Creating with Intent

The underlying foundation of what Mark teaches is based on a concept we call Creating with Intent.

Creating with Intent is the process of making an image that based in your personal vision.

Creating with Intent is about building an image that reflects what you find beautiful, interesting, and/or compelling about the subject of your photograph.

Mark's workshops are crafted to change the way in which you create images. By focusing on understanding the basics of lighting, and working with the step-by-step process of Creating with Intent, you will learn to produce images that are both well executed and uniquely yours, without limiting your potential.

This might sound like a lot of marketing talk or art school chatter, but it isn't. It works, plain and simple. The proof is apparent in every class Mark has taught since he started teaching this process.

The Process of Intent

The Process of Intent is a step by step way to approach your photography that will guide you to creating images that meet the objectives of your client as unique products of your personal vision.

The Process of Intent empowers you to consistently create outstanding images, without having to rely on chance and luck.

The process of intent isn't new, artists have been working this way for as long as artists have been working. All Mark has done is adapted it to the current technology of photography.

Who Should Take These Workshops

It has been our experience that these concepts work just as well for many working professionals, as they do for those with much less experience. We've also found that having a range of abilities in the class actually works to everybody's benefit.

Why this is Important

Hitting the glass ceiling.

Technology has made if much easier to take a decent photo. Our cameras think for us, the cost of film is a thing of the past, and Photoshop can easily solve problems that would have once made a photo unusable. Technology has made it seem deceptively easy to take a good photograph.

Allowing our cameras to make creative decisions for us, not taking the time to consider the frame before making a photograph, and being lazy about the details of our images because we think they can be fixed later has led to photographs that are less than they could be. Rather than using digital technology as a way to improve upon an already excellent image, it has instead become crutch for working with a poor foundation. The short terms results may seem impressive, but it's a dead end road.

Good photography begins with an understanding of the basics, and an acute awareness of why the photo is being created. Yes, you do need a reason, but that doesn't mean the reason can't come from within you.

Many photographers have web pages made up of "cool" images of their friends or local models. They've discovered wide angle lenses, digital effects, the power of an engaging model, and all sorts of fancy lighting which they throw into their images. Despite this, the results lack the intended impact and fail to captivate potential clients. They keep trying to get better, but with diminishing returns. They hit a glass ceiling, and to break through it requires bringing up some tools that you may have left behind.

Great photography is a great deal like great cooking. A great chef has a comprehensive understanding of the way ingredients work together, and how to cook and prepare them. They know their customer, and can create a meal that will delight. Each dish has it's own personality and balance. Chocolate sauce doesn't mix well with crab cakes, no matter how well you like the individual components. It goes without saying that TV Dinners aren't on the menu.

A Great photographer understands their tools, and knows how to use them. They know who their clients are and how to meet their needs. They don't throw elements together and hope for the best, but instead come from a singular understanding of what they find compelling in their subject matter. And, they don't re-take other's photographs or blindly follow a "lighting cookbook".

Great photographers don't learn tricks and setups, they master concepts and apply technique to realize their vision. In short, they create with intent.