Mark Edward Atkinson is an accomplished professional photographer, documentarian, artist and writer, and serves as a partner and creative director with Otto Design and Marketing. He started his career with the News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C. where we won his first professional award for a photo illustration. His photographs have subsequently appeared in Time, Newsweek, Esquire , US News, The Washingtonian, the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Marie Claire, and numerous other pubs including the National Enquirer.
Atkinson has traveled the world meeting 
phenomenal people and shooting work for nonprofit organizations such as Mercy & Sharing, ICD, Smile Train, the United Way, Urban Ministries of Charlotte, and Picture World Hope. He has directed and shot several documentaries in the past 10 years on subjects covering homelessness, poverty, blindness, mental health, and facial deformity. As a board member and photographer for Smile Train, Mark traveled to Southern India, China, and Afghanistan to shoot both still photography and documentary films telling the stories of doctors and their cleft palate and burn patients.
His photography has appeared in exhibitions at the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Stanley Gallery, the Hermitage Museum & Gardens, the Fayetteville Museum of Art, the Maine Photographic Show, Communication Arts, the One Show, and Photo District News. His advertising photography and graphic designs have also won numerous ADDY Awards including Best in Show. His distinctive photographs and advertisements have been the focus of many hospitality, tourism, fashion, retail, and lifestyle marketing campaigns. Additionally, he served as editor of Distinction Magazine, a high-end lifestyle publication for the Tidewater region during the first three years of its start up. In 2019 he received the Advertising Federation’s Silver medal award for lifetime achievements in advertising.
Atkinson received a business degree from Wake Forest University, and an Associate of Applied Science degree in photography from Randolph Technical College.
View Mark Edward Atkinson’s collection at Stravitz Art Gallery.
