Beth Dow grew up in Minneapolis, where her earliest memories of photography involved her photographer father's experimental color work. After college she moved to London, where she developed her eye for unu sual landscapes and the various ways we interact with our environment. During her years in London she began looking at our experiences in the city, and her work has gradually evolved toward the marginal areas of rural fields. Dow's interest in fine printmaking and the art/craft dynamic of photography is evident in her work. Her current process spans the three centuries of photographic practice, beginning with rollfilm and a hand-held medium-format camera, and then using 21st century digital technology to make contact negatives necessary for her final Victorian platinum-palladium printing.

She has received several awards, including a $25,000 fellowship from the McKnight Foundation and an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Minnesota State Arts Board. Dow's photographs have been exhibited internationally, including America, Britain, Japan, and China. She lives in Minneapolis with her photographer husband Keith Taylor and two kids.