David W. Coulter began studying photography in 1978, but his passion for the art began in the summer before his senior year of high school three years prior. His cousin Johnny lent him a camera he’d purchased in the PX in Viet Nam.
With the new camera and high school photography class with teacher William Weitzmann, David began shooting for the high school newspaper, The Mountaineer. Formal study took him to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, specializing in documentary photography and photojournalism. During his second year at AIP he landed his first magazine assignment, photographing the neighborhood boxing gyms in Pittsburgh.
After graduation David moved to New York City and worked as a freelance assistant for photographers Eva Rubinstein and Duane Michals, helping out on fine art and editorial projects.
In 1982, David left New York to join the staff of the Pocono Record newspaper as its sole photographer, shooting everything from sports and breaking news to more illustrative assignments. Coulter eventually became photo chief, in charge of organizing assignments for himself and three other photographers and coordinating story ideas with the writing staff.
During this time David began a part-time freelance commercial photography business, photographing corporate events and annual reports, shooting for marketing offices of colleges and private schools. He also photographed fine crafts and art for artisans both for publication and for the jury process that is important for artists to further their careers. He also began showing his fine art photography in local galleries and coordinated three group shows at the Foxglove gallery in Stroudsburg. David’s fine art prints are in collections across the U.S. and in Europe.