Artist Statement
The news stories and famous faces that I photographed number in the thousands. I had a front row seat on life itself. I covered the great and near great, and the homeless eating out of dumpsters. I filmed kings and queens, presidents, and princes of the church. I recorded militants and pacifists, and great revelations in medicine. My camera and I were witness to the wise counsel of the experts of our time. I had a great passion for covering television news during the journalistically exciting period of the 50’s through the 80’s, a time that produced a constant flood of headline stories. You never knew what the next phone call would bring.

However, artists, sculptors, photographers, and other creators of art, can hold their work in their hands or stand back and behold it with their eyes. That’s not the case for a photojournalist or producer of television news. Our work is so fleeting. Unless it is a story of a very unusual news event that gets played over and over, once the film or tape runs on the news—it’s gone forever. Great effort and creativity vanishes, for the most part never to be seen again—only remembered. Knowing this motivated me, if possible, to try and capture the essence of the moment with my still camera.

Although miles and miles of film and videotape have traveled through my motion picture cameras recording the great and the extraordinary, I have actually gained a deeper sense of satisfaction of my life’s work through the still camera. If I was fortunate enough to have the time or presence of mind while filming for television to also make an image or two with my Leica or Nikon, either a portrait, landscape, or some other related image, I could eventually make a memorable print, hang it on the wall and say, “I did that—I was there!” – DM

Bio
David Marlin’s career in broadcast television spanned 4 decades filming the faces and events of our time.  As a photojournalist for both television and print, he has won dozens of awards, principally for CBS News and 60 Minutes.

David learned his photographic skills in Boston’s old black and white studios of the 40’s and 50’s and as a Signal Corps photographer during the Korean War. Television news and documentaries influenced his style, and for years he was considered New England’s top network cameraman.

Covering television news also gave David many opportunities to use his skills as a still photographer. He made hundreds of portraits of newsmakers and well-known personalities while on network assignments. Five of Marlin’s portraits have recently been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.

In addition to traveling throughout New England to photograph many of the nature studies seen on the network’s “Sunday Morning” program, some of the most memorable stories that Marlin filmed include the Andrea Doria lying on it’s side before it sank in the Atlantic, presidential candidate Edmund Muskie weeping in the New Hampshire snow, President John F. Kennedy at the Summer White House in Hyannisport, and Ted Williams hitting a memorable home run in his final at bat for the Red Sox.

David Marlin’s filming career has been wide-ranging, starting at the end of the newsreel era and continuing through the production of images on videotape and computers. As a film editor, lighting director, and wire service photographer, his work has been used to communicate and inform. As a Director of Photography he has filmed, produced, and directed corporate, educational, and documentary programs for a blue-chip client list including the Harvard Business School, Polaroid, Charrette, Cross Country Group, Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Alfred P. Sloane Foundation.