Mark Gourley has been in the Visual Design industry all his working career. Starting as a Signwriter he soon became interested in Photography as an important part of the overall design process, combining photographic images with text to create advertising material. Mark has an interest in all aspects of photography, from the early days in his Black & White darkroom, developing and printing images for clients, through to the photographic studio set-up. He uses Minolta 35mm cameras with two telephoto and one fixed lens for general out and about photography, and a Mamiya RZ 67 with a variety of lenses for studio work.

Meanwhile as technology moves ahead, he was introduced to the computer and started to creatively manipulate photographs for clients, from simply adding a new background and restoring old photographs, to fully editing a photograph to resemble a painted artwork. He prefers to use the computer darkroom now because of the control that can be achieved in the total outcome of the final image, plus the special effects that can be created compared to the film-based darkroom. He has been rewarded for this in having a number of his photographic images published in separate issues of the Australia and New Zealand Photography International magazine (copies of which he has available) and was recently accepted in Issue 78 of the "Digital Publishing Design Graphics" magazine in early 2002.

He now owns his own home-based business (ImageArt) combining photography with digital design and has a wide range of clients who demand perfection in the artistry he provides. He adds finally "I constantly try to improve my skills as you can never learn too much!"