PHOTOGRAPHY ART PRINTS - ABOUT MARK THAU PHOTOGRAPHY
THE ARTIST - MARK THAU FINE ART
Mark’s Story
In High School several friends and I went on a backpacking trip in Yosemite. I can trace where I am now in my life as a Professional Photographer back to that trip. I took several disposable 35mm cameras and filled them. Upon returning home and picking up my prints I was shocked to find out how inadequate that device was. We joked that the film must have been switched with someone else because these pictures didn’t look like where we had been. On my next trip I borrowed my father’s OM-1 35mm SLR camera with several lenses. This made a huge difference.
I was lucky enough to work in a small 1hour photo lab at the time which gave me more exposure to photography as well as practical experience manipulating images after they were captured on film. Once I had children, I was taking their pictures as well as many of our friends’ kids. This progressed to weddings, etc. and in 2005 I quit my day job to focus on Professional Portrait Photography full time.
Over the next 15 years my wife and I built our business into what is likely the largest independent photography company north of Sacramento to the Oregon border. As you might have guessed by now, I am a completely self-taught photographer. This road was longer than had I gone to school specifically for photography. While some might see this as a negative, I have derived great joy from figuring out how to make what I see come to life in a print or digital image! I can say with certainty it gave me the freedom to become who I am as an artist and develop my style.
I enjoy working with a diverse customer base. My areas of operation include commercial photography for small to large businesses, school and sports accounts, and a range of portrait work. Perhaps most exciting are our Fine Art Adventure Images. I have a passion for creating dynamic images of places both famous and unknown.