The first Black photographer admitted into the International Photographers and Motion Picture Union, Local 600, in 1969. Cowans was the on-set photographer for landmark films including Claudine, On Golden Pond, The Way We Were, Eyes of Laura Mars, Cotton Comes to Harlem, Boomerang, Juice and countless others. A fine arts photographer and abstract painter, with a myriad of mediums over his artistic career. Renowned in the world of photography and fine art, his works have been shown by The National Museum of African American History & Culture, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, International Museum of Photography, Museum of Modern Art, The Studio Museum of Harlem, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Harvard Fine Art Museum, Detroit Art Institute, James E. Lewis Museum and numerous other art institutions.