Minkkinen emigrated to the United States in 1951. He studied with Harry Callahan at Rhode Island School of Design from 1972 to 1974. Today Professor of Art at UMass Lowell and Docent at Helsinki’s Aalto University, Minkkinen continues his self-portraits: unmanipulated images of the human figure in natural and urban scenes. Published and exhibited worldwide, major collections such as the MoMA in New York, the Centre Pompidou and Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography hold his work. Eight monographs include Waterline, the 1994 Rencontres d’Arles Book Prize. In 1992 Minkkinen received the First Class Order of the Lion Medal in Finland and was awarded the Finnish State Art Prize in Photography in 2006. Minkkinen is represented by the gallery Barry Friedman, Ltd., New York, Agathe Gaillard Gallery, Paris and Robert Klein Gallery, Boston.