Keith Carter is an American photographer, educator, and artist best known for his photographs of people, animals, and everyday objects. Born on June 3, 1948, in Madison, Wisconsin, he moved to Beaumont, Texas, at age three after his family relocated there. His mother worked as a professional children's photographer, an early influence on his interest in photography. Carter earned a degree in business administration from Lamar University and began pursuing photography professionally in 1970.

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A month-long study trip to the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1973 helped shape his artistic direction. Influenced by photographer Walker Evans and Southern writers such as Harper Lee, William Faulkner, and Eudora Welty, Carter focused much of his work on the people, landscapes, folklore, and culture of East Texas. His photographs often drew inspiration from regional stories, childhood memories, and Southern traditions.

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Over his career, Carter's work was featured in more than one hundred solo exhibitions across thirteen countries. He published fourteen major photography books, including From Uncertain to Blue, The Blue Man, Mojo, Heaven of Animals, Holding Venus, Ezekiel’s Horse, and Keith Carter – Fifty Years. In addition to his books, he produced photographs for albums, book covers, and created more than 6,000 portraits of children.

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Carter spent much of his professional life teaching at Lamar University, where he became a Regents Professor and held the Walles Chair of Visual and Performing Arts. He received the university’s Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award and University Professor Award and conducted photography workshops throughout the United States, Latin America, and Europe.

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His photographs are included in major collections such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the collection of President and Mrs. Barack Obama. In 1991, he received the Lange-Taylor Prize from Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies.