Mark Laurie

Laurie holds a Master of Photography Degree, Master of Photographic Arts (10th bar), Service of Photographic Arts, and the highest British award: a Fellow in the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers as well as a PPOC Fellowship.

Laurie's awards include the PPOC 2009 Best Figure Study Faded Rose, SWPP 2010 Landscape Society Photographer of the Year Award for "Lone Tree", In 2011 Laurie received an Artist of the Month recognition at Renderosity.com,

In 2003 Laurie released an instructional CD entitled The Art of Marketing of Female Portraiture, and in 2008 an instructional DVD entitled The Foundation Series: LIGHTING. His work and techniques have also been featured in several Norman Phillips photography books.

In July 2001 Laurie became a regular columnist for Focus, the national fine art photography magazine, writing instructional articles and reviews about digital photography techniques, products, and technology.

Laurie was the headline speaker at the Canadian National Photographers convention in August 1992, was past president to several photography organizations including Professional Photographers of Canada and Calgary Photographic Society, and the founding editor of two photography magazines, Portfolio Magazine and InFocus, and the PPOC Loan Collection Book Series.

In 1987 Laurie and his photography techniques were the subjects of a year-long clinical study which observed how Laurie’s work was notably different from mainstream portrait photography, and statistically how those differences resulted in more positive psychological and lifestyle benefits for his subjects. Among other things the study discovered was that his photography sessions were catalysts of change in his clients’ lives.

In 1987 Laurie was the Host and Producer of the educational photographic how-to TV series Inner Spirit Photography. It ran on Calgary Cable 10 for a season of seven episodes.

In 1980 the partners created Inner Spirit Photography, incorporating it four years later. The studio specialized from the beginning in photographing women. Their mission statement was "to create images that express a woman’s inner and outer beauty and provide an experiential environment that enlarges the boldness of a woman’s soul." By 1984 the home-based Calgary studio was receiving a growing and significant amount of media coverage, including a 14 minute national news story on CBC on June 12, 1984.

Laurie began crossover photographic art in 1984 with the blending of an airbrush environment painted onto photographic prints. By 1989 he was a pioneer in digital art photography. One image, The Defender, which was a mix of body paint, pre-Photoshop digital work and airbrush (a collaboration with an airbrush artist), is included in a collection of his work aboard the NASA Voyager III Time Capsule that launched in December 1990.

In 1984, Laurie joined the Professional Photographer Association of Canada and the local Alberta branch, and began teaching the same year out of province, and internationally by 1985. He became an instructor, teaching courses and speaking at professional photography seminars and workshops.

Through the 1980s Laurie was a photographer of celebrities in southern Alberta. He was the official photographer for the 2010 Calgary Choice Awards.

In 1978 Laurie opened his first studio, Wizer Wizard Photography. His business partner and wife, Jan Howells-Laurie, trained and became the retouch artist.

Mark Keith Laurie (born 7 February 1955) is a Canadian photographer, specializing in female fine art photography and digital photography. He is also a teacher, speaker, author, and studio mentor.