BIO
For nearly 30 years Mark Kurtz has been providing Saranac Lake, Lake Placid and the Adirondack region with outstanding fine art, commercial and event photography. Mark's gallery of fine art black & white photography, located in downtown Saranac Lake, boasts hundreds of hand-made prints and also serves as basecamp for his commercial and event photography services. He received a BFA from Alfred University and has taught photography in high school, college and workshop environments. Mark is one of the founding members of the Adirondack Artist's Guild and Saranac Lake ArtWorks and is widely recognized as one of the Adirondack region's preeminent artists.
Mark did his first darkroom work in the 8th grade and immediately fell in love with the photographic process. He continued his study of the craft through high school and college. Since then, Mark's work has been published in countless publications over the past 30 years. His work has been featured regularly in Adirondack Life and appeared in Skiing magazine features, not to mention countless stunning advertisements and annual reports for regional and national clients alike.
While Mark's current commercial work is most often in the 21st Century digital format, his black and white fine art photography remains steadfastly film-based. For over 30 years Mark has journeyed through the Adirondacks, along the coast of Maine, through Europe, into the desert southwest and beyond with the panoramic camera, and therefore the wide-format landscape is most frequently his medium of choice. However, travel explorations, particularly through the concrete canyons of New York City, has had him exploring the unique sensibilities of the Holga camera which has only added to Mark's already evocative body of work. The current focus with his fine art photography is a NYC book project.
For over 30 years, Mark has offered his fine art images using the labor-intensive, traditional silver (darkroom) process. With the arrival of digital, Mark still believed the traditional printing process produced a superior quality print compared to those made digitally. However, digital inkjet printing eventually progressed to a high level of quality and he now offers his images as both traditional silver and contemporary inkjet prints. Mark continues to shoot on film and do his own processing but will print both in the actual darkroom and with the "digital darkroom". No matter which option is chosen, Mark uses archival processes, including matting and framing materials (100% acid-free) to ensure the longevity of the art and the customer’s investment.