My name is Mark Melnick and I have been taking pictures from the time I was old enough to understand how to use my parents’ Brownie camera.
As an adult, I moved to New York City and landed an assistant designer position for a jewelry manufacturer. After two years, I earned a head design position designing for such companies as Tiffany & Co., Cartier, Bulgari, and Neiman Marcus. But even more than the design work itself, I fell in love with photographing my award-winning pieces and gradually found myself spending more time behind the camera than at my workbench. That seemed like something to pay attention to. So I followed my instincts and began to photograph things other than jewelry. In retrospect, the two crafts are very much alike: both deal with light and composition, and both are fields that require attention to detail.