About Us

About 75% of American homes have some kind of device that can produce a digital photo. Whether it be a cell phone with a built in camera, a simple point and shoot camera or a complex DSLR system with bags full of gear, we are all creating digital photos.

Mark Chamberlin is our Director.  He has been a photographer since he was old enough to hold a camera. He did the High School journalism thing and started learning dark rooms back in the early 70s. In college he majored in Communications / Journalism. Out of college he went to work for a studio and soon owned his own studio for about eight years. Since then, he has been an avid freelancer, wedding photographer and all around photo geek.

After burning out on the studio business, he returned to college and got a Master's Degree in Counseling. Through this he started his teaching career and has taught adult education for the last twenty plus years including college classrooms for five years and corporate training for the last fifteen.

After getting laid off of a training contract teaching technology at a corporate level, he decided to combine his passion for teaching and photography as well as his passion for his native state of Oregon and opened SmarterPics. 

Mark's passion for photography and teaching people the fine points of shooting and the technology behind it shows up in his classes and photographer's tours. He genuinely loves to evangelize the power of digital images and has a knack for inspiring and guiding people dedicated to better images.

We employ other photographer / teachers that share Mark's passion and commitments to helping others learn the magic of seeing and capturing the images that they want and communicate the feelings they desire. All of our staff are successful photographers and have proven their ability to teach and inspire others.