PULSE The Magazine
of Mount Dora, Eustis and Tavares

Marc Vaughn

An Advertising Photographer by Trade,
A People Photographer by Passion

by Mari Henninger

Marc is unlike many of the most successful photographers. Despite his stellar credentials, including a degree from the Art Institute in Fort Lauderdale, prestigious clients such as American Express, Motorola, Florida Tourism, and Walmart, along with numerous creative awards for his work, Marc remains a real person. He sees people as individuals, not as objects to be photographed. His down-to-earth perspective comes from years of working construction with his dad, Stephen Vaughn, a Mount Dora contractor. Remembering his roots, his mantra is, "It's a whole lot easier being a photographer than pounding nails."

Shortly after beginning his career, he became known as "the people photographer." According to Marc, "As long as it has a person it, I like shooting it." He's a master of intuiting who people really are and what they care about, often aided by his reading of their physical environment. He's built a connection with people ranging from Carmen Elektra to CEOs of the country's largest corporations. That's the key to Marc's magic -- he focuses on you, connects with you and as he helps you focus on what you most love, you forget you're being photographed.

I was fortunate that Marc agreed to do my PR shoot. It was unfortunate that he let me schedule it. Three, six, then nine months passed and I'd yet to set a date -- avoidance in full bloom. But when "Pulse" offered me the opportunity to write a story about Marc's unique portraits of local people, I jumped at the chance. First, because I love his portraits, but also because I knew it would force me to schedule the dreaded PR photo shoot I'd been so assiduously avoiding.

As background for writing this article, I interviewed two of the local people Marc photographed for his "Portraits of a Small Town" exhibition beginning October 1st at the Schacknow Museum of Fine Arts in Plantation, Florida. The setting for each portrait is carefully selected to tell a story about the person in the photograph.

Rick, the tree farmer whose photo graces our cover, said, "Marc just makes you comfortable enough to show who you really are. There's a lot of me in that picture." The tractor and two Great Danes in Marc's original portrait mirror key aspects of Rick's life. He describes the dogs as his babies and the tractor as a reflection of himself -- he remembers every dent he put in it.

Rick looks a lot like the Marlboro Man, so it's not surprising that other photographers have asked him to model for them. But he found their direction less than stellar, remembering one photographer who kept saying, "You're the star, you're the man." Marc, incontrast, asked Rick to think about what really made him happy. Rick imagined what he most wanted in life. The result: a portrait of world weariness lighted by hope.

The portrait of Rick's six year old nephew, Dyson, reflects the flip side of world weariness. While Dyson "took a header" right before Marc shot his photo, Marc calmed him down, a bit like a horse whisperer, and captured the beauty and light of his untouched innocence.

Sandy Boldini, "the lady in green" in one of Marc's portraits, hadn't planned to model for Marc. He'd asked to use her vintage 1950s living room as a backdrop for a photo shoot with a professional model. While they waited for the model, he offered to take a few shots of Sandy dressed in her trademark vintage clothing. Sandy describes the experience as "a blast." She watched as Marc carefully adjusted the most minute aspects of the room to create the perfect balance reflected in her photo. A few shots turned into many, one of which produced the final portrait. Ultimately, the model arrived, beautiful and practiced in the art of posing. But in the end, Marc chose Sandy's photo because it had more energy and was just more alive. Reflecting on the photo shoot Sandy says, "Marc has a gift for evoking inner beauty so that it can be seen on the outside."

Encouraged, I finally scheduled my shoot with Marc. When I first talked with him, I shared my belief that photos steal your soul, and challenged him to capture my soul in the photos he shot of me. Not at all fazed by the request, Marc asked me to describe my soul. That stumped me, but seemed like a really good question. In the end, I invited him to my house, feeling it expressed non-verbally what I couldn't articulate about the nature of my soul. When he saw the house, he immediately "got who I was." He loved the colors and the feeling of my home, so we agreed to do the shoot there rather than outside as originally planned. Marc also helped me select what to wear, coached me on makeup and generally talked me down from incipient panic.

He arrived on a hot and sweaty day dragging a studio's worth of equipment into the house. We began with a portrait to give me a sense of how he approaches the portraits he shoots. My first shots had the panicked deer-in-headlights look that has made me so photophobic. But Marc quickly adjusted lighting, got me thinking of something other than "being shot," and made me feel so comfortable in front of the camera that my first PR shot looked great. This is a miracle rivaling the parting of the Red Sea.

Marc, like many of the people he photographs, is a study in contrasts. His effervescent and trusting nature engage you, but he's a consummate professional. He brings years of expertise and artistic intuition to his work, making what he does seem effortless. And I confess, he's changed my belief that photographs steal your soul. As I previewed the untouched photos he'd taken, I realized they not only reflected who I am, but revealed a part of my soul I'd never seen. How cool is that?

Marc's exhibit runs from October 1st - 31st, 2010 at the Schacknow Museum of Fine Arts, 7080 Northwest 4th Street, Plantation, Florida 33317.

To find out more about Marc and his portraits visit: vaughnportraits.com

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