Rowland Scherman

Rowland Scherman was the first photographer for the Peace Corps in 1961, documenting the work of volunteers all over the world. His photographs helped define the image of the agency we know today.

Scherman became a freelance photographer in 1963. His photographs appeared in Life, Look, National Geographic, Time, Paris Match, and Playboy among others. He photographed many of the iconic musical, cultural, and political events of the 1960s including the 1963 Newport Folk Festival, the March on Washington, D.C., the Beatles first U.S. concert, and Woodstock. He traveled with Robert “Bobby” F. Kennedy on his campaign for the presidency, went on tour with singer Judy Collins, and was in the studio when the folk-rock group Crosby, Stills & Nash recorded their first album. In 1968, he won a Grammy Award for the cover photo of Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits.

Scherman has continued to shoot portraits, fashion photography, and photo essays including Elvis is Everywhere, Love Letters (a freestanding human typeface), and US 11 documenting life along the Alabama highway. He currently lives in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and is still actively engaged in photography.