Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mark Wangerin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Mark, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I have been a creative all my adult life. It’s all Ive known. Since the age of 13, I’ve played music professionally… playing for theatricals, recording sessions and touring here and there.

In my late 20s I fell in love with photography, first out of a need to break up the monotony of a music-heavy lifestyle and secondly I needed another skill I could utilize to earn money since I’d never really learned how to be an employee in the normal, real world.

As the years have passed I’ve asked myself the question of “what if I could just settle into a real job with a steady paycheck. But the inevitable answer has always been “you’d be miserable”. Being a creative as a vocation is always an up & down proposition. There are days you wake up not feeling creative at all. That can be frightening when keeping the bills paid relies on your ability to create something that people are willing to pay for.

Ultimately I’m happiest as a creative. I’d rather be occasionally miserable building my own dream than trading my time for money building someone else’s.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started my journey into photography in my late 20s as I was just finishing up my degree in Music Theory & Composition. At first it was just the thrill of just holding a camera and photographing everything I saw. I was just learning how to see through a camera lens. But quickly I discovered the photography of George Hurrell. That encounter changed my vision forever. I wanted to create amazing, mythological portraits of people. So, I was on a major quest to just learn the creative language of the vintage Hollywood Glamour Portrait.

One day I was trolling the web ( this was back int e days of AOL and Ask Jeeves! ) and came across a discussion thread about George Hurrell and his work. There was a lot of guessing about his technique bantering back & forth. Then one man chimed in… “I was George’s assistant for over a decade and I can tell you exactly what he did”. WOW! I struck gold!

I sent him a personal note through the platform begging to meet him in person. He invited me to his home up in Hollywood and would give me 30 minutes. The meeting lasted nearly 3 hours! Suddenly the pieces of the puzzle were coming together. I spent the next several weeks working on my lighting technique. I actually learned how to light long before I could actually compose a beautiful shot. That was another journey to be tackled onthe heels of mastering lighting.

Once I was creating believable vintage Hollywood portraits, I had to figure out how to use that skill in today’s world to make money. I’d already started to shoot some weddings for friends at my church so the idea came to me… Glamorous Vintage Hollywood Bridal Portraits. Suddenly my new found skill was relevant for today. I’d found my creative visual voice.

Today, I see almost no one doing what I do with the Hollywood style, especially in light of the blessing of having been mentored by the source of the craft in Hollywood where it was born. The Hollywood Portrait is not only a technique. It’s a spiritual and emotional expression that requires total emersion into the genre to be believable completely. I see many who light and compose in the style, but you can tell, deep down that the results don’t reflect that other-worldly aura that makes a vintage Hollywood portrait believable. This is what I believe sets my work apart from most others.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I measure the success of my efforts by the emotional response of my clients. This is how I measure whether or not I’m doing a good job. There’s nothing more satisfying than watching someone get emotional over a portrait of themselves. When I don’t get that feedback I’m looking for, it stings. I take it personally and it’s my wake-up call to pay more attention to what’s most important. I want the portrait experience to be amazing every time.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

At the outset, it’s important to understand that non creatives live in a different real world. They focus on things than creatives do not. In short, a non creative doesn’t owe a creative anything. So, we have to somehow, for a moment or two take them out of their world and wow them with ours. That’s a tall order.

In their world, they are deciding to either spend their hard earned money on either a big screen TV, a pink flamingo on canvas or whatever it is they want to fill some void with. As a creative we are competing with a lot of noise in the world with the advent of digital photography and AI, making “photographers” out of seemingly everyone.

We have to be able to create something that they cannot, and hopefully what another artist cannot. A unique visual voice is the key!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.markwangerin.com
• Instagram: @markwangerinphotography

Image Credits

All work ©Mark Wangerin