Making a Mark

He is undoubtedly the foremost photographer in the country and is likewise credited for revolutionising the industry. Get to know Mark Nicdao, the man behind the lens

- Isabel Martel Francisco

It is ironic that Mark Nicdao originally had no interest in photography. Nor did a career in this field figure out in his plans. But fate, sometimes, has an impish way of disrupting life. In 2003, a dear friend offered Nicdao an internship as a production assistant with photographer Francis Abraham, who would later become his mentor. “I said yeah sure, I’ll do whatever. I needed the money. I had zero knowledge about photography” Nicdao shares matter-of-factly.

He had been apprenticing with Abraham for eight months when fate, again intervened. Nicdao had been booked to shoot then celebrity, now representative of the fourth district of Leyte, Lucy Torres. Although confessing that he was “not technically good yet at that time” and that he was “always unsure”, Nicdao, who was 24 then, took a leap of faith. Not only did his decision pay off, the experience turned out to be, in his words, “amazing”. Going back to that first-ever solo shoot, he remembers, “I asked her to dance, to jump. I directed her.” Afterwards, Torres asked Nicdao for his number, saying she may ask for him again. True to her word, she rang him up for a future campaign, and the rest is history.