All images are Gary Marlon Suson

Gary Marlon Suson

PHOTOGRAPHY BIOGRAPHY
Gary Marlon Suson is an American Photographer who is originally from the Illinois farming town of Barrington Hills, Il. He
began studying & shooting photography
on his farm as a 12-year-old boy, teaching
himself the finer details of shutter speeds
and lighting while reading every book he
could find on Ansel Adams and LIFE Magazine photographers. By age 15, he would
sneak away to the CTA train and head downtown to Chicago to
shoot candid imagery of people as well as the beautiful architecture and buildings that make up the Windy City. At 16, he formed Gary Suson
Photography and began shooting portraits for neighbors. By age 17, Suson
won the highest honor for any high school student in the USA: He won the
Kodak Medallion as part of the National Scholastics Art & Writing Awards.
Two of his award-winning images were flown to New York City and put on
display for 3 months at the World Trade Center.
After one year of college in Texas, Suson left prematurely to take a chance on
New York City. He began shooting as a test photographer for the famed Company Model Management and was schooled personally by agency founder,
frenchman Maurice Etteles. A chance encounter one day with famed artist & painter LeRoy
Neiman and wife Janet lead to Suson shooting
a portrait of Mr. Neiman, the official artist for
five Olympiads and co-founder of Playboy with
friend Hugh Hefner. The 79-year-old Neiman told
Suson that it was the finest portrait ever taken
of himself in fifty years. This experience lead Mr.
Neiman to ask Suson to shoot more portraits for
the painters coffee table books as well as the
opportunity to accompany Neiman on PR and
business events. Mr. Neiman became a mentor
and close friend to Suson, teaching him the finer
points of managing a successful art career while
Suson acted as Neimans personal photographer.
Neiman even sketched Suson photographing
him one day in Central Park.

The Boy - Kodak Medallion Winner

Displayed at World Trade Center

Artist LeRoy Neimans

Sketching of
Gary Marlon Suson
Artist/Painter
LeRoy Neiman,
New York

Through Mr. Neiman, Suson then began shooting portraits for such personalities as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, NBA star Shaquille ONeal, Blues Legend B.B.
King and more. Susons work caught the eye of PLAYBOY Fashion and Editorial director Joseph DeAcetis, who offered Suson a chance to shoot a mens
suits story which caught the eye of Christie Hefner in Chicago. This resulted
in Suson shooting editorial and fashion for PLAYBOY for three years. National
campaigns followed, including Borelli Suits of ITALY.
LeRoy Neiman, New York

All images are Gary Marlon Suson

Susons career took a sudden and jarring halt when terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11,
2001. Mr. Suson grabbed his camera and began documenting immediately. Driving around the Ground Zero site with friends in the NYPD,
Suson documented as close as possible without actually stepping foot
into the highly restricted areas. After reading a story in the Daily News
about sick 9/11 FDNY Firefighters, Suson began acting as a liaison
for some of these men exposed to toxins on 9/11, via the FDNY Fire
Union, arranging free environmental health care for them. This lead to a
chance encounter between Suson and FDNY Firefighter Rudy Sanfilippo, who was the Manhattan Trustee for New York Citys Firefighters
Union. Sanfilippo, who had survived both collapses of the Twin Towers, inquired about Susons photography and after seeing his memorial
website, SeptemberEleven.net - invited Suson to fire union headquarters to have a chat. That talk lead to Sanfilippo offering Suson one
of the most coveted photographic positions of the last century: To be
the Official Photographer at Ground Zero on behalf
of the Uniformed Firefighters Association - to be
the eyes for the masses. Initially, Sanfilippo needed the families to have a photographic record of
their loved ones remains being treated respectfully. Suson was given very strict guidelines and his
work was overseen by FDNY Chief of Department
Daniel A. Nigro. He had full, unrestricted 24/7 access to every single area of Ground Zero, including
the subways deep below WTC. Suson was asked
never to sell or release his images until permission
was granted, never to shoot human remains and
if any substantial proceeds were earned, that Suson would share his earnings with FDNY and 9/11
charities.

NBA Star Shaquille ONeal

Blues Legend
B.B. King,
New York

Gary Marlon Suson shut down his lucrative photography business in November of 2001 and took
on the position unsalaried, essentially living at
Ground Zero for 7 months, 19 hours per day, 6 days
per week. By late Spring 2002, Suson had drained
his savings on film, processing and living expenses and was forced to take
out $10,000.00 in bank loans in order to survive and complete the Ground
Zero photography project. Around that time he was offered several thousands of dollars by CBS Evening News for a rare image of firefighter Jack
Tipping carrying his firefighter son out of Ground Zero, which he declined
per his promise to Sanfilippo as well as out of respect to the Tipping family. In May of 2002, Gary Marlon Suson was informed by Rudy Sanfilippo
that he had permission to release the collection to the world media. New
York Times journalist Susan Sachs was the first to release the images via
a half page story entitled From A Camera at Ground Zero, Rare Photos
of an Agonizing Dig. CNN become the first TV News entity to release
Susons journey and images to the world. Suson taped his first story with
CNN Senior Producer Dana Garrett and also agreed to go on-air with PauThe Hands of B.B. King

All images are Gary Marlon Suson

Borelli Suits,
ITALY
International
Campaign

la Zahn during the closing ceremonies at Ground Zero. FOX

News Channel followed shortly thereafter with anchors Heather Nauert & Josh Gibson dubbing Suson the Matthew Brady
of the World Trade Center- referring to the famed Civil War
lensman who single-handedly documented the bloody battlefield scenes.
Shortly thereafter, Barnes & Noble Publishing produced Susons coffee table book, Requiem: Images of Ground Zero.
The most expensive book to produce in Barnes & Noble Books
history, Requiem was endorsed by a dozen 9/11 FDNY family
members and forwarded by highly respected FDNY Battalion
Chief Joseph W. Pfeifer, who was the first to arrive & set up
command at the World Trade Center on 9/11. In 2004, Mr. Suson was given the Fire Departments highest honor for a civilian: He was nominated by Chief Daniel A. Nigro to become an Honorary
Battalion Chief. At FDNY Headquarters in Brooklyn, Suson was appointed
by FDNY Commissioner Scoppetta to the title of FDNY Honorary Battalion Chief. Suson stopped shooting photography shortly thereafter due to
health concerns related to his 7 months spent at Ground Zero.
A 2005 trip to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam inspired Mr. Suson to
create a special little museum in NYCs Meatpacking District: Ground Zero
Museum Workshop: Image & Artifacts from the Recovery. With almost
no budget and little fanfare, the Museums unique hands-on tour of images and artifacts (loaned to him by FDNY firefighters) accompanied by
Dolby Stereo audio tours with real sound effects - began a huge word-of-mouth campaign
that continued evolving. By 2008, Ground Zero
Museum Workshop had broken into Trip Advisors Top 10 Attractions in New York list and
by 2009 made it all the way to Trip Advisors
#1 Attraction in New York, beating out every
major New York attraction. USA TODAY Travel listed GZMW on its 10BEST List in 2013
and US News & World Report ranked his 501c3
Nonprofit Museum as #2 Best Thing To See in
NYC. GZMW was recently included on Trip
Advisors Top 25 Museums in the USA list for
2014. In 2015, The Museum Workshop was included in Trip Advisors Hall of Fame for being a 5-Star rated tour for five years straight.

Rev.
Jesse Jackson,
Chicago

Keeping true on his charitable promises to the

FDNY, Suson has given away many tens of
thousands of dollars to the FDNY Widows &
Childrens Fund, including a whopping 50% and
60% of all year-end remaining cash to FDNY charity in 2009 and
2010. Mr. Sanfilippo has stated publicly that, Gary Marlon Suson
has gone well above & beyond of what I had ever expected of
him in terms of giving back to charity from the proceeds of his
Campaign Model Parker Gregory, New York

All images are Gary Marlon Suson

images. I couldnt be any happier. Mr. Suson takes zero salary at

the Museum and continues to live in New York City.

The Lady in the Forest

National
Campaign

Actress Aida Turturro, The Sopranos

Borelli Tuxedos, ITALY

International Campaign

Playboy Magazine
Fashion/Editorial

All images are Gary Marlon Suson

Marlon Suson in Subway Tunnels

Below Ground Zero, 2001
Official Photographer at
Ground Zero, FDNY

FDNY Lee Ielpi Cradles Sons Helmet 2002

All images are Gary Marlon Suson

The Last Beam at World Trade Center 2002

Oscar Prays at Sunrise 2002

All images are Gary Marlon Suson

All images are Gary Marlon Suson

First Sunday Sunset at Ground Zero 2001