Hey, I’m Mark and this is me!
A child of the ‘70s — born in Malaysia with a Chinese dad and Pakeha mum — I identify as "100% New Zealander”, and this land is my Turangawaewae.
I’m married (to Kelly) with two (mostly) adult sons, I’m a professional people leader by day, and I have two mildly-consuming (read: not mildly at all!) passions.
I have a B.Com from University of Auckland and have spent my entire working life managing businesses and leading people.
In 2017, a chance meeting led to my first experience with the Group Fitness industry. Four years later, I weigh some 25 kilos less, and have been Advanced Certified as a Les Mills Instructor in RPM and Sprint (cycle studio classes). Having spent most of my adult life solidly obese, I certainly didn’t envision myself being a gym instructor — let alone calling this pastime a passion!
My first memory of taking a photo was with my Dad on the steps of Batu Caves in Malaysia. I would have been around four years old and he was teaching me to set a manual exposure on a Nikon F-series SLR.
That kicked off a life of taking pictures of friends, family and places, mostly for fun. I have shoe boxes and albums full of prints from my trusty Minolta Dynax SLR. A wee dabble with a 3 MP (!!) digital compact when my boys were born was most disappointing, before graduating to a mighty 8MP Nikon D80 in 2008. It was there that I honed my skills as a hobby photographer. Roll the clock forward to Lockdown-2020 and I had once again upgraded, then to a new Nikon D500, and now this year to a Sony A7 III full frame camera to sharpen my portrait work.
Older now, wiser maybe (probably not!), the more I learn, the more I’m convinced… I know F**k All. Increasingly inquisitive, I’m wanting to see, feel and experience authenticity as I strive for ‘The Shot’. Simple Essence is my long term project, challenging me to continually pause, look, see and if I’m tremendously fortunate, capture, in camera, a visual representation of a person’s true-self. Even a glimpse of a moment would be special. Like a golfer, remembering that memory of The Perfect Shot — it wasn’t perfect, of course, but the memory is — I am captivated by the idea of capturing such a moment.
Your sitting will have that ‘special moment’!
“The Shot” - a moment captured, unguarded, flawed, imperfect and so beautiful.