AS a kid Mark Kolbe played a number of sports including soccer, cricket, rugby league and rugby union.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
While he never quite scaled the heights of being a professional player, he managed to do the next best thing.
“I was never good enough to be paid to play sport, but I do get paid to take pictures of them and that’s pretty awesome,” he laughed.
Now, Mark’s passion for sport and photography will take him to the 2012 London Olympics, as a photographer for Getty Images.
He is also set to be one of the first to dabble into the new medium of photography, with London being the first ever Games to be captured in 3D.
Mark’s life journey actually began in Zimbabwe, until he emigrated to Australia with his family at the age of three, settling in Inverell.
Now based in Sydney, Mark has spent his time travelling the world, taking photographs of big events including the Paralympics, the FIFA World Cup, The Commonwealth Games and the Indian Premier League, but he still shares fond memories of his early days in Inverell.
“I absolutely loved it… The freedom to just cruise around, swim in the river and playing sport every opportunity I had.”
Mark attended Ross Hill Public School and Inverell High, where he graduated in 1994.
He spent the next year travelling overseas, firstly to England, where he played a season of cricket in the Worcester league and then meeting family in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Mark moved to Sydney upon his return to Australia in 1996 and initially studied to become a teacher at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
It was during his time at UTS that he discovered his great passion in life, photography.
After a close friend got a job with Allsport (now owned by Getty Images) Mark followed his progress very closely and also got a job with the agency.
“I basically learnt on the job, through feedback,” he said.
“I kept taking more and more pictures and picked it up and things grew from there.”
Over the past 13 years, Mark’s job with Allsport and Getty Images has taken him around the world and while this will be the fourth time he’s been to the Olympics, it’s the first as a full-time photographer.
Mark will also face another new challenge, with Getty Images set to shoot the Games in 3D for the first time ever. He will work with a colleague to try and cover everything with 3D imagery.
While he has had some experience with the new form of photography, including last years’ Rugby World Cup, he admitted it will be a tough challenge.
“All the new technology really changes the ball game. Two cameras are used, side-by-side and fire at the exact same time, with the same focus point and setting to replicate how eyes see things. They are then merged in a program, which creates an output in 3D version.
“It’s completely new for me and it changes the elements of photography. You’re trying to isolate the subject and look for a clean background and incorporate the different layers.”
When Mark discovered he had been chosen from such a select few to be one of the 3D photographers, he admitted to being “stoked.”
“Pretty surprised too. For such a big company, it’s really exciting to think I’ve been asked to work on something that, as far as we know, no one else is doing yet. I guess that makes it a little bit daunting, but it’s certainly going to be a great challenge.”
Mark credited his childhood in Inverell as a big factor in helping him get to where he is today.
“One thing I learnt was to take everything in your stride. I’m grateful for all the opportunities I had to work with different people. I was always encouraged to try new things and push to explore new boundaries.”