Ken Marcus (born October 2, 1946) is an American Photographer, best known for his glamour photography with Penthouse and Playboy magazines. For over 40 years he has produced hundreds of centerfolds, editorials, album covers, and advertisements. His work is shown in galleries, published in books and magazines. He was chosen as Artist-In-Residence at the Yosemite National Park Museum. For many years, Marcus has lectured and produced professional workshops in the US and Internationally.

Ken Marcus
Ken Marcus with Heather Vandeven at AVN Awards Show
Born	(1946-10-02) October 2, 1946 (age 76) Hollywood, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	Art Center College of Design, Brooks Institute of Photography, Ansel Adams
Known for	Photography

Early life and education

Marcus's formal fine-art photographic training began at age 12. He studied with Ansel Adams in Yosemite National Park for 13 years[1] as well as with Brett Weston, Paul Caponigro, Wyn Bullock, Imogen Cunningham and Judy Dater, all of whom influenced his early work.

Ken Marcus attended the Art Center College of Design studying fashion and advertising photography. He later attended Brooks Institute of Photography. At age 18, he opened his studio in Hollywood CA on Melrose Avenue where he continued to work for the next 53 years.

Career

In 1965, Marcus established his studio on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. His earliest commercial work consisted of product shots, catalogs, corporate and editorial assignments.

Throughout his 20s, Ken's commercial assignments included product and fashion catalogs, architectural interiors, food illustration, magazine editorials and advertising photography. Within five years of opening his studio, his work received national publicity and several Art Directors Club awards.

By the early '70s Marcus shot regularly for Max Factor, Frederick's of Hollywood and other West Coast fashion clients. He also photographed famous musicians for album covers and posters, including the inside gatefold of George Harrison's Living in the Material World.[2]

Glamour photography

In 1971 Marcus became the first American photographer for Penthouse magazine.[3] His early pictorials involved couples and models photographed through heavy, soft focus diffusion. This technique, while popular during the early part of the 20th century, had not been used in publication since the early 1920s. Marcus crafted his own homemade diffusion filters because, at that time, there were none available on the commercial market.

In 1974, Marcus left Penthouse to become the West Coast Contributing Photographer at Playboy magazine. For 11 years Marcus's work was featured regularly in Playboy's 15 international editions, and for eight of those years Marcus exclusively photographed the Playboy Calendar. Between 1974 and 1985 he produced 41 Playmate layouts, over 100 calendars, covers and editorials and twice received Playboy's 'Photographer of the Year Award'.

Shortly thereafter, Marcus began shooting pictorials and centerfolds once again for Penthouse. New clients at this time included Jordache, Snap-on Tools, NAPA, and Muscle & Fitness magazine.

Seminars, workshops, and videos

For over 25 years, Ken was a regularly featured speaker at national photo conventions and expos. His lectures, seminars and intensive study workshops were sponsored by corporations including Kodak, Hasselblad, Dynalite and Canon, and professional photographers' organizations. Ken has appeared in Australia, Canada, Mexico, Singapore and in most of the United States.

In addition to his personal appearances, he produced an award-winning three volume video series The Ken Marcus Glamour Workshops. These videos explain professional production techniques for studio and location glamour photography.

Fine-art photography

Originally interested only in landscape fine-art photography, Ken began taking serious interest in nude photography as art during the time that he was working with Playboy.

In the early 80s, his nude studies of Los Angeles Ballet Company dancers were first exhibited in Los Angeles.

In 1988 Marcus was selected as the Artist-In-Residence at the Yosemite National Park Museum. His images of nude models in nature were originally banned by park officials, but are now shown as part of the museum's permanent collection.[1]

Throughout his career, Marcus has done black and white portraits of celebrities such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Virginia Madsen, Fabio, Vincent Price, Pam Anderson, and Tom Arnold.[4]

Monterey Pop Festival discovery

Marcus was one of only two official photographers at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. The images of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, Simon & Garfunkel, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones were rediscovered in 2005 during a studio remodel.

His photograph of Jimi Hendrix is featured on the Jimi Hendrix album, The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live at Monterey, released on October 16, 2007.

Appearances and pop culture references

Ken Marcus appeared in the opening scenes of the very first Baywatch TV movie "Panic at Malibu Pier". His character is a photographer shooting a glamour layout that featured nudity on the beach.[5]

In the comic book series Rocketeer, comic artist Dave Stevens portrayed Ken as the nefarious "Marco of Hollywood" with a readily identifiable caricature.[6]

Books

• Contemporary American Erotic Photography: Volume 1 (1984) (Contributing Photographer)
• California Club (1996)
• Two Faces (1996)
• Two Knotty Boys: Back on the Ropes (2009)

Awards

• 1973 "Award of Distinctive Merit" at the Art Directors Club Annual Awards
• 1980 "Editorial Award for Photography" by Playboy Magazine
• 1981 "Editorial Award for Photography" by Playboy Magazine
• 1992 "Best Photography - Studio" at the Academy of Bodybuilding and Fitness Awards
• 2001 "Publisher's Choice Award" by Adult Stars Magazine
• 2010 "Best Bondage Photographer" by The Bondage Awards

References

External links

• Ken Marcus' erotica site
• Ken Marcus Gallery.com, print sale site
• Ken Marcus' old 1996 portfolio site
• List of Ken Marcus' Clients

На других языках

[ru] Маркус, Кен