Jeff Mermelstein was born in 1957 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and studied at Rutgers College and the International Center of Photography. His career combines personal photographs with assignments for publications such as LIFE, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Magazine. In the tradition of other photographers such as Helen Levitt, he has photographed street life in New York City extensively as well as September 11th and its aftermath.
His works are held by institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago; the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House; and the New York Public Library. He has received the Aaron Siskind Foundation Individual Photographer’s Fellowship and the European Publishers Award for Photography. Mermelstein has taught at the International Center of Photography since 1988.