But what some saw as failure, Marshall pictured as only a first step. Marshall’s early assignments included news, sports and feature photography. His work progressed quickly, and soon Marshall appeared in many publications—both local and high-profile. A sought-after commodity in the Los Angeles photographic community, Marshall did editorial spreads for a wide variety of publications. Later, his interest in aerial photography and sports combined to make him one of the earliest photo-documentarians of aerial extreme sports.

Marshall documented construction of the world’s tallest roller coaster—Superman in Six Flags Magic Mountain—from groundbreaking to its first ride.)

Marshall’s work has been published in many national magazines and newspapers, including the Smithsonian, New York Times, Maxim, Runner’s World, Men’s Fitness and Muscle and Fitness. He has been engaged by exclusive entities such as the J. Paul Getty Museum, Paramount Studios, area homebuilders, developers, municipalities and universities. His landmark 1980’s documentary images of L.A. policemen on Skid Row toured Southern California galleries, and is still on display in the Los Angeles Police Museum. Currently, Marshall specializes in editorial work, focusing on aerial action adventure, aircraft-to-aircraft, aerial scenic and extreme sports photography. His work has taken him around the world—photographing every continent except Antarctica—but he still loves capturing moments at home. Marshall has an extensive collection of aerial Southern California images and Los Angeles cityscapes.

A true SoCal original—Marshall’s work hangs in Burbank’s classic restaurant, Bob’s Big Boy.

Much has changed in the thirty years since Marshall’s first photography job for the local paper, but Marshall’s passion remains the same.
Much has changed…and Marshall LaPlante captured it all.