This seascape series began in January of 2014. I live on the north shore of Massachusetts, within sight of the ocean, and I’ve spent many hundreds of hours patrolling the New England coastline, observing and discovering the personalities of its many beaches and rocky shores. The weather, the tide, and the terrain all play a part in how that interaction between land, sea and atmosphere displays itself. Remarkably, even with all those variables, each spot exhibits a unique character.

No other zone on earth so clearly conveys the pulse of our living planet. To stand at the edge of the sea, feeling the tug of a receding wave, is to have a finger on that pulse. This boundary layer, this ecotone, gives life to a third, and wholly mesmerizing, environment. The shore exerts is influence over the ocean openly and often flamboyantly as it trips each successive swell, while the sea molds sand and stone with a (sometimes only marginally) more patient hand.

One goal of these images is to reveal the relationship between wet an dry that goes deeper than an all-encompassing landscape. I search for personality traits, quirks, and tells that are peculiar to each seaside locale without ignoring the vastness to which it is connected.

Another more personal goal is to share my lifelong love for these places. I’ve played in the surf as a kid and later with my own kids. I’ve been soothed by it’s calm and humbled by it’s strength. We all have witnessed the incredible power of the ocean, yet I am often more impressed by it’s subtleties and little surprises. I still get a powerful sense of anticipation and a little adrenaline spike every time I approach the coast. Some of it comes from my expectation of new photographs and the rest from somewhere more primal.

Mark Thayer
Fine Art Photographer

A 1978 graduate of the New England School of Photography in Boston, Massachusetts, Mark Thayer began shooting commercial assignments while still in school. After a successful stint as staff photographer for a Boston-area advertising firm, he opened his own studio in 1983, and acquired such noted clients as Bose Audio, Titleist Golf, Bell Helmets, Raleigh Bicycles, Fischer Skis, Chase Bank, Hewlett Packard and American Express, to name just a few.

Mark developed a love of fine art photography in school and has never lost the desire to express his personal vision. His focus has been primarily on natural and urban landscapes.

After decades of building large portfolios of fine art photography, Mark finally decided to seek public venues for his art. He had his inaugural show at the True North Gallery in Hamilton, Massachusetts in September of 2012. He has since shown at several corporate gallery spaces in the Boston area.

Mark lives in Beverly with his wife Andi, he is an avid mountain biker and cross-country skier, and enjoys a fine IPA.