Mark Swanson

Mark Swanson received his first camera as a gift from his father before a long trip into the wilds of the Yukon, Alaska in 1986. Since that time the technology, mechanics, and lore of image making grabbed his interest. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s Mark spent a lot of time documenting the underground punk scene in Seattle. At the time when grunge was under the microscope of the national music press, there was an international underground art/punk scene happening in Seattle without the scrutiny of popular notice. Switching from musician to photographer while on tour Mark’s interest in photographing music deepened. Experimenting in several mediums and a gathering an ever-expanding camera collection, interests changed and the portfolio expanded.
Inspired by the environmental activist movement, and witnessing his own town engulfed in land development Mark started to focus on nature and conservation. Using photography as a vehicle to inspire and draw people closer to images of peace and meditation as a means to raise awareness.

“There is enough conflict, war, and murder in the world to showcase any day of the week, why not focus on solitary scenes that can bring a person to calm down from the media’s onslaught of degradation?”

So goes the image-maker, always documenting the world around him, always trying to create new works to interest the eye of the viewer and raise awareness.

Mark is an internationally published photographer pursuing analog and digital photography and print- making.