Our Story
Mark developed an appreciation for natural beauty at a young age. Although it wasn’t immediately apparent to him, the influences that would eventually bring him to photography, surrounded him his entire life.
Growing up, Mark and his brother shared a room. Like most kids their age, their room was adorned with posters. Unlike most kids their age their room was different. Mark’s father was in the Air Force and brought posters of airplanes home for Mark and his brother to hang up. By time Mark graduated high school he and his brother had had over 100 posters on the wall. Their room was a collage of aircraft, floor to ceiling all the way around! He was literally surrounded by photographs, but it was Marks mother that was the true inspiration for his photography. It was through her eyes, that Mark learned to recognize, and appreciate the simplicity and joy in the details of life that many tend to overlook like lady bugs, buttercups, bumble bees, and cardinals, or pointing out a baby calf out in a field as she drove down the road.
Marks mother had an affinity for all animals, but horses were where her heart was. They spent many afternoons and weekends at the barn. It was during those times he would sometimes sit and watch his mother tend to her horses, or he’d walk the acres of grass fields exploring the creeks, and shaded woods. It was those walks of discovery that Marks appreciation for those “simplicities” his mother had taught him deepened and became a part of who he was, and something he was passionate about.
Aside from horses, Mark’s mother loved pictures. She could sit and go through a pile of them for hours, and seemed to have a story for every photo and every person in every photo. She always wrote the names of who was in the picture, and the date on the back of all the pictures to jog her memory. Before digital photography, she used to carry her little point and shoot camera in her purse almost everywhere she went…. just in case. Yes, she loved pictures and her influence is deeply engrained in Mark’s work. In it, you will simply see captivating natural beauty. In it, you will simply see a strong reflection of his mother, Patricia Lynn Charette.