MEET THE PHOTOGRAPHER

If you are wondering what sets Mark Harlow's photography apart from other photographers?, please read the following...

Mark J Harlow is one of the top national award winning nature & wildlife photographers in the country. He is a native Minnesotan and lived in Minnesota his entire life. Mark is also a Fine Art print master, having spent over four decades in the Fine Art Print Making Industries.

In the only year of participating in an industry led national competition, Mark won top honors for "Sidewinder" eagle (among other awards). Please visit the Press-Media section for more details. 

"I don't seek attention or recognition but appreciate some of those events that have happened along this journey." says Harlow.

In just his second year back (after a 20+ year absence from nature photography), Mark politely declined opportunities to work with  Nikon USA, Getty Images, and National Geographic, choosing instead to continue on his own with his minimalistic photo style, staunch image capturing and editing ethics. Mark is one of the original true minimalist nature photographers of the digital era and continues to be a true minimalist photographer.

"I consider my self a minimalist both photographically and editing wise. Today's digital photography mindset seems to be... get it close, fix it in post. Another trend is photographing at very high ISO's and use secondary software to address those consequences. Those photo capturing mindsets along with long image editing sessions afterward, do not interest me. People can certainly photograph however they chose. Today's photo & editing world is the wild wild west (compared to the film era, where film was the "honest maker). says Harlow.

"My motto is... take pride in your in your exposures and composition. Photograph like you will be judged on your work straight out of camera. That is how I've photographed from day one and what I strive for on a daily basis going back 40+ years (including Commercial photography). I prefer to photograph solo but have shot with friends/peers on occasion who are speed shooters, backyard photographers and use a lot of the modern in camera advanced tools. They give me a hard time about being a fuddy duddy, simpleton, or a digital dinosaur. I give them a hard time about being "spray & prayers". All done in good fun and with respect." says Harlow.

Mark's does not photograph with a Pre Burst, Burst or Continuous drive mode. All images are captured in single drive mode (one click at a time, even the wildlife action imagery). Mark does not bait or stage any of his wildlife work. All images shown, required loading up his vehicle and going out to locations (some seldom leave their property or go to game farms or game preserves. Some photographers have built their own tailored private preserve environments where they photograph from. Some have built their home around their nature setting, so they can photograph off their deck. All good, but not for this photographer. The consumer may rarely care about how or where the image was captured, but to Mark it means everything for his style.

Image Editing is done at a minimum. No automated actions, editing plug in's, saved presets, focus stacking, stitching or traditional stacking (some deep space subjects are stacked as a last resort), no HDR, foreground/background separation or other automated techniques are used. Mark still only edits in the 2005 & 2010 (hard disk copy, not Cloud based) software with minimal adjustments. Most edits are easily done in less than a minute, not many minutes or even hours.