Arnold Abner Newman was a famed environmental photographer who took the pictures of well known people in their natural environment, it was said he "captured their professions and personalities in a single frame".

Newman was born on March 3, 1918 in Manhattan and grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey and later moved to Miami Beach, Florida. He passed away on June 6, 2006 due to a heart attack.

Newman uses the subjects natural environment instead of shifting objects around to form a simple and less distractive environment, with this unique technique, Newman captures the natural personality of the subject.

"I didn't just want to make a photograph with some things in the background"(Newman told American Photo magazine in an interview).

In 1938, Newman began working at Chain Portrait studios in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and West Palm Beach. He later began working for magazine companies.

Some of Newman's Awards were the 1985 Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism, 1999 Infinity Award for Master of Photography, 2004 Lucie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Portrait Photography, 2004 The Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship(HonFRPS).

Arnold Newman used a simple film camera and later bought himself a basic 4x5 view camera used on a tripod. When Arnold was starting off in photography, he borrowed a camera from his uncle; a 1920 Contessa with a fixed lens.

Newman preferred to use natural light, and often does but will resort to other sources if necessary.

Newman started off in painting, even during the depression, his parents still found a way for Newman's art lessons. He then got a scholarship at the University of Miami and was even greatly influenced by the teachers who told him about the history of art.

Some more of Newman's Photographs: