Born and raised in Spanish Harlem in New York City, Benedict J. Fernandez (1936- ) created his first major work photographing shipyard workers while working at Bethlehem Steel in Hoboken, New Jersey. In the early 1960s Fernandez enrolled in Alexey Brodovitch's Design Laboratory and turned to photography full time. Brodovitch, a well-known art director and graphic designer, became Fernandez's mentor and champion, hiring him to work as darkroom technician at Parsons School of Design. By the late 1960s Fernandez was running his own workshops at Parsons and teaching night classes at The New School. During this period, as he gained increasing prominence as a documentary photographer of the anti-war and civil rights protest movements, Fernandez also led the Photo Film Workshop, offering free classes to inner city youths.

After Parsons merged with The New School in 1970, Fernandez led the Photography program. In 1980, he created the school's first four-year undergraduate Photography major and served as chair from 1981-1994. Fernandez brought renowned photographers to join the faculty and to guest lecture in the department, including Lisette Model, Diane Arbus, Philippe Halsman, Arnold Newman, and George Tice, among others. Fernandez also founded the Focus program, which grew into a series of international workshops and exchange programs; and founded the Leica Medal of Excellence photography award.

Fernandez has received a host of awards and honors, and his work is held in permanent collections in many museums, including the Smithsonian, the National Portrait Gallery, the Corcoran Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the King Center, the University of Tokyo, and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris.

Fernandez's photographs of Martin Luther King, Jr., taken in the last year of King's life, were first produced by Eastman Kodak in a limited edition of 50 numbered portfolios consisting of 12 black and white prints, Countdown to Eternity: Photographs of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960's. A popular exhibition of the same title consisting of 80 black and white prints by Fernandez continues to travel around the United States and internationally.