Biography

Martha Casanave is a California photographer, writer, and educator. She graduated with a degree in Russian Language and Literature and began her career as a translator in Washington, DC. However, Casanave had engaged in photography from early childhood and returning to California, quickly resumed her beloved camerawork. She also began teaching photography while continuing to pursue her own personal image-making. She has been exhibiting and working as a photographer and educator for over 30 years. Every year between 1984 and 1995, Casanave used her extensive knowledge of Russian language and culture to take American photographers to the Soviet Union/ Russia, and made several journeys to pursue personal photographic projects. She received a grant from the Polaroid Corporation to make pinhole photographs of Leningrad in winter. In 1979 she won the Imogen Cunningham Photography Award, and in 1989 was a recipient of the Koret Israel Prize. Her first book, Past Lives, Photographs by Martha Casanave, was published by Godine in 1991. Beware of Dog, was released by the Center for Photographic Art in 2002 and Explorations Along an Imaginary Coastline, was published by Hudson Hills Press in 2006. Trajectories: A Half Century of Portraits (Image Continuum Press) was released in 2013. Casanave's photographs are included in many major collections, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Stanford Museum, the Bibliotheque Nationale, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Graham Nash private collection. Casanave teaches photographic workshops and masterclasses nationally and internationally.