Mark Shaw is best known for his photographs of Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy, which he shot originally for LIFE magazine and later as the Kennedys' "unofficial" family photographer. He developed a strong friendship with JFK and Jackie and regularly visited the White House during their time there.

After JFK's death, a selection of Mark Shaw’s photographs was published as a best selling book, The John F. Kennedy's: A Family Album. The book was re-published in 2000 by Rizzoli with new additions, including never before seen color images. Mark Shaw also contributed to two other books: The Catch and the Feast features his photographs of wild game, both live and cooked; Messenger of Peace is a photo journal of Pope Paul Vl’s visit to the United States.

Most recently, Mark Shaw's images of the Kennedys were widely used in Jacqueline Kennedy: the White House Years, an exhibition of Jackie's clothing which started at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and traveled around the country to other museums. In 2005, the Marshall Fields department store in Chicago hosted an extensive show of Mark Shaw’s Kennedy photographs to coincide with the "White House Years" stop at the Field Museum.

Mark Shaw began working for LIFE in 1952. In his 16 years with the magazine, he shot 27 covers, more than 100 stories which included the magazine's European fashion collections. As a leading fashion photographer, he also worked for Harper's Bazaar, Mademoiselle and a host of other publications. He was one of the first photographers to use color when shooting the runways and "backstage" at the couture shows. In 2004, some of these photographs were featured in an exhibit at the Andrew Wilder Gallery at Svenska Mobler in Chicago. The show sold out in less than two weeks. Subsequent exhibitions of these images in New York and Los Angeles, were equally successful—a testament to Mark Shaw's reputation as one of the top fashion photographers of his era.

Some of Mark Shaw's most beautiful work was shot for Vanity Fair's lingerie advertising campaign. This series of images was created over a ten-year period. It garnered yearly recognition by the prestigious Art Director's club. In his later years, Mark Shaw began filming commercials for television, which also won him several awards.

The celebrities Mark Shaw photographed for LIFE and other publications included: Pablo Picasso, Brigitte Bardot, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Danny Kaye, Cary Grant, Yves St. Laurent, Nico of the Velvet Underground and Coco Chanel. His photographs of Audrey Hepburn, originally shot for LIFE in 1953, are the subject of the book Charmed by Audrey which was published in 2009. The Audrey Hepburn negatives had been lost after Mark Shaw' death, and were only found in 2006.

Mark Shaw worked as a top print advertising photographer until his untimely death in 1969 at the age of 47. After his death, most of his work was hastily put into storage. All but a small number of photographs remained unseen for almost 30 years. In 1999, his only child, David Shaw, and David's wife, Juliet Cuming, moved the collection to Vermont, where they now maintain the archive of Mark's extensive body of work.

The Mark Shaw Photographic Archive is currently the only solar and wind-powered photo archive in the world. It is housed in an all-natural straw bale building that operates entirely "off the electric grid." The archive has employed green business practices since it was founded. A portion of its profits is used to fund Earth Sweet Home, a non-profit educational program teaching children and adults about sustainable living. For more information, visit earthsweethome.com.

For more information about Mark Shaw and the galleries representing his vintage and posthumous work, click on "Buy Prints." For syndication and licensing questions, contact the Motion Picture Television Archive in Los Angeles at (818) 997-8292 or visit mptv.net.