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Jessica Burstein, Longtime Photographer for the ‘Law & Order’ Franchise, Dies at 76
Jessica Burstein, Longtime Photographer for the 'Law & Order' Franchise, Dies at 76,Jessica Burstein, a photographer who helped capture the Law & Order franchise, has died following a battle with lung cancer. She was 76.

Jessica Burstein, Longtime Photographer for the ‘Law & Order’ Franchise, Dies at 76

Photographer Jessica BursteinPatrick McMullan/Getty

Jessica Burstein, the veteran photographer who helped capture the Law & Order franchise, has died following a battle with lung cancer. She was 76.

She died April 11 at her home in Manhattan, her sister Patricia Burstein told The New York Times.

Born on April 7, 1947, in Mineola, New York, Burstein grew up in nearby Lawrence. After she graduated from NYU in 1968, she worked for commercial photographer Bert Stern for several years. Then, in 1974, she was believed to be the first woman to work as a staff photographer at NBC.

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It wasn’t until the early ’90s that Burstein met Dick Wolf, the creator of Law & Order. He ended up hiring her to photograph the weekly crime scenes for the original series and eventually became its photographer from 1994-2010, when the show was canceled. (It was revived in 2022.) She also photographed the spinoffs, including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit until 2007 and Law & Order: Criminal Intent until 2011.

When she wasn’t working on the crime dramas, Burstein photographed famed restaurant and celebrity hangout Elaine’s, which at the request of the owner, eventually became her virtual studio from 1992-2011. She was also commissioned to photograph the new Yankee Stadium as it was built (it opened in 2009).

Burstein had published The Grandmother Book: A Celebration of Family, which she worked on with her sister; Law & Order Crime Scenes; and Last Looks, to memorialize Criminal Intent’s final season.

Her work has been featured in private and corporate collections, galleries and museum exhibitions and in several publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, TV Guide, Rolling Stone, People, Time and Vanity Fair. And from 2007-13, she served on the national executive board of the International Cinematographers Guild.

She is survived by another sister, Karen, and two brothers, Judd and John.