More about Al Satterwhite

Expanding Horizons: Al Satterwhite's Ventures into Freelance, Advertising, and Filmmaking

After living out of a Learjet for the better part of a year and finding politics not challenging, Satterwhite quit to freelance as a magazine photographer for the next decade on assignment for most major magazines including Automobile, Car & Driver, Fortune, Geo, Life, Look, Money, Newsweek, People, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, Time, Travel and Leisure, and others. Expanding his photographic horizons, Satterwhite moved to New York City in 1980 to launch his own production company for advertising. For the next 12 years, he was known for his national and international advertising campaign work for clients such as American Express, Coca Cola, Dole, DuPont, Eastman Kodak, Johnson Outboards, Kent International, Molson, Nikon, Oldsmobile, Porsche, Polaroid, R J Reynolds, Saab, Sony, Tuborg, Universal Studios, and Westinghouse. In 1992, Satterwhite moved to Los Angeles to pursue filmmaking as a Director of Photography. Over the next 20 years, he would produce and film numerous short films, a few independent features, commercials, and music videos. Three of his short films would win Best Picture awards. But his true love and direction have always been his photographic work. As a respected and diverse artistic photographer, Satterwhite was engaged by Kodak as a digital imaging consultant for several years. He was invited to lecture at Boston University, Brooks Institute of Photography, Hallmark Institute of Photography, ASMP, NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, and PhotoExpos in Los Angeles and New York. His workshops at Dawson College (Montreal), ICP (NYC), Kauai Photographic (Hawaii), Leica Master Class, Maine Photographic, Palm Beach Photographic Workshops, Santa Fe Workshops, and at his studio in NYC were always in high demand.

Satterwhite still lectures and is a guest workshop leader at the Leica Gallery/Los Angeles and seminars today.

Satterwhite’s stark black and white imagery and signature style of color and design are represented in the permanent collections of the archive of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), the National Portrait Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), George Eastman Museum, Polaroid Collection, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Ft. Wayne Museum of Art, as well as numerous private collections. His limited edition 1978 color monograph, Al Satterwhite/California, is in the Museum of Modern Art book collection. In 2014 the Ft. Wayne Museum of Art dedicated a solo show for Satterwhite presenting his iconic imagery of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson at the exhibit titled Fear and Loathing on Cozumel. The same year Satterwhite’s iconic photograph of Hunter Thompson was included in the important Smithsonian show and book, American Cool. Published photographic books include The Cozumel Diary (adventures with Hunter S. Thompson in Mexico), Titans (Muhammad Ali & Arnold Schwarzenegger), the Racers (the Golden Age of endurance motor racing), Carroll Shelby (one of the most iconic racing giants of the 60s), Satterwhite on Color and Design and Lights! Camera! Advertising!. Satterwhite is currently working on a new photographic book titled Bearing Witness, featuring his never before published images that capture everyday life in the South during the 1960’s and ’70’s. Satterwhite’s passion and curiosity in capturing images has expanded to motion pictures and television advertising. Seldom without a camera in hand, Satterwhite lives in New York City with his wife, Valery, and two Zen-Masters, both of them cats.