As a fine art photographer specializing in architectural, interior, and garden photography for numerous publications, architects, and designers, John Mark Hall’s profession has taken him all over the world. Last year, his work brought him back to his home state of North Carolina to photograph the State Capitol.

Though he presently resides in New York City, Hall grew up between Hillsborough and Roxboro in the town of Hurdle Mills. As a young man, he left the family tobacco farm to study architecture at North Carolina State University. After completing his degree, he relocated to Manhattan to begin his career as an architect. “What I found when I got there was that I didn’t love being an architect,” Hall said. “I wanted to get out and explore more.” This precipitated his move to Europe, where, as he puts it, he fell in with “art folks” who recognized his talent and encouraged the onetime architect to explore photography as a creative outlet.

Hall returned to New York in the early 1980s and began photographing interiors for publications such as House & Garden magazine. “I love architecture enormously and it was a really great time to be doing what I was doing in New York. People were becoming so interested in interior design and so many art magazines were started at this time,” said Hall. From that point, his freelance photography career took off. Over the past few decades, Hall has produced an impressive body of work, which can been seen in books such as Adventures With Old Houses, Living With Art, and Antiques at Home. Hall’s photographs have graced the pages of numerous magazines, including Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Vogue Decoration, and The New York Times Magazine. Finally, Hall has also contributed to exhibitions at the Salon Exhibition (Paris), the American Embassy (Mexico), and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (Winston-Salem).

Hall’s photographs of the State Capitol are currently being used in a new line of postcards and will eventually illustrate a guidebook for the historic site. Additionally, the Foundation plans to display a portion of Hall’s most recent work at the Capitol during the 2008 Ball in April. Viewers can expect to see a mix of artistic abstract photographs that play up the contrast of shadow and light, and documentary pictures of the chambers, rotunda, and the building’s other unique architectural elements.

A limited number of John Hall’s original photographs of the North Carolina State Capitol will be available for purchase at the Ball.  Scroll down and click each thumbnail to view more......