One Shot With Andrew Mark
Andrew Mark left us speechless with this year’s cover photo. He got the shot that sent shivers down our spines, and left us wanting more. Thanks, we hope our magazine can do your work justice.
“I’m really grilling you on a Monday morning,” I said.
“Yeah, but it’s 1 p.m.,” Andrew Mark said as we chatted at one of the many coffee shops in Oakville. It feels like morning, but it isn’t. This coffee shop is bustling with chatter, people carrying shopping bags and sipping on espresso. I’m asking specific questions about his work, and how he managed to pull off one of the most stunning shots we’ve seen all year.
“It’s a personal creative,” Mark said.
“I know this girl from way back and I asked her if she’d be interested in going out and just shooting. We just had the most phenomenal day. That shoot alone was probably the most successful shoot I’ve ever done.”
“I just saw it and made it happen,” he said.
His photo was the perfect fit for our cover. The girl, her smile, the serene and warm feeling of Mark’s photo couldn’t be better. It screams for your attention, while being incredibly easy on the eyes. A one-in-a-million shot if you ask me, something that could never be recreated, even if you tried.
Are we lucky for having such a spectacular cover? Well no, there is no luck involved. We call it talent, careful planning, and a wild obsession for challenging yourself to do better. We’ve searched long and hard for the perfect photo for this issue, and it wasn’t easy. Mark walks away with $200 for his hard work, and a couple bragging rights he may or may not use.
This photograph beat out close to 200 other photos. It was chosen as the best by Sheridan photography professor David White, and the staff here at Travis. Mark is into his 2nd year of photography at Sheridan, married at 20 years of age and originally from St. Catharines. He literally knocked our socks off with his work – we had to go looking for them. And if you’re interested, you can see more of his work online alongside his stellar wedding photography.
“It’s like a full on photo shoot,” Mark said describing his passion for shooting weddings. “Everyone is dressed up you, got the makeup on, you got the stylist going. You have the whole reception hall decorated. I’m not a traditional shooter by any means. I’m so far from traditional wedding photography that I see it as more of a fashion shoot than romantic or ooey gooey.”
Mark hopes to be shooting weddings full time when he graduates, starting up a business and making an impact in the Niagara region. When the wedding season slows down he plans to do more commercial work, and hopefully start a second business to focus on commercial photography.
“I just really like the ability to make a business out of it. For me photography is just as much of a business as it is about photography,” Mark said. “If you can’t make a business out if it you’re going to flounder. I’ve been able to start up a wedding business that is going to help me go somewhere with my career. That will get my name out there, and bring in cash to fund any further development.”
“It’s a really big industry and you don’t need 50 grand worth of cameras to start up,” he said. Mark is hoping to take advantage of Niagara’s reputation as a wedding hot spot, and build his list of clients from there.
“It’s super competitive, anyone can pick up a camera. It’s the only profession where on the weekend anyone can go out and take some pictures. You don’t hear people saying, ‘Well on the weekend I went up to Boston and did some brain surgery.’”
“You have to be good, but there’s work out there. Especially in the wedding industry, it starts with personal connections and develops. It’s still an art, and you need personal ways of doing it,” he said. “If you can sell your personality and style there’s a market for you. Even if it’s the same thing everyone else is doing. If you do it different, better, or you have a unique way of doing things, there’s your market.”
The tools he’s been given by the Sheridan photography program have inspired Mark’s outlook on the industry. Sheridan has developed a reputation as one of the best schools for applied photography in Canada, and that’s why Mark ended up here.
“I heard it was the best, I didn’t apply anywhere else,” he said. “If I was going to go to school for photography, it was going to be Sheridan. My cousin-in-law graduated from the program. I just decided it was going to be Sheridan or it was going to be nothing.”
As for influences on his own work, he cites Rob Campbell a photographer from British Columbia. He tries to stay away from contemporary shooting, and bring his own style and view into every shot. “The idea is to blow your mind with every shot. Every shot has to just rock,” Mark said. “It’s between perspective, lighting and angles. To document the day and do it well you need incredible light and incredible perspective. With that, you’re going to succeed in the business.”
With the knowledge Sheridan has provided, coupled with Mark’s own personal drive, it’s easy to see that he’s going to make an impact on the industry. His style is unmatched – and his own professionalism is going to push him into bigger and better things. But it’s one step at a time just like the rest of the students here at Sheridan. After graduation he is going to be thrown into a world of professionals and amateurs battling for position in one of the most competitive industries in Canada. It will be Mark’s own passion for his craft that will separate him from the masses. His love for all things related to photography will make him shine brighter than every kid out there with an SLR and a Facebook page.
“It just developed into a hobby, a passion, and then a career,” Mark said explaining why he is still shooting. “It’s hard to put my finger on why I love photography. I could go into anything and enjoy it, but photography just worked.”
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