McGarvey was born in Armagh, Northern Ireland.[2][3] He began his career as a still photographer, before attending film school at the University of Westminster in London.[citation needed]
Career
Upon graduating in 1988, he began shooting short films and documentaries, including ''Skin'', directed by Vincent O'Connell, which was nominated for a Royal Television Society Cinematography Award, and Atlantic, directed by Sam Taylor-Wood. The latter project, an experimental, three-screen projected film created in 1997, earned Taylor-Wood a nomination for the 1998 Turner Prize and led to an ongoing collaboration between McGarvey and the director.
His documentary work includes Lost Angels: Skid Row Is My Home, which followed his work on Wright's The Soloist, and filmed in the same locales; Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction; Rolling Stones: Tip of the Tongue; and The Name of This Film Is Dogme95.
In 2015, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Dundee University and an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Ulster. He is an Honorary Fellow of Edinburgh College of Art. He is featured in the book In Conversation with Cinematographers by David A. Ellis and in the book Ballinger, Alexander; New Cinematographers (2004) ISBN978-1-85669-334-9.
