All the while making underground movies, Jacob Burckhardt has worked at a variety of jobs: Blueberry picker, Steel Mill laborer, grape harvester, Fuller Brush man, Truck driver, Taxi driver, camera repairman and adjunct professor. He did sound recording and mixing from North Africa to the porn industry. After making two features he eschewed the money raising rat race, and now his films are mostly quirky comedies and poetic documentaries.

He first photographed the New Years Marathon in 1976, and has covered most of them since.