An Evening with NASA: Space Exploration Through the Shutter
Tuesday, June 11th, 6:30pm @ Photo Center NW
Tickets: $10, $8 Photo Center and PSC Members
Purchase Tickets

 
Photography has become an important part of documenting NASA’s space missions. Photographer Mark Sowa, supervisor of NASA’s Imagery Acquisition Group at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center will talk about the work he and his team are doing to support the International Space Station. Operating eight efficient camera systems, the NASA photography team captures images, HD video, high speed digital motion picture and time‑lapse as a form of data collection and a record of research and development at NASA. In order to record the efforts of humankind’s efforts in space exploration, Sowa’s team produces a wide range of multimedia products. Mark Sowa specializes in high‑speed motion picture and other non‑conventional photography for engineering applications.

Mark Sowa Bio:
Mark Sowa has been a photographer with the NASA’s Johnson Space Center for 25 years. Sowa holds a B.S. in Imaging and Photographic Technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He arrived at the Johnson International Space Station shortly after the Challenger accident and was hired as part of the second generation of photographers to replace NASA’s original Apollo era group as they retired. Sowa has photographed 45 crew portraits, countless individual astronaut portraits, documented engineering and astronaut training aboard NASA’s reduced‑gravity aircraft, dived over 1,300 times photographing suited extravehicular training underwater in NASA’s Water Environment Training Facility and later in NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Training Facility. Many of his images have appeared on National Geographic and other prominent newspapers and magazines. He also specializes in high‑speed motion picture and other non‑conventional photography for engineering applications.