In 1939, at the age of ten, Erwitt's family, of French origin, emigrated to the United States. Erwitt studied photography and filmmaking at the Los Angeles City College and the New School for Social Research, finishing his education in 1950.

Born in Paris of Jewish-Russian immigrant parents, Erwitt served as a photographer's assistant in the 1950's in the United States Army while stationed in France and Germany. Erwitt was influenced by his meeting the famous photographers, Edward Steichen, Robert Capa and Roy Stryker. Stryker, the former Director of the Farm Security Administration's photography department, hired Erwitt to work on a photography project for the Standard Oil Company. Erwitt then began a freelance photographer career and produced work for Collier's, Look, Life and Holiday magazines.Joining the Magnum Photos agency in 1953 allowed Erwitt to shoot photography projects around the world.

Since the 1970s, he has devoted much of his energy toward movies. His feature films, television commercials, and documentary films include "Arthur Penn: the Director" (1970), Beauty Knows No Pain (1971), Red, White and Bluegrass (1973) and the prize-winning Glassmakers of Herat, Afghanistan (1977). He was, as well, credited as Camera Operator for "Gimme Shelter" (1970), Still Photographer for "Bob Dylan: No Direction Home" (2005), and provided Addition Photography for "Get Yer Ya Ya's Out (2009).[1]