Biography

A son of a diplomat, Bud Lee began looking at the world as an outsider at an early age. By adulthood, he was capturing what he saw through a camera lens.

Lee received a classical education from the Columbia School of Fine Arts and the National Academy of Fine Arts in Manhattan, but had no interest in being a studio photographer. He wanted to get closer and capture his subjects in natural settings.

His first professional work was for the U.S. Army, where he worked at the Stars & Stripes in 1965 and 1966. Military cohorts say Lee's work was legendary. The Department of Defense and the National Press Photographers Association named him U.S. Military Photographer of the Year in1966.

After leaving the military, Lee hit the streets for Life Magazine and captured raw and chilling photographs of the first legally aborted fetus and the Newark, N.J. riots. In the later, Lee photographed looter Billy Furr shortly before Furr was shot and killed by police. He also captured the image of a bleeding child, who had inadvertently been hit by a policeman's bullet. The historic images made the cover of Life Magazine. That year, 1967, Lee was awarded Life Magazine Photographer of the Year.

For the next seven years Lee's life was a whirlwind of shutter clicks around the globe. He freelanced for Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, Town & Country, Rolling Stone, the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Vogue Mother Jones, Ms. Magazine, London Records, Columbia Records and numerous other publications. He also spent a year in London working for the Sunday magazines of the London Times and the World Telegraph. Some of his best-known images from this period were shot for Esquire, including his portraits of 12 famous film directors and "Evil in California," a 16-page spread on the aftermath of the Charles Manson murders. (True to his resolve to capture the mood of his subjects, Lee dropped acid during the "Evil in California" project. Police had to coax him loose from a telephone poll after he falsely reported an emergency. See story.)

In 1972, Lee founded the Iowa Photographers' Workshop and headed the photography department at the University of Iowa Journalism School. After a divorce and a long illness, in 1975 Lee turned his attention to teaching art and filmmaking. He received a National Endowment for the Arts grant and began the Artist-Filmmaker-in-the-Schools program in Tampa, Fla. While there he met his second wife and started a family.

During this period, Lee helped establish a vibrant arts scene in Southwest Florida; he founded the Artist and Writers Trust and the Florida Photographer's Workshop and co-founded the annual Artists and Writers Ball in Tampa. He also explored the side roads of Florida and built a slide catalog that captures a Sunshine State that few see.

After teaching for 13 years, Lee returned to freelance photography full-time around 1990. His photographs of Florida's major cities appear in a series of books. His imagery appears in a variety of galleries, public buildings and the Smithsonian Institute. He also takes assignments from local, national and international newspapers and magazines.

While his earlier work has a satirical feel, Lee's recent work focuses more on the beauty of his subject, whether it is a person, place or thing. However, the natural, raw feel of his imagery is constant - the wrinkled hand of a Florida farm worker, children dancing in a swirl of color, a tourist attraction's mermaid sunning amidst the shells.

In addition to freelancing, Lee continues to teach part-time in the "Artist in the Schools" program and is a popular lecturer on college campuses throughout the nation. His presentation includes a slide show and the unusual stories behind his celebrated photographs.