Mark DeWitt Carter
Mark DeWitt Carter - Making his MARK on Photography & Digital Design
by Cate Murway
Do the snapshots of your life depict a moment or are they able to transcend time to portray an emotion? You can answer that question, but inside, you know it's not the camera responsible for great pictures. It's the photographer!
Enter Mark DeWitt Carter and his innovative, creative digital design. An artistic eye, a dedication to a demanding craft, a knack for self-promotion, much more than a smattering of business sense, and an affinity for mechanical and electronic gadgets are a necessity.
Wait, there’s more… the Mark Carter Photography & Digital Design Group is right here on 310 Mill Street. Mark, a Pennsbury ’83 graduate, who originally lived in Bristol Township and his wife, Rosa Ivette, a Camden H.S. grad are raising their two children Crystal Ivette [9-19-97], who “loves jazz” and Mark DeWitt, Jr. [12-27-04] in their newly renovated home right above their Mill Street store. They are truly “all about the Borough”, assisting in Borough events and doing business with Borough residents. They even provide “gallery space“ for local artists’ paintings. Positive attitude exudes from this couple. Their combined determination to make this business and their new home successful is apparent in their shared commingled dreams for the future. The first joint “picture” of their potential new home was “battleship” grey walls in the functional downstairs and a hodgepodge of mismatched rug samples carpeting the upstairs, complete with old pipes and no kitchen! Everything needed to be re-wired [thank you, Bob McGuire Electrical Contractor on 311 Market Street!] except their optimistic outlooks. Their new best friends lived at Home Depot and their favorite television show became “Trading Spaces”.
Mark DeWitt Carter is the third child born into the family of George, a Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commision worker, and Mozell Carter. He and his three sisters, Hope, Melody and Odessa grew up hearing “always strive and go for the top” from their parents, currently Fairless Hills residents. As a child, Mark enjoyed dismantling and reassembling radio controlled airplanes and cars and he continues his inquisitive “creative style” approach to life today. After an Air Force stint in Mountain Home, Idaho, which is located between the Danskin and Owyhee Mountains, 40 miles SE of Boise, as an air traffic controller and scheduler, (a life crossroads), he worked for PCA [Portrait Corporation of America] a leader in professional photography services for retail stores. An associate employee, Maribell, introduced him to her sister, Rosa, a vocalist who had taken photography while in school. Maribell and Rosa’s minister father and their mother had moved to Florida and now currently live in Puerto Rico. Mark continued his photography career as a custom color corrector for almost seven years in a Bensalem based business and after a summer sabbatical, he realized a j-o-b was no longer for him! He focused on getting his finances in order and processed his self-employment plans. Meanwhile, his Bristol Township duplex was becoming a tad undersized for he and Rosa and his growing family. In November 2004, the day after Thanksgiving, he solidified his purchase plans of what was previously the location of Bristol Photography for the last 1/3 of a century.
The dark room was banished and the grey walls became a welcoming warm burgundy. An almost life–size print of his children hangs on the wall, smiling down at him while he works at his state of the art computer workstation. The Oriental rug and old time stereo are gifts from his dad. The antique stately wall chairs were purchased from the now defunct Regal Shoes. He kept the original desk. Mark Carter Digital photography is an almost once in a lifetime marriage of old time values and modern technology.
What does it cost? His business is priceless, literally! Mark truly loves working with people and accommodating his clients’ requests for enduring memories. He provides a customized finished product structured for their individual needs based on his full per diem of $1500, compensation for his talent and time, complete with 300 or more images. $2500 provides a CD and 10 pages, 20-image album package. His personalized creations can include a spiral coffee table proof book or a customized family slide show.
His high-tech studio workroom is equipped with solid and various fabrics of woven muslin backdrops for family or group shots but you can choose the world for your set! Mark has traveled to the Philadelphia Art Museum or moved his equipment out to photograph in front of a wrought iron fence or down to the docks at the Delaware River to capture the fundamental nature of the image desired.
Each and every day is an emergent adventure for Mark, and also for Rosa, who is currently working in a record retrieval business. The only “burnout” they experienced was the devastating fire at Walnut Hill Enterprises, a business that manufactured a full line of candle making supplies, where Rosa had once been employed.
Mark has perfected the skill to make available, for most clients, a 1-hour turn-a-round from the preliminary shoot, to a preview, to the images on disc. His portfolio includes everything from weddings, corporate functions or advertising, photo restorations to black-tie affairs. He has designed promotional materials for Torreo Coffee and Tea Company, a quality oriented, mainly wholesale specialty roaster, one of his corporate clients. This is merely a “snapshot” of this extremely talented man. Samples of his most recent accomplishments can be viewed on www.markcarterphotography.com. Give him a call at 215.431.5696 and if you’re lucky, he’ll share his freshly popped popcorn and gourmet coffee!
Mark Carter Photography Digital Design Group
310 Mill Street
Bristol, PA 19007
215.431.5696
www.markcarterphotography.com
mdc@markcarterphotography.com
Carter children
Rosa Carter
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