Craig Semetko

Craig Semetko (born Craig Joseph William Semetko, July 9, 1961) is an American street photographer and speaker based in Los Angeles. He is known for the strong sense of humor

His series titled Unposed has been published in two books.

Life and work Semetko was born near Detroit, Michigan and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Speech from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He holds a master's degree in consciousness studies from the University of Philosophical Research in Los Angeles. At 16 he was a page in the United States House of Representatives. For much of his adult life Semetko was a professional comedic actor and writer,

Semetko was inspired by the work of Magnum Photos photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson

Unposed Semetko's first book, Unposed, was published by teNeues in 2010 and contained photographs taken from 2000 to 2010. Elliott Erwitt wrote the foreword for the book, excerpted below:

Good photographs are tough enough to shoot. Really funny ones are even harder. Good and funny photographs observed in nature not arranged or manipulated but simply observed in real time with amazing consistency, constitute a minor miracle now presented in Mr. Semetko's book...In my book he is the essential photographer. That is, the one who sees what others could not have seen.

In 2014 Semetko was selected as one of ten photographers to be a part of Leica's 10×10 exhibition. This inaugural show celebrated Leica's 100 year anniversary at their new headquarters and museum in Wetzlar, Germany. Leica paired each photographer with their "artistic father," coupling Semetko with Erwitt.

Books Books by Semetko Unposed (teNeues, 2009) . With a foreword by Elliott Erwitt. India Unposed (Street View, 2014)

Books with contributions by Semetko 10 x 10: Dominic Nahr, Julia Baier, Evgenia Arbugaeva, Craig Semetko, Kirill Golovchenko, Amedeo M. Turello, Alec Soth, Jing Huang, Thomas Ruff, Saga Sig. Volume 1 of Leica Fotografie International. LFI Photographie, 2014. . Both Sides of Sunset—Photographing Los Angeles (Metropolis, 2015) Inspiration Leica Akademie (English and German Edition), Rheinwerk Publishing; First edition (April 6, 2020).

Exhibitions Solo exhibitions Street Photography: From Classic to Contemporary—Henri Cartier-Bresson and Craig Semetko (Open Shutter Gallery, Durango, Colorado, 2008) Craig Semetko: Street Photography (Leica Gallery, Frankfurt, 2009) Craig Semetko: Street Life (Leica Gallery, Salzburg, 2010) AMFM Festival (Cathedral City, CA, 2013) Craig Semetko—Unposed and Unseen (Leica Gallery Los Angeles, 2014) India Unposed (with Torsten Andreas Hoffmann, India on the move; Leica Gallery, Frankfurt, 2014) Unposed: India and elsewhere (Leica Gallery Singapore, 2015) India Unposed (Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, India, 2015) Funny Business (Leica GalleryNuremberg, 2017–2018) Craig Semetko: Funny Business (Street Photo Milano, 2018) Craig Semetko - For your Amusement (Leica Gallery Melbourne, 2019) Craig Semetko - For your Amusement (Leica Gallery Sydney, 2019)

Group exhibitions 10×10 (Leica Gallery Wetzlar, 2014; with Dominic Nahr, Julia Baier, Evgenia Arbugaeva, Kirill Golovchenko, Amadeo M. Turello, Alec Soth, Jing Huang, Thomas Ruff, and Saga Sig)

Videos Craig Semetko: Portrait (uberartists, 2010) How to use a Leica M Rangefinder: Craig Semetko (Leica Camera, 2014) Craig Semetko: The Photographer’s Diet (Cooperative of Photography, 2017)