Joel-Peter Witkin (American, b.1939) is a photographer whose work deals with outsider subjects not widely covered by other photographers. His photography career began without any official study; he worked as a war photographer during the Vietnam War between 1961 and 1964. After Vietnam, Witkin continued his career as a freelance photographer, becoming the official photographer of City Walls Inc. Later study in sculpture at Columbia University earned him a BFA in 1974. He also earned a MFA from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque in 1986.