Mrs. Molly Markland, mother of Nick and Liz Markland who attend NDA, is known around school for her outstanding photography at school events. NDA cannot thank her enough for sharing her pictures with the students and their families.

Mrs. Markland said that she loves taking pictures at NDA events because she feels that high school is a very special time in a person’s life, and it goes by all too quickly.

“If by taking and sharing my pictures, I can help people capture some of those amazing moments to have for the rest of their lives,” she stated, “then that is a pretty cool thing.”

Her passion for photography started when she received her first camera in seventh grade. She said, “I have to date myself, but being into photography was a lot harder and more expensive in the pre-digital age.”

When Mrs. Markland first started taking pictures, she remembers having to save her money to buy the film. Then, she would ride her bike to ShopKo to drop the film off to be developed and go back about a week later to pick up the pictures.

Afterwards, she remembered the anticipation of opening the envelope of pictures when she would pick them up. Back then, she explained, “You just never knew if only one picture turned out or if all 24 photos on the roll of film turned out.”

“Still today, even though I have seen the digital pictures before they are printed, I still just love opening the envelope or package with my pictures in them!”

In 2010, some of Mrs. Markland’s friends who are exceptional photographers, such as Mrs. Hogan, Mrs. Santaga, and Mrs. Martin, encouraged her to join them in an online photo project called “365.” The people in the project shot and posted a picture every day for a year.

Once someone posted a picture, the other members of the project gave their feedback. They would give input on the crop of the photo, composition, the camera settings, and then give suggestions on what to do differently to improve the photo.

“I learned so much in that one year,” she said. “It was amazing!” She is now forever grateful to those ladies for encouraging her to step outside her comfort zone and join their group. She stated, “I am the photographer I am today because of them.”

When Liz and Nick attended Holy Family School, Mrs. Markland was in charge of the yearbook for six years. During that time she really started taking more pictures of sporting and school events. She would share the pictures she took of other people’s children or make slide shows for the athletic teams.

Many of the parents and kids loved the photos and were grateful to have photos of the event to remember it by. Now, NDA is also fortunate to have Mrs. Markland taking pictures at many of our school events.

Mrs. Markland’s favorite quote about photography comes from Karl Lagerfeld: “What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.”

Thanks to Mrs. Markland many NDA students and parents have the next best thing to being in the moment.

Editor’s Note: Many of Mrs. Markland’s photos, such as recent pictures from the Ashwaubenon/NDA football game, are posted on the Notre Dame Academy Facebook page. Last year she posted 500 pictures from the Mr. NDA Contest.