The World, Through Michael Marsland’s Lens

Branford native Michael Marsland held the second photography exhibition in two weeks at the Academy on the Green this past weekend and it drew large crowds.

The event was hosted by the Branford Arts and Cultural Alliance (BACA) from Thursday to Saturday and generated a lot of interest with over 125 visitors attending. A reception was held on Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

“We were pleased to host another successful event this past weekend at the Academy,” said Frank Carrano, who heads the BACA. ​“We hope to get permission to have more exhibitions there in the future. It’s such a great facility to host events like this.” Here is the academy being made ready for the exhibit.

Mike Marsland is known as the University Photographer at Yale University, a title he has held since 1987. On August 12 he will celebrate 40 years with Yale, all as a photographer. But his photography exhibit was not about his work at Yale, where he covers events like graduation and the moment a former U.S. president or famous singer receives an honorary degree. Here he is greeting visitors at the Academy door. 

Over the years Marsland has photographed President George H.W. Bush and his son, President George W. Bush, President Bill Clinton, movie actress Julie Andrews, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, actor Paul Newman and singers Paul Simon and Paul McCartney, to name a few.

Themes of Life

Marsland had a display of photos of places and subjects he enjoyed capturing over the years, such as a grouping entitled, ​“October.”’ He said, ​“It’s my favorite time of the year to take pictures.” A number of those pictures were taken at Young’s Pond in Branford.

Additional groups of beautiful photos, all grouped by theme, included New York City, Nantucket, New Mexico and the Mystic River Drawbridge which showed close- ups of the old bridge’s steel structure. There was even a section for black and white photos.

The groups were mounted on easels because no art work is permitted to hang on the building’s historic walls. The Academy was built in 1820.

Individual photos that were popular with the exhibit’s visitors included a color photo of lounge chairs under shadows from a covering of lattice work. It was taken with an I Phone 4, ​“the only camera I had with me at the time,” Marsland said.

Other pictures that he has always liked include what he referred to as ​“A Noble Beast,” a large dog named Jake sitting in an open convertible at Bishops Farms in Guilford over 15 years ago, and one of a mural on a building in New London of musicians playing their instruments.

Career Begins In Branford

A 1968 graduate of Branford High School, Marsland attended Quinnipiac College before he transferred to Paier School of Art where he majored in photography. After Paier he moved to San Francesco, honing his photography skills at the world-renowned Fairmont Hotel atop Nob Hill where he photographed diners.

He returned to the New Haven area the following year and began his career starting at the Yale Art Gallery as an assistant to director Joe Szaszfai. He later spent 11 years at the British Art Gallery before succeeding Charlie Erickson as the University photographer in 1987.

Except for the year in San Francisco, Marsland has spent his whole life in Branford, and is the fourth generation to live on Union Street in the Granite Bay section of Short Beach.

Marsland married his wife Kate in 1992. They met at Fairfield University when she was a student and Marsland taught a photography class. A year after Kate went to Yale to earn her Ph.D, they reconnected. They married and have a daughter, Sarah who is 15 years old and is an excellent ballerina with the New Haven Ballet. Kate Marsland is an associate professor at Southern Connecticut State University and is a current member of the Branford Board of Education.

​“I think the exhibit went really well,” Marsland said after it was over. ​“I was happy with the number of people that attended and I received many favorable comments about the exhibition and The Academy.”

Editor’s Note: The first photography exhibit at the Academy last month featured Bill O’Brien’s work. Click here to read the story.
 
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