ABOUT MARK TRIPLETT
Mark is a self-taught, professional photographer specializing in landscape and fine art photography. He successfully operated a professional portrait studio from 2004 thru 2012, serving local folks with wedding and portrait photography. As a lover of nature, in 2012 Mark began migrating his work more toward the landscape and fine art genres of photography.
EARLY LIFE:
Mark’s interest in photography began when he was just 15 years old when he found himself in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (known as the BWCAW or just BWCA) for three months with his camera.
During that life-changing three-month venture into the profound beauty of the BWCA, on many long canoe trips deep into northern Minnesota and southern Canadian wilderness areas, he discovered his love of photography with an old Brownie Hawkeye camera.
Later, Mark bought his first ‘real’ camera, a Canon QL17 ‘Range-Finder’ that he still owns to this day. Mark now creates his art using the fine Canon line of photography equipment.
PERSONAL LIFE:
Mark lives in Cottage Grove, Minnesota with Linda, his amazing wife of over 52 years.
They met very early in life, at age 16, and fell deeply in love. Linda is a homemaker, author and budding photographer herself and has produced some amazing photos through Mark’s tutorage.
Aside from his love of photography, Mark is also an accomplished, successful Motivational Speaker and Teacher. He inspires people to tune-in to their inner voice and discover new and exciting experiences in life. He absolutely loves being outdoors in nature. He subscribes to the same philosophy of his mentor and teacher Tim Shields who “…believes that photography can actually help to enhance a person’s quality of life through travel, adventure, creativity, planning for the future, and looking for the light…in everything.”
Mark and Linda have two wonderful adult children (one living in Minnesota and the other in Heaven), and two amazing adult grandkids who absolutely rock their world and they are now Great-Grandparents! Woo-hoo!
EDUCATION AND TRAINING:
Mark received his B.A. degree in Communications and Management from Concordia University in St. Paul, MN while working for “Ma Bell” the local phone company from 1970 – 2000. It was during his employment at the phone company that he also developed his public speaking skills and motivational speaking experiences. Today, Mark teaches basic photography to local business professionals, and others, and through his public speaking aims to inspire people to seek personal transformation to become the best version of themselves and how to seek the Divine within themselves and ‘hear the voice of God’.
NON-PROFIT FOUNDER AND AUTHOR
Since 1998, Mark has been serving as Founder and Director of LNF (Love Never Fails) Ministries, a non-profit organization focusing on helping families dealing with the death of a child. He is also Founder of the Adam M. Triplett Memorial Scholarship Fund, offering scholarships to college-bound students in the areas of Aviation, Music and Ministry.
Visit Mark’s ministry page at: https://lnfministries.com/
Mark authored and self-published his book “From Mayhem to Miracles”, his true story of encountering the very presence of God in the aftermath of the death of his son, Adam in 1997. Through that grief journey, struggling with his faith, Mark experienced what can only be understood as real, true miracles and a deeper understanding of God’s very presence in life. When he’s not out photographing nature, Mark and his wife Linda find themselves invited to speak to groups and individuals across the country about their own grief & faith journey.
CIVIL VOLUNTEER: 
Over the years, Mark has served as a volunteer in law enforcement with both the Maplewood Police Department and with the Minnesota State Patrol.
Currently, he holds the rank of Captain in the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary, Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in Lake Elmo, MN as a pilot, Character Development Officer and the squadron’s Award-Winning Historian having earned many honorable awards from both the Minnesota Wing and Group 4 organizations.
PHOTOGRAPHY CAREER:
Photography was a hobby for Mark, even during his adult years. But, in April of 2004, he officially began his professional photography business with back-to-back weddings in one weekend, with his lovely wife Linda as his assistant.
On their drive home from their very first successful photography sessions, Mark and Linda were hit head-on by a drunk driver and found themselves together on the way to the emergency room. Healing and restoration took many years but through it all they persevered. They praise the local fire department Chief for safely securing 15 rolls of exposed film and all of the camera gear for them, and of course the exemplary care they provided during such a terrible event.
In 2015, Mark shifted his interests and began getting serious about landscape photography and combined family summer holidays with landscape photography trips to local parks and other photo destinations in the USA. After returning from a successful trip to the North Shore of Lake Superior, he began his search of other professional photographers to learn from.
He had then discovered Tim Shields, Master Photographer and now mentor and teacher to both Mark and Linda. When Mark saw the incredible photography of Tim Shields, he believed what was possible for himself and vowed to learn how to take award-winning magazine-quality photos. Tim Shield’s amazing Master Class has made a world of difference for both Mark and Linda as they pursue their passion in photography, and he wants to pass that knowledge along to others.
SOCIAL CHANNELS
