DAVE MARTIN

A San Francisco Legend

When Dave Martin opened his Sacramento Street studio in San Francisco in 1952, he became the city’s first photographer to specialize in male nude physique studies. A native of Pennsylvania, he had lived on the East Coast and was educated there. In the 1940s he knew and was inspired by the camera artistry of the great Lon Hanagan of New York. Lon was acknowledged to be the top professional of men’s art in the country.

Determined to create his own portfolio of clean-cut masculine young men, Dave taught himself photography without instruction or professional training. A high energy person, he worked tirelessly and without assistants, posing models, processing film and doing his own darkroom printing. From the beginning he preferred black & white which he felt was “a more challenging and difficult medium than color.”

He started with a 4x5 Super D Graflex, a camera made famous in the 1920s, then later switched to a 4x5 Crown Graphic with electronic flash. Most sessions were 60 shots made on Super Pan Press film, some of which utilized filters for dramatic effect. He controlled his photographic process every step of the way. Dave quickly became known for his darkroom proficiency and the very high quality prints he produced.

Dave Martin photographed all-American young men indoors and out, and was the first to use San Francisco’s landmark Golden Gate Bridge, in the 50s as a backdrop for his nudes. While some of Dave’s models were young bodybuilders, many were college athletes, men in military service and others came from law enforcement. His productive period covers the years 1952-1974.

His physique pictures were published in men’s muscle magazines of the period. They appeared in Strength & Health, Tomorrow’s Man, Vim, Body Beautiful, and others. Dave’s photographs haven’t been available for the past 20 years until the publication of this collection.

Here is a retrospective of athletes from the 1950s, the 1960s, and 1970s. This anthology of male studies is a historical record of the way men looked during those years. These archives have been preserved until now. His keen eye and exacting standards are still evident in the prints he produces today. Dave says, “Quality is my trade-mark.” Dave Martin still lives in San Francisco, beside Golden Gate Park.