A love affair with photography probably began for me at the age of six. My grandfather fascinated me in the dim magic yellow light of the darkroom. I vividly recall images slowly emerging in the pungent chemicals, seemingly from within the paper. Those familiar chemical smells and visions were firmly implanted in my young emerging memory banks.
"CONSTANTLY I FIND MYSELF PATIENTLY WAITING for an instant of extraordinary beauty, a gesture of nature, a delicate stream of light, a dramatic play of sunlight on sculptured clouds. Photography, for me, has become a challenge to perfection as each new image appears before me. Many are discarded at the beginning, never reaching the finished stage. But, for those that do, I still (and probably always will) find myself asking that relentless question... what could I do to make it a more powerful experience for the viewer!"
I have spent a lifetime photographing my native Northwest, from the San Juan Islands to the Canadian Rockies and the Oregon Coast. Born in Bellingham, I grew up surrounded by the natural beauty of the mountains, forests and islands of the Pacific Northwest. It allowed for superb access to a wealth of scenic and inspirational material for photography. Studies at Western Washington University provided an education that awarded me with a Bachelor of Science degree in Visual Communications. Ensuing employment began in the graphic arts trade in Portland, Oregon. There, camera work and film preparation for offset lithography built a strong foundation for photographic knowledge. Starting in 1978, career efforts began to focus on professional photography, and by 1979, I was printing black and white, and color images in a makeshift Bellingham darkroom. 1990 marked the opening of my first gallery. Continued success allowed my wife Bev and I to move the gallery to a new upscale location at Bellwether on the Bay in Bellingham in August of 2001. Digital photographic tools were slowly finding there way into my skill set and In 2005 I converted fully to the magic of a digital workflow. Some of my interest began to change and in September of 2008 a conscious choice was made to close the Mark Bergsma Gallery.
The closure of the gallery marked a period where I stepped away from marketing my fine art work. It allowed me time to focus on new creative directions and my new venture: BeyondCapture IMAGING. New influences are changing the way I illustrate with photography and this updated website will begin to reveal those directions in time. I am back at marketing my work so take some time to review how you can still purchase my fine art images. Use this website as a viable resource and visit the purchase page for more information.
