James Jowers (1939–2009) was an American street photographer.^[1] Jowers began receiving training in photography and darkroom techniques while serving in the United States Army. While working the night shift as a porter at St. Luke's Hospital, he would spend his free time during the day roaming the streets of his Lower East Side neighborhood and the rest of Manhattan, capturing a gritty, funny, and idiosyncratic view of the city.^[2]

Jowers' photographs were included as illustrations for articles in The New York Times and Forbes in the 1970s.^[1] In 2007 and 2008, George Eastman Museum acquired the photographs and negatives he made between 1964 and 1980.^[1]

Publications with contributions by Jowers

• Whitten, Whitten and W. Lance Bennett. The Study of Society. Guilford, CT: Dushkin Publishing Group, 1973.
• Wilkins, Ronald J. Man and Woman. Dubuque, Iowa: William C. Brown, 1975.
• Stark, Rodney. Social Problems. New York: Random House, 1975.
• Photography Annual 1975. New York: Ziff Davis, 1974.
• Meyers, Richard and David Giannini, ed. Genesis: Grasp. Vol. 1, No. 1. New York, Genesis: Grasp Press, 1968.
• Lindgren, Henry Clay. An Introduction to Social Psychology. New York: Wiley, 1973.
• Goldenberg, Herbert. Abnormal Psychology: A Social/Community Approach. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co, 1977.

Collection

Jowers' work is held in the following permanent public collection:

• George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York^[3]

Group exhibitions

• What We're Collecting Now: The Family Photographed, September 5, 2009 – July 18, 2010, George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York^{[4][better source needed]}
• The Gender Show, June 15, 2013 – January 10, 2016, George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York;^[5] then toured. Photographs by Jowers, Robert Frank, Mary Ellen Mark, Julia Margaret Cameron, Edward Steichen, Lejaren à Hiller, Nickolas Muray, Mark Goodman, Vincent Cianni, and Elias Goldensky.