I wrote a short post on Facebook yesterday upon unveiling a new catalog piece, Textures of Sister Bay, talking about my process. It seems to have sparked some interest, so I thought it might warrant a little bit more background in the form of a blog post. For me, a photograph is more than just a picture. It's a canvas on which I play and experiment until something a little more interesting appears.

On my next trip to Michaels, I'll have an entirely different kind of frame to buy, and it'll be a whole new experience for me. I'll be shopping for a certificate frame.

It's awards season, and I'm mentally exhausted from going over all my work from the previous year and trying to pin down my favorites. It's always a really hard process for me, because I'm a bit obsessive when it comes to selecting award entries. There's lots of pieces I love and - in my mind - could be award-worthy, but I also have to be mindful of the audience and the venue.

My name is Mark David Zahn and I'm a hobbyist photographer living in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Photography isn't my job, but it's certainly a passion of mine. I'd call myself an "accelerated amateur," as everything you see in my work was self-taught. While I'm not skilled enough to make this passion a full-time endeavor for myself, it provides me a creative outlet and relaxing respite from my otherwise hectic life.