenburg, who holds master’s degrees in education and library science, taught American history for 15 years in the Pocono Mountain School District. At Stroudsburg, in addition to collaborating with teachers to integrate the arts into the curriculum, he advises an after school photography program. With his wife Deborah, also a librarian, he teaches graduate courses in information literacy and digital photography at Wilkes University, Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. The Lowenburgs live in Cherry Valley, just outside Stroudsburg.