Mark Thomas Lohde

Mark first started taking photos when he was nine. He got a timeout outside for a while, and once he was finished with the timeout he went inside and took his mom's brand new 6MP Sony camera and took some pictures of birds. They were by no means great photos, but for him then they were awesome because he could capture the movement and way of the birds. It was awesome!

Fast foreward a couple of years, and Mark finally got his own basic DSLR. This was his pride and joy. Mark had to do a lot of car washes and mow a lot of lawns to get enough money to buy the T2i and kit lens. Mark took this camera everywhere and took photos of everything that he saw. Mark's parents thought I was crazy, but they supported me.

Shortly after purchasing my camera, Mark went on a family trip to Kauai and got some amazing photos from that trip. He got back home and started to go through he photos, and realized that he had a passion for taking photos. So, Mark built his own website and started to look for more thing to photograph. 

The next big step is when I got offered to do a photo booth at his local gymnastics place, Azarian Gymnastics. It was just a basic thing where he took photos of the little kids doing their forward rolls, cartwheels, and their smiles. The parents loved it! He shot the photos and put them on his website within a week and the parents could look and purchase the photos. This was a success! Mark shot a few more events there until he got noticed by other gyms and started to shoot other events. Boys, Girls, and Pre-School gymnastics events. It was amazing how in just a couple of years, Mark grew from a basic single table booth to a full service photo booth where he could print photos, make posters, and make DVD's with the photos in just a few years. 

But then, Mark had to graduate High School and move away from California. But, It was not as bad as it could have been. Mark went to school at University of Hawaii at Manoa where he is  currently studying. Moving to Hawaii, Mark really got to work with some amazing photographers and see how they do their workflow and differences in the way that they shoot. He was able to get better at my favorite part of photography which is surf and outdoor photography. Going to Hawaii was one of the best things that could have happened to my career!

So this is where Mark's story is so far, but he can't wait to see what is possible in the next few years!