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Centre Daily Times February 1 2005
Capturing Bellefonte
Love of the arts spawns business, photo series
By Skye Hibbard-Swanson; For the CDT
BELLEFONTE -- There are three things you come away feeling certain of after talking with brothers Mark and Cecil Houser: their love for their family, their love for art and their love for their hometown of Bellefonte.
Art is a family legacy in the Houser household. Mark and Cecil's father, Cecil Sr., first began taking pictures when he received a camera from his parents in high school, and his enthusiasm and skill in turn inspired his two sons.
Growing up, the family did not own a television, and so, the Houser boys were encouraged by their parents to write or draw instead.
"I wanted my kids to learn to use the right side of their brain," their mother, Sally, says. Her efforts paid off: Mark, 29, and Cecil, 31, now co-own a photography and videography business with their father called IKON Photography and Motion Studios.
Around since 1998, IKON currently operates out of Mark Houser's Bellefonte home. It began as a photography business but, in 1999, expanded to include videography, and the two brothers work as producers, editors and videographers.
Coincidentally, Mark officially got his start in photography through another art form. He and his wife, Trish, were both actors and, at one point, they needed headshots within a space of just two weeks. They couldn't find anyone to take their pictures on such short notice, so Mark did it himself.
Once other people saw their headshots, Mark Houser says, they wanted him to do theirs, too. Because of that, he was able to break into the headshot market, moving on to portraits for graduations, engagements and weddings.
This past summer, he and his father decided to join their work and begin selling it. While exhibiting some photographs at a Bellefonte arts-and-crafts fair, they were asked several times if they had any pictures of local buildings.
Then halfway through the summer, Mark met a tourist who told him that Bellefonte's beautiful architecture reminded him of Europe. These two events inspired him to undertake the project of photographing his hometown.
The result, called the "America Town: Bellefonte" series, includes 200 photographs and seven panoramic images of Bellefonte. Mark Houser shot two of the panoramic cityscapes from his own balcony. The majority of the collection focuses on the town's architecture and historic buildings, but there also are closeups of details such as walkways, spider webs, windows, birds and fences -- what Mark calls the "hidden beauty" of Bellefonte.
He compiled the images over a period of one month, describing the series as a "four-week love affair with the city."
And Mark Houser recently completed a another series of photographs, "The Vineyard Collection: Majestic Images of Martha's Vineyard, MA" and is working on another, "The Edge of the World: Amish Series."
The Housers are currently looking for space to display their work, but those who are interested can view the collection on IKON's Web site, www.ikonphotography.com, or contact the Housers to arrange a private showing.
The brothers have big dreams for their hometown. They hope to use their creative abilities to fill what they see as a need for more sources of family entertainment and outlets for artistic expression in the area. As a prospective filmmaker, Cecil Houser says he plans to collaborate with his brother to create "family-oriented productions for small communities" such as Bellefonte -- events that are "wholesome" and "uplifting" and include audiences of all types.
The duo also has thought of trying to create a comprehensive fine arts festival in Bellefonte called the Pied Piper festival, so named because it would represent "the coming together of all the children of the arts."
When asked why the brothers decided to go into business together, as well as with their father, Cecil Houser grins. "We hate each other," he quips, as his brother and father burst into laughter.
In fact, the bond between the Housers is palpable, even to an outside observer. Their father explains, "We've always been a close-knit family ... (this) is just another way for us to be together."
Mark Houser agrees. "You have to have a center," he says. "Otherwise, you have nowhere to work from."
The Housers' advice to aspiring artists is to pursue their passion wholeheartedly, no matter what the obstacles. Indeed, Mark is a self-taught photographer who has never taken a formal class on the subject. "But that doesn't mean I haven't had an education," he says.
Instead, Mark has learned through careful practice and observation. His wife calls him "the man who looked up," because his eye for photography enables him to see things that most people miss.
Indeed, he laments the idea that most of the people who drive through Bellefonte "never see what's here." His photographs, luckily, have made some take notice.
"My biggest message," he says, "would be for people to appreciate wherever they are, wherever they live, and to look up."
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