Toaxnoes Spring 2011 Final2.indd - Nichols School

Mark Kelley ’72:Shooting For Perfby Blake Walsh ’98Mark Kelley ’72 recalls an evening shortlyafter he had dropped out of collegefollowing his freshman year in which hisparents were grilling him over what hewas going to do with his life and whereexactly he planned to go back to college.“I came up with Alaska out of theblue,” Mark said. “I just wanted to stop the conversation, so Ithought of what at the time seemed like the most outrageous placeto go to college.”That seemingly outrageous destination became the canvas for awildly successful career as a nationally recognized photojournalist.After graduating from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks witha double degree in Northern Studies (studies of the Arctic) andJournalism in 1978, Mark has remained in Alaska ever since –except for a year of graduate work in photojournalism at OhioUniversity.Following 14 years of photojournalism work in the Juneaunewspaper industry, Mark moved on to full time freelance work in1993. Mark’s images have illustrated over 200 covers of magazines,brochures, calendars and books and have appeared as covers for“Outside Magazine,” “Sunset,” “Alaska Magazine,” “Alaska AirlinesMagazine,” “Boys Life,” “Time for Kids” and “Geo” (Germany)to name a few. He has had 10 photo books published using hisphotos on Alaska subjects and publishes two 12-month calendarsper year now in their 23 rd and 18 th year of continuous publicationrespectively. Mark also has a line of photo note cards, photorefrigerator magnets, postcards and prints.Working as a professional photojournalist has allowed Mark tolist his occupation as an answer to the question, “What do you liketo do for fun?” He recalls discovering and developing his interest inphotography while at Nichols.“In my senior year, photography was the first art class the Schooloffered in the Upper School,” Mark said. “Not being strong in mathor sciences, the photography class was a no-brainer. I always lovedthe famous photojournalism magazines of the day…I started thephotography class and fell in love with photography.”That sense of joy is evident when Mark relays the fact that he28 Nichols School