David M. Nolan (May 4, 1945-June 1, 2021) was born in Warren, Ohio, and lived much of his life in Danville. He graduated from Southern Illinois University with a degree in geography and a minor in design science, which led to city planning in 1971.
He held city and regional planning positions in Decatur, Warren and Vermilion County between 1972 and 1978. He later worked as a day-treatment counselor for the Danville Manor Nursing Home between 1981 and 1983, and a behavior counselor between 1983 and 2005. In 1974, Nolan returned to Warren to work as a city planner and to assist his father with his trucking company.
While in Ohio, he set up his first darkroom and began teaching photography to disadvantaged youth as well as photographing blues musicians’ performances. When he moved to Danville in 1977, Nolan continued photographing blues performances with his Danville colleague, Jack Van Camp, at Champaign’s Blind Pig. Chris Knight’s bar opened July 27, 1990, and was Champaign’s only dedicated downtown music venue that continually promoted performances seven days a week for eight years.
In 1978, after studying photography with Orvil Stokes, a student of Ansel Adams, who managed the photography department at Carson’s Pharmacy in Danville, Nolan’s interest in photography was rekindled, and he began working as a professional photographer and color-enlargement printer for Danville’s Cunningham Photo Service in 1979. His early professional work was modeled on the Depress.