Los Angeles-born William Carter graduated from Stanford University in 1957. He became a professional photographer, writer and editor while concurrently pursuing fine art photography. In New York, Carter worked as a book editor for Harper & Row from 1961-63. Based in Beirut 1964-66, he published in Life, the Sunday Times, Geographical Magazine and others. In 1966-69 he freelanced from London, doing assignments for The New York Times, Women’s Wear Daily, and TWA’s Annual Report.[1][1][1]
Returning to San Francisco in 1969, Carter turned to longer-term projects. He published his first book of text and pictures, Ghost Towns of the West, in 1971. His second book, Middle West Country, appeared in 1975. Carter’s activities as a jazz clarinet player in the traditional New Orleans style led him to create his third book of text and photographs, Preservation Hall, in 1991. Increasingly absorbed in fine art photography, he began exhibiting in galleries and published Illuminations, a book of nudes, in 1996. Carter’s fifth book, Causes and Spirits, is an autobiographical photo-appreciation of humanity worldwide, scheduled to be published in 2011.[1][1][1]
Carter is currently active as a traditional-style jazz clarinetist in the Bay Area. In 1955 at the age of 20 he toured the U.S. and recorded with Turk Murphy’s Jazz Band.[1] Since 1990 he has served as Chairman of the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation.[1]
William Carter’s photographs have been widely exhibited in the U.S. and Europe. More than 150 of his black and white prints are in the permanent collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. A Carter nude was shown in the Getty’s concise 150-year history of that genre in 2007-2008. Four of his Middle Eastern images appeared there in "Engaged Observers," a 2010 survey of photojournalism since 1960.[1]
Carter was a founding board member of Photo Alliance in San Francisco from 2001-2004. He was a board member of Humanities West, also in San Francisco, from 1996-2001. He is a founding member of the Photographs Council at the J. Paul Getty Museum from 2005 to the present.[1]
Museum collections containing photographs by William Carter: