Jerry Takigawa received a BA in art with an emphasis in painting from San Francisco State in 1967. He studied photography under Don Worth and used the medium primarily as a tool to do photo-real paintings and drawings.

In 1969 he made a transition from being a painter to working exclusively with the camera. His early photography focused on sociological and ecological documentary. In 1971 he moved from the San Francisco Bay area to the Monterey Peninsula and began working with color photography. By 1977, his photography made a break from traditional approaches. In 1982 Jerry was the first photographer to be awarded the Imogen Cunningham Award for color photography. His work is in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the University of Louisville, the Library of Congress, and the Monterey Museum of Art.

Jerry is represented by The Weston Gallery in Carmel, CA and J.Howell Fine Art in Healdsburg, CA. Presently, Jerry is owner and creative director of Takigawa Design, a full-service design & branding agency in Monterey, California.

His photographs can be seen at www.takigawaphoto.com