Marsha Burns studied at the University of Washington (1963-65) and the University of Massachusetts (1967-69). Burns trained as a painter and began working with photography in 1972 while living in Texas. Shortly thereafter, she returned to the Northwest and in her Seattle studio, began photographing people she knew. Of these figure studies shot over more than a decade, Burns said, "Each subject was approached as one formal element among a complement of others—glass, mirrors, changing light." These silver gelatins printed on 8 x 10” photo paper are among her signature works.

Burns visited Berlin in 1984; during this eye-opening trip she was struck by young people on the street and how they set themselves apart by their choice of dress and accessories as well as body language. Back in Seattle and then in other cities—Rome and Frankfurt in 1987 as well as New York in 1986 and 1989—she focused on these attributes in her photographs. This work continued into the 1990s with an expanded range of subjects. Burns wrote, “In an age of technology and urbanization I am drawn to the boundaries, to people whose existence is self-defined.” Some of these works are silver gelatins, often printed on 16 x 20” paper. Others are 20 x 24” format Polaroid prints shot during several residencies Burns received from the Eastman Kodak Company. These residencies, two in New York (1986, 1989) and the other in Frankfurt (1987), provided her with studio space and the opportunity to use the 20 x 24” Polaroid camera. As always, she found her own subjects on the street or by word of mouth.

Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam; the Centre Pompidou; the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson; the Seattle Art Museum; the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, Seattle; the Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington; and the Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, among others.