Sample Portfolio Page

Since I have some down time at home over winter I have decided that I will finally take a stab at getting a portfolio page up. All the cool kids are doing it so why not me,.......right? Right! Anyway, here is my first attempt. It is through a site called Artists Wanted.org and this page is free but is very limited. For example I can only have a home page and the one gallery page and on both an annoying advertisement footer always pops up. They do have it set up so you can pay them and get unlimited, advertisement free pages and images, but I'm still looking around for the right provider. I do however like this design. Very clean, modern, and simple - with enough design features to keep me interested. Yet I do want to have my own domain name without any extra "stuff" on the end. This site always leaves the "artistswanted" on the end of the URL. But its a good start for now. Let me know what you think of the site and the work I posted. Thanks!

Perspectives - Gallery On-Line

I just made an on-line version of the Perspectives Gallery. This virtual gallery is for those of you who are too far away to see the gallery in person or if you just want to see it again. I hope you enjoy!

PDN - Photo Contest

Here is another photo contest that I entered and you can vote on this one too! Just follow the link and search for my photo by either typing my name in the search bar of just scrolling through the other entries. This contest was introduced to me by one of my photo professors and it could really help me expand my art as well as my viewership. Man, I am on a roll. Two photo contests entered in the same week! Maybe I will search for some more........nah...next year. Thanks for voting!

Exposure - Photo Contest

I entered another photo competition - and this one you can vote on!!!!!!! So if you like my work and want to help me win some sweet prizes then follow the link to my competition page and hit the "vote" button at the top. I submitted three of my bridge photos this time but I might submit some more in the future. There was a fee attached to this competition so I was economic with my entries. And, yes, I know I need to get some more work so I can submit something different next time but I can't help it that I'm so attached to these photos. Anyway, thanks guys and have a great day, evening, night, or whenever you read this! (don't forget to vote!)

Good Times With Old Friends

December is here and that means that its time to enjoy the holidays with friends and family. Since I am home now enjoying my last long SCAD winter break I've decided that I need to reconnect with some old friends while I have the time. One such friend is Quinn. I have known him for several years and our sisters are the same age and have been best friends for several years. I had tried to see Quinn this summer but we kept missing one another, but I saw that he had a show coming up with the new band he is in and I decided to drop on by. The show was really good and I had a lot of fun. The above photo shows the whole band entitled Robin Rütenberg & Friends (Quinn-bass, Summer-drums, Robin-vocals, guitar, mandolin, tambourine, Naarah-cello, keys). The photo is heavily manipulated since it was shot is such a low light situation but I think it turned out quite nice. Its the first time I have ever done a panorama at a concert. The band just finished recording their first EP and they were able to raise the funds for it on kickstarter.com. I can't wait to hear it when they release it.

Costco

Costco, for those of you who don't know, is a wholesale super store. It is a suburban American tradition for my family and this year we found ourselves there on black Friday (in the afternoon). Costco does not give discounted deals on black Friday because everything is on discount all the time because it only sells bulk items. As my Dad likes to say (taken from the Bernie Mac Show, RIP) "Blessed in Bulk!" The main reason we went is to take my sister's boyfriend Satyajit, who was visiting this year and who is originally from Indian. He had never experienced Costco before but had to do a case study in one of his graduate school classes and was very interested in seeing what the big deal was. He was very impressed by American consumerism to say the least. In all the years I have been going to Costco with my family I have never once taken photos inside. I guess I had never wanted too or I guess I did not think I would be allowed, but this time I just took my camera in and began snapping away. My Mom told me that one of the workers was giving me the evil eye but since no one actually approached me I kept taking photos. Sometimes as a photographer you just have to keep taking photos even if you might be asked to stop and you will wind-up with gems like this.

Statue in the Garden

I'm back home now and one of the first things I did was go to St. Augustine with my Mom. My Dad was in Texas hunting deer so we went to visit what I like to call "Dad's Statue." Its not actually his statue but he did the landscape design for the installation. The statue was donated to the Lightner Museum by Mardee Jenrette and was sculpted by Frederick Hart. My Dad also did the installation for another Frederick Hart sculpture in Atlanta Georgia, that one being of former president Jimmy Carter. Every time I go to St. Augustine I like to go by and visit this statue and it is nice to see how well it is being maintained and how well it has been received by the community.

Museum Details

Since the new SCAD Museum of Art (discussed in a previous post) is now open I have been taking lots and lots of photos and I decided to continue developing my collection of architectural details. These are two details that I have been able to gather so far. One is of the main steps leading up to the main entry way in the courtyard between the museum and Eichberg Hall. The other shows the glass south gallery wall with wooden shades that connects to the planter bed and the wheelchair ramp. The design of the museum is very elegant and modern and I think these details show that pretty well. Also the use of color was important and how the colors of the wood and the plants contrast against the grey of the concrete. Also the brick (which peeks its way into the photo on the right) plays a big role in the courtyard. The brick came from the old building that the museum renovated/replaced. I am so glad that they finished the courtyard and museum this year because I get to enjoy it for the remainder of my grad year.

Veterans Day

Veterans Day 2011. 11-11-11. Savannah Parade. It was by complete coincidence that I ended up walking by the parade this morning. I had just finished a visit to a local architecture firm as part of a field trip for one of my classes. I wanted to take a different way home and I ended up walking down Broughton Street and that was where the parade was going on. Normally I am not a fan of parades but this one grew on me because the more I watched the more thankful I became that we have brave men and women who are willing to risk their lives to protect our country. I don't usually think about this fact because I don't really keep up with the daily news or politics, but when this massive wave of marching soldiers came walking down the street towards me I realized, maybe for the first time, just how many people it takes to safegard our lively-hood. It goes without saying that freedom is not free, so today I say thank you to our troops for all they do to make sure that the rest of us are safe. It is certainly something that I could never do and I will never again take that for granted. Thank you Veterans, you are truly real life heroes.

Perspectives - Up till December

Hey all! My gallery at Episcopal in Jacksonville, FL is still up. It will remain up until December and even though I am still stuck at school for a couple more weeks I am very excited to get back home and see it a few more times. Several of my friends here in Savannah have also mentioned that they would like to see it so I might have a big caravan of people coming down to see it and hangout after, which would be awesome. The gallery is open when school is open and is in the Berg Gallery in the Munnerlyn Center. The above image is a panorama of the gallery during the reception. We had a pretty good turn out of people and a constant flow of traffic, which made the night very fun and dynamic.

32nd Annual College Photo Contest

I just entered the 32nd Annual College Photo Contest hosted by Photographer's Forum and Nikon™. I certainly hope that I get some feedback from this one. If it was something were you could go vote for me on-line I totally would give you the link but my fate is up to higher powers I guess, so keep your fingers crossed for me. K-Thanks! This is also the first really big contest I have entered and I submitted 6 different images (the example image entitled "Parking Garage" being one of them). This image was taken in Savannah and is a part of my Monumental Architecture series. This is the first one of that series that I have posted on here so I will post some more later. I'm rather fond of this one because of how mundane the subject matter is and how that only makes the photo that much more powerful. It is just a regular parking garage in the downtown area and I have heard several people comment on how ugly they think it is. Funny thing being that is what inspired me to take a photo of it. I wanted to prove that not everything that is considered "ugly" is in fact....ugly. You just have to be willing to look at it in a different way. That is what I seek to do with my photography; to present unordinary views of everyday places. Hope you enjoy.

My Own Worst Enemy

This past weekend I worked on a film project with my roommates and friends titled "My Own Worst Enemy." Dawn, my roommate Phillip's girlfriend, is a sound design major at SCAD and she had to do a film project for one of her classes and she recruited me to be the production stills photographer (to be honest I kinda recruited myself). Dawn wrote the script and it involved a huge paintball battle so we had to travel out to Low Country Paintball in Ludowici, GA. We had a blast filming the movie and shooting paintballs all over the course. The filming took place over two days and I think we did a great job with the project, especially considering that not a single one of us is a film major. I'm very excited to see the finished product. This shot is the group shot of the entire crew. It was the smallest film crew that I have ever worked with, but it was also one of the most efficient I have ever worked with too. Also, I think this is the first photo on my blog that actually has me in it. I am the one on the far left kneeling. That being said I still technically took this photo (self timers and tripods come in handy).

SCAD Museum of Art Opening

Tonight was the opening of the SCAD Museum of Art! A very exciting moment in the history of SCAD as well as the city of Savannah. I'm looking forward to being able to enjoy it for my last academic year as well as during future visits. I also know the architect of the museum, Christian Sottile, and have had the pleasure of visiting his office/studio and discussing the ideas behind the museum. It has been very nice to be able to get a behind the scenes look at the design of the museum. This has also been a lot of help in the research for my thesis project. Christian agreed to be a topic consultant for my thesis and discussions I have had with him have proved very helpful and I am very excited to continue working on my thesis. As for the museum, if you are in Savannah you should stop on by! You will enjoy it for sure.

Art Show Opening

The show that Kimberly David and I have been working on for the last couple of months is finally up and running. We had the reception tonight and the turn out was much better than expected. The space was very packed at points and everyone liked the work very much. I got to meet some new people and reconnect with some familiar faces who I had not seen for many years. Overall I would count it as a huge success and I am proud to say that the show will be up for several more weeks. Also Kimberly and I have already gotten an invitation to show our work at Episcopal again someday. Thanks to everyone who came out for the opening, I hope you come back to see it again, and those who have not seen it I hope you can make time to drop by. Both Kimberly and I put a lot of hard work into this show and we would love to share it with you. Peace! - (example piece - Urban Theater - Venice, Italy - 2010)

Perspectives

Hello all! So, October is going to be an exciting month for me because I have a gallery going up at my high school. The gallery is called 'Perspectives' and it is a joint effort with my fellow alumni Kimberly David. You can follow the Link to her site and check out all her cool art. Kimberly will be showing several of her paintings and prints and I will be showing a few different collections of photographs. The opening reception is on October 19th at 6pm in the Berg Gallery in the lobby of the Munnerlyn Center, Jacksonville FL. The show will be up until December!

Townscape

This is another post about Springfield GA and it depicts just how much of a time capsule city it is. This sweet sign still marks the downtown pharmacy and it looks like it is straight out of the 50's or 60's. We were not there during the night so I don't know if it still lights up or not but the store was still open and is probably run by the same family who opened it all those years ago. Talk about a blast from the past. Its interesting to note all the different lighting features on this sign. You have a mixture of custom bent neon tube lights and colored back lit signs, and just in case that was not enough for you they also have a temperature reader that looks like it spun around at one point. I really hope they decide to salvage this sign because it would look very cool spruced up to its former glory.

Urban Design Studio

The studio I'm taking right now is an urban design studio and the project for the quarter is the urban renewal / new master plan for Springfield GA. We went to Springfield as a class about a week ago to get a feel for the city / town and start to get ideas about what our vision for the future of Springfield will look like. The thing that jumped out at all of us right from the start is that the city has not been consistent with its architecture. Take for example the photo on the left of the old run down barn with the old red car that has clearly not been touched in many years and contrast that with the almost pristine renovated courthouse on the right (1908). Then think for a moment about how these two buildings are in about 5 min. walking distance from each other. Springfield is in dire need of change and I only hope that whatever our class produces will be able to help them develop a new vision for their city.

Off to Grad School

This past week was my first week of grad school! I had only one week between the end of summer quarter and the start of fall to relax and pack up for school again and this is what my car looked like on the way up last weekend. If you think it looks like a lot just know that another 2/3 of my stuff was already in Savannah in various locations. I think I may have too much stuff and it will certainly be an effort to sift through it all this year and determine if I really need it in the future. In the mean time I need to focus on my graduate work and my thesis. But don't worry, that does not mean I will be gone for good. I will still post photos from time to time so keep checking back. See ya later!

Back to the Details

Here are two more details that I really enjoy that were also from my photo project. These two were taken on Jekyll Island Georgia and are both of the Jekyll Island Inn and Club. The one on the left is of the tower and the one on the right is of the lattice work on the outside walls. I was fortunate enough to stay as a guest at this Inn when I was a kid and when I took these photos it was the only time I had been on the island since then. It was great to be back and walk around because when you go to a place that you remember from your childhood you get all these nostalgic feelings flooding back to you.

Only at SCAD

School is almost back in session and I thought I should post a link to the social media site Only at SCAD! You might be asking yourself "But Mark, what does your photo blog have to do with Only at SCAD?" Well, only that I helped design it, launch it, and moderate it. Plus, the photo you see in the banner above is one of my photos and the other photo banners that appear on the site are my photos as well, so that's how this ties back into my photo blog. You thought I had gone way off track there didn't you? This is just my one shameless plug of the site going into the new school year. You should check it out. I helped my friend Holden design it, and by that I mean I just supplied the photos and he did the rest. I have no talent when it comes to designing websites. You can check Holden Link out via the link! (It's funny because Link is really his last name and I made it a link!) Holden also helped program the site with his friend Andrew Ash and you can check him out Here. As for the website you can check it out here www.onlyatscad.com Hope you enjoy! - Only at SCAD is a collection of stories and photos from SCAD as submitted by students and alumni. Only at SCAD is a member of the Only at Network, a collection of websites dedicated to connecting students and alumni with their universities. Visit www.onlyat.net for more information.

Lamp-Post

This photo is a part of my architectural details series but its not really a detail. I included it in my series because I am attached to it, and for good reason because several of my fellow students and photographers enjoy it, but it stands out as different. Although being a stand out is not bad. Almost every photographic series has one or two photos that stand out for better or worse. I think this photo stands out for the better. It has very stark lines and the lamp posts line up with the background building. Just another great find in Jacksonville, a town where nothing seems to be going on but can still be beautiful, if you know how and where to look.

Old Modis Building

Hey again! Here are two more details for your enjoyment. These were taken in Jacksonville at the foot of the old Modis building. They took the Modis sign off the top fairly recently but it will forever be the Modis building to me. Come to think of it I don't even know if the building has a proper name or not. Everyone I knew just called it the Modis building. It's a fairly interesting building and its one of the largest in the downtown area. The site planning around the building is very un-friendly though. The sidewalk is very narrow and goes right up the the edge of the building. Plus in some areas the sidewalk slopes down away from the building making it difficult to walk around and even somewhat dangerous since its right next to the street. Regardless I still got both of these photos and they turned out quite nice. I think the one on the right even looks Egyptian in design. Pretty interesting.

All in the Details

Hey again! Been awhile. Summer school has been keeping me busy. I'm currently working on my final project for my color technique class. For this particular project I decided to shoot architectural details. I figured I shoot a lot of architecture, like all the time, but I don't focus on the details as much and the details are just as important. This is one example of the work I have been collecting for this project. I took this photo in downtown Jacksonville and I have shot in several other locations for this project. For the presentation of my project I plan to make a book and I'm very excited about how it will turn out. More to come.

I Love My Public Library

It's true! I love my public library. This is it! I go here all the time to pick up books, CDs, DVDs, and other media stuff. It has a great inside atmosphere with lots of natural light that is great for reading and hanging out. They also have a great book store with really cheap books and other items. I go here so much that I think the people who work there are starting to recognize me. Thats a mark of a regular for sure. Something that I want to look into in the near future is that they sometimes show artwork of local artists in the lobby and I want to see what I need to do in order to show some of my work there. That would be pretty cool I think.

These Make Me Happy

Yes, as the title says, these make me happy. I found these guys in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL - where I live! If you know me at all you know that I love turtles and when I saw that sign I just had to take a photo of it. Gotta respect the turtle! T-U-R-T-L-E Power! As sung in an awesome 90's rap song. Love that song and the movie it was in. Ok, back from the tangent, the other photo is of a cool concrete figure in a kids playground area. I really like his half smirk, half smile. He is a very sly guy for sure.

Only In New York

I finally got around to developing the roll of film I shot in New York way back in March (I know, took me long enough right, gosh!). Anyway, I was only able to take a few because my lens started to break while on the trip and I did not want to make it worse, but these two came out pretty well I think. I told my sister, who I was staying with, that I wanted to go to Coney Island and being a good sister she took me there. The first photo is of this really cool old theme park ride that is currently vacant at the moment. It used to be a parachute chair ride that I bet was a lot of fun. The other photo is proof that every time I go to New York I have to take photos on the subway. I think this is one of my better ones so far and it is also proof that only in New York would someone take a subway to get to the beach, i.e. Coney Island.

Through The Grapevine

Here is another random photo from Savannah. Found this in the same garden as the previous photo. There was a half-dome trellis with these grapes growing on it and then someone had placed little baby shoes at random places on the trellis. My guess is that they are there for birds to nest in them but it was one of the strangest things I have seen. But, strange things make good photographs!

Stumble Upon

Speaking of exploring Savannah for photographic locations and items, get a load of this. I ran across this while working on a project for class. It was just randomly in a Savannah neighborhood in a garden. It looks like something that belongs in India or Tibet or someplace like that and for that reason I had to stop and capture it (on film of course). I love the slight coloring on the face and the way the light hit it. It was like 4 in the afternoon and the daylight was beautiful all around, making this yet another great photographic find!

Bugs on the Run

Exploring Savannah is made more fun when you do it with a camera. Actually, anywhere is made more fun when you explore it with a camera! But Savannah is an especially photogenic city. Just walking around for one afternoon one can find several interesting locations and items to photograph. Take for example the above photos. I found this red bug parked next to the Mansion at Forsyth Hotel, a Richard Kessler Hotel. It was prime shooting material and I could not pass it up.

Film vs. Digital - Round Two

Round two of film vs. digital. Night shots in Jacksonville again and these two are almost exactly alike in composition, which makes the comparison that much easier. The only thing that is different is the color rendering of the film vs. the color rendering of the digital capture. I think I prefer the digital (right) in this match-up. What say you?

Film vs. Digital

For a project in my Color Technique class this summer we had to shoot a series of photos on both film and digital so as to compare each process and outcome. I took several shots in Jacksonville at night and this one is my favorite. The one on the left was taken on Kodak color negative film with my Minolta camera and the one on the right was taken with my digital Canon 30D camera. The outcomes are very different, as you can see, even with the settings (ISO, focal length, shutter speed) as exactly the same as possible. I don't know which one I like better, what do you think?

Boys will be Boys

And, of course, boys will be boys too. And what do boys like to do....like all the time? Well, they like to goof around, kinda like in this photo! Funny boys.

Girls will be Girls

Yes, girls will be girls, and what do girls like to do at weddings, well....they like to be cute and stuff. Kinda like this photo! Cute girls.

The Gang is All Here

Still working on these wedding photos (the perfectionist in me is working overtime on this project). Here are some good shots of the bridesmaids and the groomsmen looking very regal. I like how well coordinated the wardrobes are. The little white tops on the girls to match the white of the bride's dress and the blue patterned shirts and pants to match the groom. Very nice you guys!

Detail & Whole

Some more shots from the first wave of edits for the wedding. Photographing a wedding it is important to get the details, the little moments between people and the graceful and sometimes forgotten gestures, as well as the whole picture, the full scene and the environment. It is essential to do this in order to tell the full story of the day.

Bride & Groom

So, you were probably wondering when I was going to post photos of the actual people who got married. Well, here they are! Ben and Kaitie! They made my job real easy because it was next to impossible to take a bad photo of either of them. They both looked great all the time the entire weekend. True story. More to come...

Mormon Temple

At the wedding I photographed a few weeks ago my friends got married in the Mormon Temple in Washington DC (because they are Mormon in case that was confusing). It is a beautiful temple and it is tucked away in a residential neighborhood. You drive through a regular community with nice houses and such and all of a sudden you take one turn past a huge gate with a guard house and BAM, you run into this beautiful temple! I was so mad that I was not allowed inside because I'm not Mormon. My architecture side wants me to convert just so I can go visit it but I think I will have to stay content with viewing the outside. But just imagine, it would be pretty cool to get married inside this gorgeous structure!