Ken Marcus
Encyclopedia
Ken Marcus is an American
photographer, known for his glamour photography
with Penthouse and Playboy
magazines. For over 30 years he has produced hundreds of centerfold
s, editorials, album covers, and advertisements. His work is shown in galleries, published in books and magazines. He was an artist-in-resident at the Yosemite National Park
Museum. Marcus also lectures and conducts workshops internationally. He has an adult fetish and BDSM
site.
in Yosemite National Park
for the next 13 years as well as with Brett Weston
, Paul Cappinegro, Wyn Bullock, Imogen Cunningham
and Judy Dater
, all of whom influenced his early work.
While still in high school, Ken attended the Art Center College of Design studying fashion and advertising photography. He later attended Brooks Institute of Photography.
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 Ken shot regularly for Max Factor
, Frederick's of Hollywood
and other West Coast fashion clients. He also photographed for album covers, including the inside gatefold of George Harrison's Living in the Material World
.
magazine. 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.
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.
In the early 80s, his nude studies of Los Angeles Ballet Company dancers were first exhibited in Los Angeles.
In 1988 Ken was selected as the artist-in-residence for 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.
Throughout his career, Ken has done black and white portraits with celebrities such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
, Virginia Madsen
, and Tom Arnold
.
. 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.
TV movie "Panic at Malibu Pier". His character is a photographer shooting a glamour layout on the beach.
In the comic book series Rocketeer, Dave Stevens
portrayed Ken as the nefarious "Marco of Hollywood" with a readily identifiable caricature.
1980
1981
1992
2001
2010
About his start in glamour photography: "I really had no interest in commercial glamour. I was rather shy around women as a young man. It was a girlfriend who introduced me to the artwork of Gustav Klimt
, particularly an image he had done of two women together that struck me with unusual force. From that inspiration, I first got interested in doing nude photography with the idea of exploring relationships between people. This was coinciding with the sexual revolution that was going on at the time. As the general community around me was exploring sexuality and eroticism personally, I was interested in exploring and documenting it visually".
About the softer-focus approach to shooting nude models: "This so-called new style, which was really more like the old style of shooting erotic material back around the turn of the century, caught on like wildfire. I got really well-known for it in a big hurry. Most of the work I did at that time was of couples, two girls together or single girls in erotic situations, all portraying their sexuality as well as glamour".
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
photographer, known for his glamour photography
Glamour photography
Glamour photography is a genre of photography whereby the subjects, usually female, are portrayed in a romantic or sexually alluring way. The subjects may be fully clothed or seminude, but glamour photography stops short of deliberately arousing the viewer and being pornographic photography.Glamour...
with Penthouse and Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
magazines. For over 30 years he has produced hundreds of centerfold
Centerfold
The centerfold of a magazine refers to a gatefolded spread, usually a portrait such as a pin-up or a nude, inserted in the middle of the publication, or to the model featured in the portrait...
s, editorials, album covers, and advertisements. His work is shown in galleries, published in books and magazines. He was an artist-in-resident at the Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
Museum. Marcus also lectures and conducts workshops internationally. He has an adult fetish and BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
site.
Background and education
Ken's formal fine-art photographic training began at age 13. Ken studied with Ansel AdamsAnsel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
in Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
for the next 13 years as well as with Brett Weston
Brett Weston
Brett Weston was an American photographer and grew up in LA. He was the second son of photographer Edward Weston. Van Deren Coke, former curator of the San Francisco Museum of Art referred to Brett Weston as the "child genius of American photography." Brett began taking photographs in 1925 and...
, Paul Cappinegro, Wyn Bullock, Imogen Cunningham
Imogen Cunningham
Imogen Cunningham was an American photographer known for her photography of botanicals, nudes and industry.-Life and career:...
and Judy Dater
Judy Dater
Judy Dater is an American photographer and feminist. She is perhaps best known for her 1974 photograph, Imogen and Twinka, featuring an elderly Imogen Cunningham, one of America's first women photographers, encountering a nymph in the woods of Yosemite. The nymph is the model Twinka Thiebaud.Dater...
, all of whom influenced his early work.
While still in high school, Ken attended the Art Center College of Design studying fashion and advertising photography. He later attended Brooks Institute of Photography.
Early work
In 1965, Ken established his studio on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, where his business continues today. Ken's 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 Ken shot regularly for Max Factor
Max Factor
Max Factor & Company is a cosmetics company, founded during 1909 by Maksymilian Faktorowicz , Max Factor, a Polish-Jewish cosmetician. Max Factor & Company was a related, two-family, multi-generational international cosmetics company before its sale in 1973 for $500 million dollars...
, Frederick's of Hollywood
Frederick's of Hollywood
Frederick's of Hollywood is a well-known retailer of women's lingerie in the United States, with stores in many modern shopping malls across the USA....
and other West Coast fashion clients. He also photographed for album covers, including the inside gatefold of George Harrison's Living in the Material World
Living in the Material World
Living in the Material World is a studio album by George Harrison, released in 1973.-Background:As a follow-up to 1970's greatly received All Things Must Pass and his mammoth charity project, The Concert for Bangladesh, Living in the Material World was among the most highly anticipated releases of...
.
Glamour photography
In 1971 Marcus became the first American photographer for PenthousePenthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
magazine. 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
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
magazine. For 11 years Marcus's work was featured regularly in Playboy
Shortly thereafter, Marcus began shooting pictorials and centerfolds once again for Penthouse. New clients at this time included Jordache
Jordache
Jordache Enterprises, Inc. is a clothing company that manufactures apparel including shirts, jeans, and outerwear...
, Snap-on Tools, NAPA
National Automotive Parts Association
The National Automotive Parts Association was founded in 1925 to meet America's growing need for an auto parts distribution system. It is a retailers' cooperative that distributes parts to both corporately and independently owned auto parts stores.NAPA's parent company is Genuine Parts Company , ...
, and Muscle & Fitness
Muscle & Fitness
Muscle & Fitness is an American bodybuilding magazine founded by Joe Weider, but now published by American Media, Inc.-History:Muscle & Fitness has a more mainstream focus than its companion publication, Flex...
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 Ken was selected as the artist-in-residence for 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.
Throughout his career, Ken has done black and white portraits with celebrities such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the NBA's all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points. During his career with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season...
, Virginia Madsen
Virginia Madsen
Virginia Madsen is an American actress and documentary film producer. She came to fame during the 1980s, having appeared in several films aimed at a teenage audience...
, and Tom Arnold
Tom Arnold (actor)
Thomas Dwaine "Tom" Arnold is an American actor and comedian. He has appeared in many films, perhaps most notably True Lies . He was the host of The Best Damn Sports Show Period for four years.-Early life:...
.
Fetish photography
His self-titled website, KenMarcus.com, originally opened as a portfolio website in the mid-1990s. Soon thereafter, he opened up his members section, featuring a variety of images he had taken over the years. In addition to more conventional erotic images, Ken's site featured bondage and BDSM images from his book "California Club", published in 1996 in Japan. Eventually, his website focused on BDSM and fetish imagery, a focus that continues to this day.Monterey Pop Festival discovery
Ken Marcus was one of only two official photographers at the 1967 Monterey Pop FestivalMonterey Pop Festival
The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held June 16 to June 18, 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California...
. The images of Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
, The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, Simon & Garfunkel, Brian Jones
Brian Jones
Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones , known as Brian Jones, was an English musician and a founding member of the Rolling Stones....
of the Rolling Stones were rediscovered in 2005 during a studio remodel.
His photograph of Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
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 BaywatchBaywatch
Baywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, sans the 1990-1991 season, of which it was not in production...
TV movie "Panic at Malibu Pier". His character is a photographer shooting a glamour layout on the beach.
In the comic book series Rocketeer, Dave Stevens
Dave Stevens
Dave Stevens was an American illustrator and comics artist. He is most famous for creating The Rocketeer comic book and film character, and for his pin-up style "glamour art" illustrations, especially of model Bettie Page...
portrayed Ken as the nefarious "Marco of Hollywood" with a readily identifiable caricature.
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
Quotes
About the Monterey Pop Festival prints: "Shooting backstage at the Monterey Pop Festival was an amazing photographic experience. The film has been lost for almost 40 years. Recently, while remodeling my studio we found the box containing the negatives. We had long thought the images were lost. Here was Jimi Hendrix, onstage for the first time in America, setting fire to his guitar and blowing everyone's mind. When he went onstage, hardly anybody knew who he was. A few minutes later when he left the stage, he had established himself as a legend in rock n' roll history. This picture shows Jimi in his most decisive moment."About his start in glamour photography: "I really had no interest in commercial glamour. I was rather shy around women as a young man. It was a girlfriend who introduced me to the artwork of Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects...
, particularly an image he had done of two women together that struck me with unusual force. From that inspiration, I first got interested in doing nude photography with the idea of exploring relationships between people. This was coinciding with the sexual revolution that was going on at the time. As the general community around me was exploring sexuality and eroticism personally, I was interested in exploring and documenting it visually".
About the softer-focus approach to shooting nude models: "This so-called new style, which was really more like the old style of shooting erotic material back around the turn of the century, caught on like wildfire. I got really well-known for it in a big hurry. Most of the work I did at that time was of couples, two girls together or single girls in erotic situations, all portraying their sexuality as well as glamour".