Mark Gotchall Photography – Thank You for Visiting Our Website
Mark Gotchall is a Eugene, Oregon-based landscape photographer.
My love for nature and adventure fuels my passion for photography, where I seek out lesser-known spots and capture the breathtaking beauty of the outdoors, from hidden waterfalls to ancient petroglyphs, all so others can enjoy those special moments in time.
Mark, a lifelong Oregon resident, developed a deep appreciation for the outdoors early on. He continues to enjoy these adventures with his wife, Vicki. She has been along on many of these adventures and helps in many ways such as carrying lunch and water as well as offering suggestions such as “watch what you are doing, or you will fall off that log” or “wouldn’t it be easier to get across that stream if you went back to the road and walked up the other side”. Seriously, though, he wouldn’t have the time to do many of the things he loves to do without her help. She has also helped make this website and Etsy Shop happen, MNVPhotography.com for Mark N Vicki Gotchall
With Mark’s nature and landscape photography, he attempts to capture what he sees and translates that mental image into a photograph. He prints what he sees and what the camera captured in the field; he does not use digital image software to add objects to his photographs. He does not use AI to enhance his pictures; the colors are real and what nature intended. For those of you who don’t get up early in the morning, you now have an idea of what you are missing.
“As I walk along the trail or river, I feel relaxed and refreshed. It’s a feeling I can not get anywhere else, and one I could not live without.” – Mark
“You don’t take a photograph, you make it” – Ansel Adams
Do I Use Photoshop?
Asking if I use Photoshop is the wrong question; what I do with Photoshop would be the correct line of questioning. Photoshop is the darkroom for digital images, just like Ansel Adams used the darkroom to make his images. I use Photoshop for dodging and burning, adjusting exposure and contrast, sharpening and noise reduction. I use it to remove distractions from an image as well.
What I don’t use Photoshop for is adding things to my image that were not in the frame. I don’t add clouds that were shot from a different location on a different day. Nor do I take a moon that was shot at 400 mm focal length and put it in a frame shot with a 35 mm focal length. I don’t take the Milky Way that was shot in the spring, in a SE direction, and put it in an image that was captured facing West.
If it would never happen in real life, I won’t make it happen in one of my images. UNLESS I very clearly note that the image is a composite. I have the artistic license to do that. However, I feel like I would be trying to fool someone if I did not tell them the image was not real and would never happen in nature. There are a lot of posts on social media where the image creator pretends it is real, and it is not. Purposeful omission or misinformation about a photograph or pretending an AI image is a photograph is the same as lying. Unfortunately, with AI, it will only get worse, it might be art, but it is not a photograph. The images I display are real, not created with Artificial Intelligence, and happened in nature.
Current Image Displays
Upcoming Image Displays
- River Road Parks, Christmas Bazaar December 2025
Previous Displays
- River Road Parks, Christmas Bazaar; December 2024
- River Road Parks, Christmas Bazaar; December 2023
- Lane County Courthouse, 125 E 8th Ave, Eugene, OR; November 2023
- Dr Dexter’s Gallery, November 2022
- Lane County Courthouse, 125 E 8th Ave, Eugene, OR; June 2019
- Dr. Dexter’s Gallery, 2233 Willamette Suite B, Eugene, OR; June 26th – September 24th, 2018. Open house on July 16th from 5:00 to 7:00 pm
- Coffee Plant Roasters, 2836 W 11th Ave, Eugene, OR. August, September, and October 2018
- Dr. Dexter’s Gallery, 2233 Willamette Suite B, Eugene, OR; June 26th – September 24th, 2018. Open house on July 16th from 5:00 to 7:00 pm
- Dr. Dexter’s Gallery, 2233 Willamette Suite B, Eugene, OR; November 18, 2017 10 am–5 pm
- Lane County Courthouse, 125 E 8th Ave, Eugene, OR 97401; November 2017
- Springfield City Hall Gallery, Springfield, OR; August 2017
- Henry Higgen’s Boiled Bagels, NE Portland, OR; May 2017
- Springfield City Hall Gallery, Springfield, OR; September 2016
- Lane County Courthouse, 125 E 8th Ave, Eugene, OR 97401; July 2016
- Dr. Dexter’s Gallery, 2233 Willamette Suite B, Eugene, OR; April 2016–June 2016
- Springfield City Hall Gallery, Springfield, OR; December 2015
Awards
- Springfield Arts Commission award for Cape Perpetua Night
Memberships
- Emerald Photographic Society, Springfield, OR
My Gear
- Sony A7 IV
- 16-35 mm f/2.8 Sony lens
- 24-105 mm f/4 Sony lens
- 90 mm f/2.8 Macro Sony lens
- 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 Sony lens
- Feisol CT-3372 carbon fiber tripod
- Markins Q10 ball head
- Lowepro Flipside Trek BP 450 AW backpack
- Lumecube Mini Panel & Goal Zero Lighthouse Mini Core Lantern for LLLL
