His entry “Spearhead Mesa Storm Light, Monument Valley” won 1st Place for the Semi-Professional Division in our 2022 Spring Judged Show. My sole show entry was a photograph entitled “Spearhead Mesa Storm Light, Monument Valley”. It pictures a towering, pointed mesa in Monument Valley lit by a shaft of light that pierced a rainstorm. It was a dramatic moment with a simple, strong composition and striking color.
Mark developed an interest in art when he was very young and exhibited some talent for freehand drawing. He formally studied art through private lessons, four years of art in high school, and more than a dozen credit hours of college art courses. After experimenting with black & white film photography and darkroom work, he then moved on to color slide competition, and later to digital photography. Mark states, “I was inspired by meeting the great landscape photographer Ansel Adams at an exhibition of Adams’ work. More than anyone, he showed me that photography is a fine art form equivalent to drawing, painting, sculpture, and the other visual fine arts.”
Mark finds landscape photography both rewarding and inspiring “taking me to sublimely beautiful places often on photo workshops with contemporary landscape masters” he says. “To me, art is finding, capturing, enhancing, and sharing some of that inspiring beauty.”
