About

Marsha's career in photography has spanned 25 years, with work published in newspapers, magazines and books in the UK and abroad. Her childhood ambition was to be a photo-journalist, and as soon as she was free to travel independently, she packed a camera in her rucksack and set off around Europe, spending four months meeting, interviewing and photographing people and places that intrigued her. In remote areas of Turkey she started to document the lives of local women, a subject always close to her heart.

Determined to focus on social issues, she enrolled from 1989-91 on the documentary course at Newport Art College (now University of South Wales at Cardiff) set up by David Hurn of Magnum Photo Agency.

After leaving college she became a staff photographer on news and features for the Daily Telegraph, then worked freelance for the Observer and Guardian, and Stern magazine. She covered women's stories for ELLE and Marie Claire, where one of the most daunting commissions, in 1993, was to photograph Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi’s female bodyguards.

She changed direction to become a Photography Director working on Sky, Cosmo and Harpers & Queen, and next, a freelance picture editor working solely for the Observer and Guardian. She helped to launch the Observer Food Magazine in 2001. She followed this by producing and art-directing domestic and international shoots with A-list celebrities including Beyoncé, Kate Winslet, Rachel Weisz, Halle Berry and Oasis.

In 2004 Marsha moved to Herefordshire and specialised in gardening, food and lifestyle photography. She collaborated with Monty Don and his wife Sarah on photography for The Home Cookbook and Gardening at Longmeadow. She continues to work regularly with them, her most recent collaboration being the bestseller Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs, as well as photographing Monty for his regular articles in Weekend magazine.

From 2013 to 2020 Marsha was the official photographer for the annual Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts in Hay-on-Wye, Wales (hayfestival.com), during which she worked with student photographers recruited and trained by her.