Jim Marshall (Amelia Davis)

Moderated by Amelia Davis, who managed Jim Marshall's archive for 13 years and inherited his estate, this panel traces the history of music photography from the golden era of rock to today, exploring how the business has shifted and what it takes to sustain a career documenting music culture. A candid look at the realities of building a sustainable career in music photography: when to charge, when not to, how to protect your work, and how to stay in the rooms that matter.

A conversation on the preservation and study of photographic archives, the fine art print side of the industry, and the responsibility photographers have in preserving their own bodies of work. Bringing together practical, academic, and digital preservation perspectives, the panel covers how historical collections inform contemporary visual storytelling, how photographers choose labs, papers, and formats, and how print sales factor into a sustainable photography business.

Jim Marshall (1936–2010) was arguably the most important music photographer of the 20th century and was the only photographer granted unlimited backstage access to the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, Woodstock, and Altamont. His archive spans three decades of American culture at its most turbulent and electric. He shot the Beatles' final concert at Candlestick Park in 1966, documented the Rolling Stones' first American tour, and made what became one of the most reproduced photographs in music history: Johnny Cash flipping the finger at Folsom Prison. His civil rights work from the early 1960s, embedding with marchers, documenting the March on Washington, and photographing SNCC volunteers, reflected a moral seriousness that ran beneath all of his work. Marshall was famously protective of his (more than a million) negatives, storing everything meticulously and retaining his own rights throughout his career. This retrospective spans three decades of American music and culture at its most defining moments.