The inheritor of a legacy of American photographers that have documented the history of the country's great expansion, Misrach makes work that captures nature's ability to preserve itself in the face of even the most invasive human encroachments. The topics of his works include Cancer Alley, an industrial corridor along the Mississippi River and the graffiti produced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The subject of dozens of monographs and the recipient of four National Endowment for the Arts grants and a Guggenheim Fellowship, Misrach was honored in 2002 with the Kulturpreis for Lifetime Achievement in Photography by the German Society for Photography.