Orkin moved to New York in 1943. She took baby pictures during the day, and was a nightclub photographer. In the mid-1940's she became a photojournalist for many of the major magazines including Life, Look, Horizon, and Ladies Home Journal. In the late 1940's, she captured classical musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Isaac Stern, 
Serge Koussevitzky, Aaron Copland and others during rehearsals at Tanglewood and at Lewisohn Stadium in New York City. 

In 1951Orkin went to Israel with the Israeli Philharmonic, where she lived on a kibbutz for several months and photographed her experiences. She then went to Italy, and it was in Florence where she photographed her signature image "American Girl in Italy." She also traveled through Venice, Paris, Rome and London. Orkin first met PM photographer, Morris Engel at The Photo League, and in 1952 they married while making the classic film, "Little Fugitive." It was nominated for an Academy Award, and won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Francois Traffaut has credited the film with starting the New Wave. They went on to make a second award winning film together called "Lovers and Lollipops." 

In 1959 Orkin was named one of "The Ten Top Women Photographers in the U.S." along with Dorothea Lange and Margaret Bourke-White by the Professional Photographers of America. Her priorities turned to raising a family, and Orkin used her camera to photograph her two children.  First, her son Andy and three years later, her daughter Mary. From her Central Park West apartment, she watched the seasons change outside her window and for the next 30 years documented what she saw. These photographs became the subject for two books "A World Through My Window" (1978) and "More Pictures From My Window" (1983). Her monograph "A Photo Journal" was published in 1981, and exhibitions and lecture tours followed. In 1985, after a long struggle with cancer, Orkin passed away in her apartment surrounded by her wonderful legacy of photographs, and the view of Central Park outside of her window.

Books: 
A World Through My Window, Harper and Row, 1978  
A Photo Journal, The Viking Press, 1981  
More Pictures From My Window, Rizzoli, 1983 

Films: 
LITTLE FUGITIVE, 1953  
Editor, Co-director and Co-writer  
Academy Award Nomination, Best Original Screenplay  
Silver Lion, Venice Film Festival 

LOVERS AND LOLLIPOPS, 1955  
Editor, Co-producer, Co-director and Co-writer  

Awards:  
3rd Prize Winner, Life magazine's Young  Photographer's Contest, 1951 
Voted one of Top Ten Women Photographer's in the U.S., Professional Photographers of America 1959  
1st Annual Manhattan Cultural Award, Photography, 1980 
Certificate of Merit, Municipal Art Society of  NY, 1984 

Instructor: 
School of Visual Arts, New York City, 1976-78  
International Center of Photography, New York City, 1980

Chronology: 
1921       Born September 3, in Boston, Massachusetts 
1931       Receives first camera, 39 cent Univex 
1935-39 Attends Beverly Hills, Eagle Rock H.S. 
1939       Bicycle trip from LA to see 1939 World's Fair in NYC 
1940       Attends LA City College for one year 
1941       First messenger girl at MGM Studios 
               Joins Women's Army Auxiliary Corps 
1943       Moves to New York, works as a nightclub photographer 
1945       1st assignment for The NYTimes to shoot Leonard Bernstein 
1945-52  Intensive freelance career for Life, Look, This Week et.al. 1946-50  Photographs classical musicians at Tanglewood Music Festival 1951       Goes to Israel on press junket with Israeli Philharmonic 
               In Florence, shoots her classic image American Girl in Italy 
1952       Marries Morris Engel in New York City 
1953       "Little Fugitive" nominated for Academy Award 1 
1955       Makes second award-winning film "Lovers and Lollipops" 
1959       Son Andy born, voted one of Top Ten Women Photographers 
1961       Daughter Mary born 
1965       Photography in the Fine Arts exhibit, Metropolitan Museum    
1974       First retrospective at Nikon House in NYC 
1976-78  Instructor, School of Visual Arts 
1977       First exhibition at The Witkin Gallery 
1978       "A World Through My Window",  Harper and Row 
1981       "A Photo Journal",  Viking Studio Press; photo-autobiography 1983       "More Pictures From My Window", Rizzoli 
1985       Dies January 16 in New York City

Solo Exhibitions: 
1974 Nikon House, NY  
1977 Witkin Gallery, NY, Enjay Gallery, Boston 
1978 Milwaukee Ctr. of Photography, Milwaukee, Kiva Gallery, Boston 
1979 University of Akron, Ohio, Afterimage Gallery, Dallas, Texas 
1979 Rizzoli Gallery (thru 1985), NY 
1980 Atlanta Gallery of Photography, Atlanta, Georgia 
1981 Witkin Gallery, NY 
1982 Douglas Elliot Gallery, San Francisco, Rizzoli Gallery, Costa Mesa,  
1983 Equivalents Gallery, Seattle, Washington 
1985 Witkin Gallery, NY 
1990 Photo Gallery International, Tokyo, Japan 
1994 Witkin Gallery, NY 
1995 International Center of Photography, NY 

 
Group Exhibitions:  
1950 Young Photographers, Museum of Modern Art NY 
1955 The Family of Man, Museum of Modern Art, NY 
1964 The World and Its People, The World's Fair, NY 
1965 Photography in the Fine Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY 
1978 Photographic Crossroads: The Photo League, SUNY, New Paltz 
1981 Manhattan Observed, NY Historical Society 
1985 American Images, 1945-1980, Barbican Art Gallery, London  
1985 Collecting New York: Recent Acquisitions, Museum of City of NY 
1986 New York: The City and Its People, Working People's Cultural Palace, Beijing, China 
1986 Cross Examinations, Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino, California 
1987 Masters of Starlight, LA County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA  
1987 Diamonds are Forever: Artists and Writers on Baseball, NY State Museum, Albany 1988 Master Photographs from The Photography in the Fine Arts Exhibition, ICP, NY 
1989 The Human Element: B/W Photography, Cal State, Long Beach