#10 Marilyn Stafford - PHOTO TALK - WTF-STOP PODCAST

The late Marilyn Stafford was given a Rolleiflex camera by a friend in New York in 1947, which first piqued her interest in photography, and to support herself in between acting roles, she found work assisting US fashion photographer Francesco Scavullo.

Her photographic career was formally launched in autumn 1948 when she took her first portrait of Albert Einstein for friends who were making a documentary film about him. She was given a 35mm SLR camera for the first time and a quick lesson in how to use it in the back of the car on the way to his house in New Jersey.

in 1948, Marilyn joined a friend on a visit to Paris where she became friends with the war photographer and Magnum co-founder, Robert Capa.

On a ferry crossing to England in 1949, Marilyn met Mulk Raj Anand. She had been tasked by an American friend to buy some books in London and by an incredible twist of fate, the writer of those books was sat beside her on the ferry. Anand became Stafford’s life-long friend and introduced her to Henri Cartier-Bresson, who was to become her photography mentor back in Paris. It was Cartier-Bresson who encouraged her to take street photographs and following his advice, she took a bus to the end of the line where she photographed children in the working-class neighbourhoods of Cité Lesage-Bullourde near Place de la Bastille.

In 1951 Marilyn spent a short period assisting US fashion photographer, Gene Fenn, in his Paris studio and then worked for a PR agency as a fashion photographer herself, an avenue of photography that was more welcoming to women. Fashion photography of haute couture clothing at that time was normally modeled in opulent surroundings but Stafford typically took a documentary approach, preferring to photograph the models on her beloved streets of Paris.
In 1958, whilst 6 months pregnant, Marilyn went on a personal mission to Tunisia to document the plight of Algerian refugees fleeing France’s aerial bombardment in the Algerian War of Independence.
 
In 1959 Marilyn photographed Italian writers Carlo Levi , Italo Calvino, and Alberto Moravio.
In 1960 Marilyn traveled extensively in Lebanon, photographing people and places, later published in her book Silent Stories: A Photographic Journey Through Lebanon in the 60s (Saqi, London, 1998).

In the mid-1960s she moved to London as a single mother and found regular work with The Observer, Vogue, Women’s Wear Daily, and The Herald Tribune on both commissions and self-assigned projects and it was during this period that she photographed many celebrities of the day including, Donovan, Twiggy, Margot Fonteyn, and Rudolf Nureyev.

Marilyn was one of few women photographers working for national and international newspapers and magazines at the time and was also one of very few women on the camera / stills Executive Committee of ACTT / BECTU. This gave her an insight into the difficulty of balancing a career in photography with single motherhood, which many years later led her to set up the Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award to support women photographers globally.

In 1972 Marilyn spent a month photographing Indira Gandhi, India’s only woman Prime Minister at home and on her duties following the war with Pakistan, which created the new state of Bangladesh.

A selection of Marilyn's work is included in the archives of the University of Texas, USA.
In 2017, Marilyn set up the Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award for women photographers, supported by Nikon UK, and in association with arts social enterprise FotoDocument
In February 2019, Marilyn received an Award for Exceptional Achievement in Photography from UK publication, Amateur Photographer.

In March 2020, Marilyn received the Chairman’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the UK Picture Editors’ Guild Awards in London.

Sadly Marilyn Passed away on the 2nd January 2023 at the age of 97 years. RIP Mariyn.

Marilyn Stafford
Web: https://www.marilynstaffordphotograph...
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marilynstaf...
Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award: https://fotodocument.org/fotoaward/

Books:
A Life in Photography https://bluecoatpress.co.uk/product/m...
Stories in Pictures: A Photographic Memoir 1950
Silent Stories: A Photographic Journey Through Lebanon in the Sixties https://www.marilynstaffordphotograph...

Bluecoat Press https://bluecoatpress.co.uk/

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