“I love moving seamlessly between genres, whether it be evocative portraits, ethereal meditations on flowers, or visceral landscapes. I combine experience with a searching eye, staying within the moment while exploring the technical, visual and emotional possibilities of my surroundings. With portraiture, I try to engage my subject so that he or she is a collaborator and not merely an object. I prefer to find fresh solutions rather than fall back on the commonplace ones, working to satisfy my client’s needs, as well as serve the truth that photography enables us to capture. Over the years I have found that the camera doesn’t lie; the photographer just needs to allow it to discover the truth. My photographs have been in numerous film, sports, and arts books; national and international magazines and publications, film and theater posters, movies and plays, they are also on the walls of individual collectors’ homes. Nothing makes me happier than to know that my work has become a part of someone else’s life. It is, for any artist, a way of repaying the world for the richness that we take from it. Based in Santa Monica, California, I enjoy giving my time and experience working with philanthropic organizations such as Covenant House California and Crossing the Digital Divide. I have taught at The Art Center College of Design and UCLA. But more than anything else, I enjoy capturing the constant mystery, comedy and beauty of the world around me through a camera lens.”
– Mark Hanauer