In 1965, Marcus established his studio on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. His earliest commercial work consisted of product shots, catalogs, and corporate and editorial assignments. Throughout his 20s, Marcus's commercial assignments included product and fashion catalogs, architectural interiors, food illustration, magazine editorials and advertising photography. Within five years of opening his studio, his work received national publicity and several
Art Directors Club awards. By the early 1970s Marcus shot regularly for
Max Factor,
Frederick's of Hollywood, and other West Coast fashion clients. He also photographed musicians for album covers and posters, including the inside gatefold of
George Harrison's
Living in the Material World.
Glamour photography In 1971 Marcus became the first American photographer for
Penthouse magazine. His early pictorials involved couples and models photographed through heavy, soft focus diffusion. This technique, while popular during the early part of the 20th century, had not been used in publication since the early 1920s. Marcus crafted his own homemade diffusion filters because, at that time, there were none available on the commercial market. In 1974, Marcus left
Penthouse to become the West Coast contributing photographer at
Playboy magazine. For 11 years Marcus's work was featured regularly in
Playboy's 15 international editions, and for eight of those years Marcus exclusively photographed the Playboy Calendar. Between 1974 and 1985 he produced 41
Playmate layouts, over 100 calendars, covers and editorials and twice received Playboy's 'Photographer of the Year Award'. Shortly thereafter, Marcus began shooting pictorials and centerfolds once again for
Penthouse. New clients at this time included
Jordache,
Snap-on Tools,
NAPA, and
Muscle & Fitness magazine.
Fine-art photography Originally interested only in landscape fine-art photography, Ken began taking serious interest in nude photography as art during the time that he was working with
Playboy. In the early 80s, his nude studies of dancers with the
Los Angeles Ballet were first exhibited in Los Angeles. In 1988 Marcus was selected as the Artist-In-Residence at the Yosemite National Park Museum. His images of nude models in nature were originally banned by park officials, but are now shown as part of the museum's permanent collection.
Monterey Pop Festival discovery Marcus was one of two official photographers at the 1967
Monterey Pop Festival. The images of
Jimi Hendrix,
Janis Joplin,
The Who,
Simon & Garfunkel, and
Brian Jones of the
Rolling Stones were rediscovered in 2005 during a studio remodel. His photograph of
Jimi Hendrix is featured on the Jimi Hendrix album,
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live at Monterey, released in October 2007. == Appearances and pop culture references ==