Born in 1950 in Alaska Territory, Kirk Gittings has resided in New Mexico for 45 years. He first studied photography at the University of New Mexico in the 1970’s and ultimately received a Master of Fine Arts degree in photography from the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 1983.

Since graduate school, he has taught and written regularly about photography and become one of the most widely published and exhibited architectural photographers in the country. His commercial architectural photography regularly appears in national periodicals and books, while his art photography is represented in many museum, corporate and private collections in the SW and internationally. In addition, he is currently an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico, and  a visiting artist and instructor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago for the past 8 years. He has also taught at the View Camera Workshops and at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops.

He has received many awards including a major grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to photograph New Mexico’s historic churches and was selected for the prestigious Polaroid Artist Support Group. In 2003 the editors of Through the Lens: International Architectural Photographers selected him as one of the top 30 in his field in the world. His first monograph, Chaco Body with poet V.B. Price about the Anasazi ruins at Chaco Canyon, has been critically acclaimed as a major contribution to regional art. He is currently working on another book with V.B. Price on mythological landscapes in the SW.

In 2005, Shelter from the Storm: The Photographs of Kirk Gittings, a 32 year retrospective book was published by New Mexico Magazine and exhibit opened at the Albuquerque Museum.

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