The above sound clip is from the 1996 spoken word adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

I’ve been photographing since 1964 when my parents handed me a Kodak Brownie similar to this     to take photographs at the 1964 Worlds Fair.  We lived in Queens not far from the fairgrounds,  so we were there a lot.  Yes,  I’m that old.  Can’t you tell by the wrinkles in my forehead in the photo above?

During my Junior High School years I started shooting with a Yashica exactly like this.  I experimented a lot with different films and developed and printed my own work in a darkroom I setup in our bathroom.  I shot a lot of Gymnastics as I was a gymnast from the age of about ten and also shot a lot of the team photos for my High School yearbook.

After graduating from Stony Brook with a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering,  I fiddled about with different careers, none of which had anything to do with my studies.  I didn’t continue my photographing passion until around the time that the first digital cameras started coming out.  Boy I wish I had carried a camera during the 80s and 90s,  we would have seen some awesome shots backstage and in dressing rooms of every music venue in NYC during that time.  🙂

I was given a Fuji S100FS,  by the great photographer Ken Regan,  and shot Craft Beer and other related alcohol events for about four years.

John Johnson gave me a Canon 5D Mark II and that really changed my photography,  and I went professional.  I continue to shoot with it today.

I wanted to start making films so I bought a Panasonic GH5,  and that gave me a great beginning foundation to more serious filmmaking.

I’m working on over 55 documentary films,  and film a lot of them with an iPhone 14 Pro and really good audio.

One of my films got some funding so I upgraded to a Canon R5C which a hybrid Film/Still that shoots 8K.

 

I’m not always holding a camera,  so here’s the rest of the stuff about me:

 

Mark’s Sorta Kinda Wannabe Resume

I am an 8th generation native New Yorker. Eight on my Mother’s side in Manhattan, seven on my Father’s side in Brooklyn. I was born in Queens, where LaGuardia Airport was my playground, and now live in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn with my Pet Rock, Bullwinkle  and over 25 plant children.  

I’ve never written a formal resume, but here are some of the things I’ve done for fun, or to pay the bills:

Vacuum cleaner dis-assembler at age 5, photographer at the 1964 World’s Fair at age 6, nationally ranked gymnast, solo operation of a ski resort’s concession stand around 15 or 16, apprenticeship in a woodworking/cabinetmaking shop, machine builder, machinist, tool and die maker, sheet metal mechanic, QC inspector, QC manager, project manager for robotics manufacturer, aerobics instructor, personal fitness instructor, racquetball and squash teacher, record store owner, partner in wholesale distribution to record stores, IT/Technology consultant since 1986, Corresponding Secretary/VP/President of NYPC (New York Personal Computer User Group,) Table Tennis coach, social media strategist, craft beer populist and website listings creator, tea aficionado and tour guide, director of photography, photographer, videographer, filmmaker and Steadicam operator, editor, Sous Vide cook and advocate of the cooking technique.

I’ve been around a couple of blocks a couple of times and have always had fun doing it. Still am 🙂

I’m honest, detail orientated, quick learning, precise, observant, persistent, carefully quick, adaptable and I can have fun while being serious. I can lead, work on my own, delegate, follow and play well with others. I’ve continued my reputation of being a problem child. My forte is problem anticipation, avoidance and if I didn’t get there early enough, solving. I cannot write computer code.

My only fear in life is: No fork in my take-out food.

Mark