Mark Kelley

"As a kid in Buffalo, New York, I always wondered what it would be like to encounter a whale,” says Mark Kelley. “I moved north in 1974, and four years later I graduated from the University of Alaska with a journalism degree.” In 1985, Kelley earned a master's degree in photojournalism at Ohio University, where he received the Paul Schutzer Memorial Award. He then spent thirteen years as a photojournalist for the Juneau Empire before transitioning to a full-time career in Alaska nature and wildlife photography in 1991. Having called Alaska home for over fifty years, Kelley's photographic knowledge of the state is unsurpassed. He is an award-winning photographer, placing first in the 2022 National Wildlife Magazine Photo Contest for his portfolio of the bears of Anan Creek, and first in the 2013 Nature's Best Windland Smith Rice Photography Awards' Outdoor Adventure category. He has also received the Juneau Mayor's Award for the Arts, the Alaska Conservation Foundation's Daniel Housberg Wilderness Image Award, and recognition from the Alaska Press Club, the National Press Photographers Association, and the Society of Professional Journalists.

Kelley has published fourteen photo books and two annual calendars, with combined sales exceeding 750,000 copies. Three of his books received Benjamin Franklin Awards from the Independent Book Publishers Association, and several calendars, along with his children's book Once Upon Alaska, earned Communication Arts Awards of Excellence; Once Upon Alaska is also a Mom's Choice Awards Gold Recipient. He has worked on assignment for Cunard, UNESCO, Jaeger-LeCoultre, National Geographic Adventure, Outside, Alaska Magazine, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Boys' Life, and USA Today, with images published in National Wildlife, Sunset, National Geographic Traveler, Alaska Airlines, Time for Kids, Sierra, Runner's World, Travel & Leisure, and more — appearing on the covers of over three hundred publications.