David Grossman / Information and Background

I am a full time, freelance photographer based in Duxbury, Massachusetts. I photograph people and places, and work for both corporate and private clients. The galleries on the projects & people page show some examples of the work I do. Art prints can be viewed and purchased online in the store or by contacting me directly. Please contact me if you would like to arrange to view or purchase prints in person, discuss a project or commission, can’t find what you’re looking for, or have questions.

The top picture on the left was taken a year or two ago while working on the island of Zanzibar. My grandfather took the other one of me–he was heavily involved with a camera club when I was young, and always seemed to have a Leica around his neck. Although he was a better technician than artist, some of the members of that club were great Life Magazine photographers. They’d bring slide trays and prints of recent work to the meetings I tagged along to, straight out of their cameras, no manipulation.

One of the men my grandfather was good friends with–I don’t think he worked for Life–was a photographer named Harry Garfield. Harry was legally blind. He wasn’t allowed to drive a car, but somehow managed to make amazing pictures. All of them were observers and storytellers, and a number were well known, but it was Harry that amazed me the most. He could see with his mind. I was pretty young, but the vision, influence, and personalities of Harry and the others was indelible.

I worked for IBM after studying Computer Engineering in college at the University of Michigan. As an IBM Distinguished Engineer, I led a group that developed and deployed software prototypes. The goal was to demonstrate the potential for emerging Internet technologies in new applications and software systems.

But I never stopped making pictures with my grandfather’s Nikons, and I’ve never gotten tired of pulling slides from the old trays filled with Kodachrome transparencies and holding them up to the light. And those pictures my grandfathers friends used to show me–straight from their cameras–are still front of mind.