Kurt Markus was born and raised in Montana and began his career photographing the landscapes and cowboy life of the west. He has continued to feature his trademark "unslick" sense of realism in his fashion, travel, and magazine portrait assignments for more than 30 years.
His work has been exhibited and published both nationally and internationally, and has appeared in a wide variety of magazines, including Vanity Fair, Esquire, GQ, Conde Nast Traveler, The New York Times Magazine, Flair, Elle, Travel and Leisure, Interview, Harper's Bazaar, and the French, British, and Australian editions of VOGUE.
Markus has photographed advertising campaigns for Calvin Klein, Sony, Giorgio Armani, Nike, Levi's, BMW, and most notably for Yohji Yamamato using the residents of the deep South as his subjects. Recently, he has worked on "Into The West", a television series produced by Steven Spielberg, and has photographed the CD artwork for artists such as Jewel and Tori Amos.
His publishing company, Wild Horse Island Press, has published award-winning books such as "Dune" and "Cowpuncher". "Boxing", published by Twelve Trees Press, is also currently in circulation. Previous books include "After Barbed Wire" and "Buckaroo", and he most recently filmed a documentary on musician John Mellencamp.
Kurt Markus lives and works in New Mexico.