About Me
My name is Mark, I grew up in Michigan and found my way to Switzerland without any particular intention to do so. Along the way I finished a Doctor of Science in engineering at the ETH Zurich, all the while getting deeper into my photography addiction. I like visual thinking as much as numbers and materials science, and this blog serves as an outlet for my writing and photography tendencies.
My view of knowledge and learning was honed in the academic research world, where the free flow and communication of new ideas is the central point of societal advancement. So it seems natural for me to publish a blog centered on what I learn about: creativity, photography, and the changing world of the internet. I publish what I learn on these topics, just like I do for active fiber composites and smart materials. I also regularly attend blog conferences in Switzerland and Germany, generally presenting about photography and visual images on the internet, and how these things enable communication and the flow of ideas on the internet and in the blogsphere.
I got into photography around 1998, when my parents took me and my sister on a trip to Alaska. Perviously I had learned Black and White darkroom techniques and originally started my photography trip at Detroit Country Day School in Mighigan. In Alaska I shot with a Kalimar SLR, the cheapest, crapiest, lowest quality photography instrument ever manufactured. Even my Holga/Woca is better than my Kalimar. I moved up to a Minolta 7 35mm camera for a trip to Bolivia in 2002, and now shoot with an assortment of gear, including a Ricoh GR digital, medium format Fuji GA645 and GA645W, Canon D2000, and Minolta 7D. I got into off-camera lighting and flash techniques around 2006 and now am focusing on using Photoshop to bring out those final tones and colors in my images.
I view photography as a means of documenting and communicating ideas and emotions. A way to create a “reaction” in the viewer. The exact form will borrow from or include elements of illustration, film, digital, literature, movies, finger painting, etc. In the end they’re all just tools to use and I’m in a constant state of learning. In general, I realize any project, whether engineering or photo based, as being the product of efficiently using what resources you have to work with. My pictures are often the product of thinking skills I honed in the engineering world, and my research solutions often come with an artistic reasoning.
I am currently based in Winterthur, Switzerland and have a small apartment studio there. I shoot what I like and process it as I desire. If you like what you see feel free to contact me for specific projects.
