Sean Hemmerle was born in 1966 in Tempe, Arizona, USA. After serving in the U.S. Army (1984-1988), he attended the University of Miami and earned an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1997. He quickly established his reputation as a sought-after architectural and urban landscape photographer, and since 9/11 has turned his eye toward documenting the effects of war in New York, Afghanistan and Iraq. A regular contributor to Time, New York, and Metropolis magazines, he has been affiliated with Contact Press Images since 2001. He is based in New York City.