In 1962, inspired by seeing Robert Frank at work, Meyerowitz quit his job as an art director at an advertising agency[4][5][6] and took to the streets of New York City with a 35 mm camera and color film.

[8]: 167–169  Meyerowitz also switched at this time to large format,[8]: 182  often using an 8×10 camera to produce photographs of places and people.

[10] This resulted in the book Aftermath: World Trade Center Archive (2006),[11] which Parr and Badger include in the third volume of their photobook history.

[12] On January 18, 2017 Meyerowitz was honored for his lifelong work with a place at the Leica Hall of Fame and was described as a "magician using colour" and being able to "both capture and framing the decisive moment".

[13] Meyerowitz was born in the Bronx, to working class Jewish immigrant parents from Hungary and Russia.