Mark Menzies

Always enjoyed photography and really got into it in February 2005. I've upgraded my camera from a Canon Ixus 400 to a second hand Fuji Finepix, then a Canon EOS 350D and I'm now the proud owner of a Canon EOS 5D.

I'm learning such a lot about photography from other talented Flickr and Utata members, and having some great fun along the way. It's exciting to be part of such a great community.

My motto as always is "work hard, play harder".

Portfolio

Portraits

Photo Journalism

Projects

Landscapes

Stock Photography

Artist's Statement

Photography is a great way of expressing my creativity. My profession is rooted in software development which is a creative process, but not often appreciated as such. Photography allows me to express a lot of the artistic talents I realised during an education that was focussed on the arts. Having photographs published in web based travel guides, calendars and the front cover of Masa Acher Magazine (the Hebrew equivalent of National Geographic) has spurred my enthusiasm for photography and I am enjoying seeing where that takes me.

With my photographs I like to give the viewer a different perspective on things. This could be an image taken from a different angle, a close-up, a picture taken in odd conditions or at an unusual time of day.

The Utatan is a great way to show off some of these aspects of my photography. My Portfolio entries are a group of images that represent my body of photographic work. These are the images I would use to showcase Mark Menzies the Photographer.

My main entry is the Project submission- The World through Ben's Eyes. I wanted to capture a series of scenes from the perspective of my 6 month old son. I wanted the shots to be colourful with a slightly distorted perspective using the wide angle lens. I remember seeing an art exhibition many years ago where the artist had distorted the view almost like a fisheye lens, the subjects had these big features and distorted face shapes, with bright colours. It was incredible seeing these in real life on a large scale. I tried to achieve this effect in my shots.

For the Stock Photography I wanted to take an everyday item and shoot it from a number of angles without adjusting the lighting and present it in black and white. I chose an old pair of steel scissors as they seemed perfect as a subject. I believe images on a contact sheet look better in black and white. It allows the viewer to concentrate on the composition and light rather than be distracted by colour.

My Landscape entries feature a variety of settings. I wanted these different settings to be drawn together by a strong sense of perspective in each of the images.

For my Portrait entries I captured a traditional style portrait of my 6 month old son. We had seen the world through his eyes in the project but I wanted to introduce him to the viewers. Then I wanted some self portraits, but with a different spin.

I hope you enjoy browsing through my work.

Favorite Photos (of mine)

Utata Member Page for Mark Menzies