Dave Sussman was the owner of Marci Studio, a commercial photography studio in midtown Manhattan, New York City, when I met him in 1959.

I knew almost nothing about photography in general, and absolutely nothing about commercial photography. But he hired me anyway.

The office job I had, my first in New York, was a dismal experience and I willingly took a pay cut to work for Dave. I became the darkroom man, assistant and gofer.

As a commercial photographer Dave would photograph Still Life, (product shots),  Architecture, Fashion, Portraits, even a wedding. In short, whatever came in the door. He was an all around photographer. After WWII service he went to photography school on the west coast and there met Edward Weston.

He was a patient and kind teacher for me. I got to be a pretty good printer for him and his work.

He allowed and even encouraged photographic exploration. I would try different films and developers in a variety of combinations and could use the darkroom and studio after hours and on weekends.

It was a time of exploring the photographic world. Shooting available light in Jazz clubs with my Nikon rangefinder. Pushing the film to its limits to get a result in very dim light. Shooting 4×5 outdoors and striving for fine grain and a lot of detail.

Dave tolerated my friends stopping by and hanging out. 

As Dave remembers I started working for him in 1959 and stayed until 1968. I then traveled to Mexico and California taking pictures with my Exactas 35mm and Rollie 2 ¼ square.

He was a great teacher for me. 

He was a great commercial photographer who could do anything but make a good living. Sometimes I would have two or even three pay checks that I couldnt cash until there was money in his bank.

Years later as he was cleaning up his house to move out he gave me a lot of photographic equipment. He told me he could never pay me what I was worth and wanted me to take what I could use.

Some time later I got to look at his personal work and I saw that he had a big influence on my idea of what a good picture was.

We started out he was my teacher. After a couple of decades, we became peers. And friends.