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“Before Rolling Stone, there were only greasy haired musicians. After Rolling Stone, there were rock stars. Same people, same talent, just a different way of looking at them. I want to do for new media and technology what Rolling Stone did for the music industry.”
Wm. Marc Salsberry calls himself, “just an entrepreneur with a camera and a dream.” That dream, he explains, is to redefine the way the world sees the figureheads of Silicon Valley.
“In the Web 1.0 days, whenever a tech entrepreneur was photographed, he was in front of some servers, or holding a calculator,” Salsberry says. “I care deeply for the people in my industry and I want to present them in the best light possible so that years from now, when people look back at my images, they will have an insight into the people and events that shaped our world – an insight that they might not have gained otherwise.”
Salsberry’s goal is to document the beginnings of the Web 2.0 world – what he calls the “next mainstream” – and capture the creative streak that he sees in these entrepreneurs, which “gives them the need to start something new and take others along for the ride.”
Among his current projects, Salsberry is shooting a series of images portraying tech figures in staged crime scenes, depicting the “killing” of Web 1.0 and the disruption they’ve caused in the industry. His keen eye for detail and ability to compose dramatic, compelling images has helped him build a reputation as one of the industry’s “go-to” photographers for shooting tech parties, conferences, and other events. And it has helped get him intimate access to some of the Valley’s top figures and access to events that he, as an entrepreneur, would otherwise not be able to attend.
“I bought my camera, used, 10 months ago, and I’ve been shooting ever since,” he explains. “I can make people look good, and people like being made to look good.” He’s captured some of the industry’s most elusive celebrities, maintaining a policy of only publishing images with permission, and only publishing the images that he considers aesthetically appealing – unlike paparazzo photographers who aim to capture celebrities at their worst. You can see a montage of his 2008 images here: The Best of 2008
What’s next for the photographer/entrepreneur? He hopes to compile his images into a book – a photo montage and chronology of the evolution of Web 2.0. He is also in the process of securing venues for public showcases of his work in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and welcomes suggestions for venues and/or publishing houses.
To see more of Wm. Marc’s work, visit:
To contact Wm. Marc or speak to him about his photography or book his services, visit him on LinkedIn.
