Jun 14, 2013

Hans Marx, a self-taught photographer, worked for The Baltimore Sun from 1937 to 1955. His award-winning career was capped in 1953 when he was recognized as the Newspaper Photographer of the Year by the National Press Photographers Association.

: Electrician Nicholas C. Guerieri works on the main east tower pier 26 during construction of the first Bay Bridge in 1952. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: Bocce tournament, 1951. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: “Birthplace of the Star-Spangled Banner” is a view of Fort McHenry. The photos go on exhibit today at the cameramen’s annual show, in Galveston, TX, 1953. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: Country Doctor, 1952. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: Ben Zawadski has the reputation of being the toughest, diggingest mudhawk in the dredge crew, 1950. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: Chincoteague Rendezvous, 1948. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: First Prize Winner – Cigar Institute of America National Photo Contest for Working Newspaper Photographers held in Atlanta, Georgia, 1948. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: “Study In Oblivion,” 1954. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: “The Start of 18 Alarms” caught the early stages of the great conflagration that struck Canton on February 17, 1953. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: “Patapsco Flats” is included in the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibit, 1947. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: An estimated 20 per cent of all general cargo going in or out of the port is carried by trucks. Special facilities for these are being erected. Pictured is the Western Maryland Railroad’s Port Covington, 1955. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: A speedster flashes by. The event was open to all schoolboys of 16 or under, 1955. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: Children are supervised at street crossings, 1948. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: One third of a mile of thread goes into a man’s suit. This machine waxes thread to make it stronger and easier to sew, then winds it on spools, 1954. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: Engaging in the costliest form of hunting to be had in Maryland. Guide Charles Bias and Set Fitchett watch for rails, 1954. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: Symbolic of the dependability of the steam engine is this shot of a B. & O. steam locomotive in a snow storm, 1954. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: Arthur G. Snodgrass, custodian, has the task of finding the right silks for the right riders among this kaleidoscopic collection in the crowded jockey’s room at the Bowie race track, 1949. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: They’re the Lightning Calculators Who Figure Up What Your Ticket Is Worth — The calculators figure out, in three minutes, the prices winning horses pay at the Pimlico track, 1950. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: Race goers place bets at Pimlico. The ticket machines are linked to the totalisator, speeding up price calculations, 1950. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: Naval Academy Rowing Team, 1954. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: Siegfried Weisberger and an assistant at the Peabody bookstore, 1948. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: “Arrival of the Banana Packet” shows one of the gleaming white fruit boats passing Canton on her way up Baltimore harbor to unload a cargo of the tropical fruit, 1954. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: United Fruit Company vessel discharges fruit on Pratt Street. B&O RR handles the refrigerated cars for out of state shipments. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: Oyster Shucking, 1946. (Hans Marx/Baltimore Sun)

: Hans Marx, 1953.

“Essentially, I am a photojournalist,” said Marx in a Newsweek magazine article in 1954. “My principal aim is to record those vignettes of life as I stumble upon them or they upon me.”

Considered a daredevil, Marx would often do things that others wouldn’t — to get the right shot, such as climb to the top of the uncompleted Bay Bridge or hang over the side a ship, supported only by his toes.

Marx was very good at capturing light and shadow. Many of his photos have a calm beauty to them. He also had gift of capturing emotion as illustrated in his 1953 photo of a country doctor.

A fan of ships and steam trains, he used the steam, smoke, fog or mist and time of day to great effect. Many of his photos were snapped with Speed Graphic, Rolaflex and Leica cameras.

After leaving The Sun, Marx became a self-employed photographer. He died in 1999 at the age of 83. Marx’s black-and-white sepia-toned photographs told stories when they were first taken and still tell those stories today.

Hans Marx: Award-winning Sun photographer

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