AZ Visitor Center Display

September 19, 2017

One of the top 10 nights of my life was on Jan 17, 2008 when David and Darelyn Peterson put together a Reflections of Christ gallery opening at the Mesa Temple Visitor Center. About 700 people showed up that night. (I'll probably tell more stories about that later)  One of the highlights of that entire exhibit though was the night before the opening when we had just finished hanging the art and turning on the music... we just sat in the exhibit and were a little emotional at seeing it all come together.  I'm not sure who took this picture, but thanks.  The exhibit was unbelievable. My brother-in-law Kim Eaton volunteered to build walls with soffits and lights. He wasn't allowed to put anything "permanent" so he floated the walls on foam and held it all in place with one screw in the ceiling. Rob Brinton, the most talented framer I've ever met, donated the framed exhibit. He nailed it. Each piece framed perfectly for what it represented.  Music and film were so important, but I'm going to blog about those later.   

"What was Next?"

September 19, 2017

    I'll admit it. The Reflections of Christ project tanked my photography career. It wasn't that clients stopped calling, I love my clients from Mabry Studios. They are great friends. It was more like, after the highs of creation it was tough for me to get excited about shooting things that didn't give me goosebumps.  (I need to say, there are some portraits that are more sacred to me than any of my creative work. There were families that asked to be photographed before the way-too-early death of a parent for instance... That was a different kind of creativity and spirit.)  So when I say "tanked my career", I mean that it moved the bar so high in one area that it wasn't worth trying to jump there again.  After Reflections was published I had a little time on my hands, so I went and finished my degree and my masters (full disclosure: once my masters was all finished I was filled and didn't bother applying for graduation so it's still hanging out there). From there, I had a fantastic stint producing TV/Music/Film/Writing at theBlaze.com. Toward the end of my time at The Blaze I produced a show with an iconic man named Ken Hutcherson. He was a Minister in Seattle who used to play linebacker for the Cowboys. "Hutch" taught me a ton about love in the 6 months that I worked with him right up until he died of the terminal cancer that had vexed him for 14 years. Looking back, after Hutch, I didn't have much left to do in TV that moved me. Hutch left me his bull whip and gave me a hat from his men's group "D Group" that sits on my shelf.  Not long before I left the Blaze I was introduced to Tim Ballard. At the time he was a Homeland Security Agent working on ending child sex trafficking. I began to go on a few undercover operations with Tim to different countries. Again, my heart was stretched to new lows and highs that I didn't know existed. I still work on trafficking projects with Tim, mainly our podcast called "Slave Stealer". If you're looking for warm and fuzzy, perhaps don't turn on our show. But we try to keep it hopeful.  The bottom line is that I'm grateful that the Reflections of Christ project and collaborators let me learn that art could totally transport me to a new place and leave me different than it found me.  So from time to time I'll post as things cross my path pertaining to Reflections of Christ.  It's been 10 years since the Reflections of Christ images were published. Still I receive stories from people around the world who have somehow connected with the art.  I'm going to use this blog to tell those stories.  Mark PS. The only thing the article got wrong is that it calls me "Springville Photographer". While I love my current home, I'm most definitely an Arizona Photographer.