After 30 years of running a photography studio known as Clique , Eric Marshall hosted his first art opening reception at The Bridge Cafe in Upland on Wednesday , March 22 .

The show titled “ Mandatory Serenity ” consists of images from Marshall ’ s road trips and will continue to decorate the cafe walls until Monday , April 24 . The photos “ represent a departure from what I am usually paid to do as a professional . They are images that require no direction , no subject to create a pleasing likeness of and no product to sell . They are just images to enjoy and apply your own meaning to ,” said Marshall . “ Hopefully , they are as pleasing to your eye as they are to mine .”

Marshall , born and raised in Marion , developed an interest in cameras when he was in elementary school . He liked to fidget with gadgets , take them apart and see what they were made

of , which is why Marshall ’ s father told him he could not touch his 35mm Canon rangefinder camera . Marshall said the only time he saw his father ’ s camera was during the annual family portrait .

He became fascinated with photography and took up odd jobs in the community to save enough money to buy his first camera , a

“ I aspire to create meaningful photography that might leave a little mark on the universe .”

Canon SLR . He started taking pictures for the high school newspaper and yearbooks .

Following high school , Marshall attended Indiana University ( IU ) and became a stringer for the Associated Press . He also did

freelance work for several national magazines such as Newsweek and Black Enterprise and served as a paid photojournalist intern for the Chronicle-Tribune , Marion , IN , The Times- Union Democrat and Chronicle , Rochester , NY , and the Herald-Telephone , Bloomington , IN . He graduated from IU in 1987 with a Bachelor ’ s of Arts degree with a double major in journalism and psychology .

After college , Marshall returned home to Marion to be with his family while his dad was battling terminal lung cancer . While in Marion , Marshall decided to open Clique Photography in a vacant space at 422 E Fourth St ., a building that his grandparents owned and operated a barbershop , tavern , pool hall , and restaurant . Today , the business is simply known as Clique , and Marshall is known as the man who has photographed generations of local families , composite photos for most departments

of Grant County and the City of Marion . There are few places in Marion that Marshall that has not served as a photographer - from Marion General Hospital to Atlas Foundry Company , Inc . He has captured news and art for many community nonprofits and hundreds of businesses and expanded his skill set to include graphic design , videography , and custom framing .

“ I ’ ve had the privilege of photographing many people , places , and things . Along the way , I ’ ve been blessed through photography to witness and record people falling in love and creating a new family . I love traveling , and I aspire to create meaningful photography that might leave a little mark on the universe . My dream would be to do a job for National Geographic or to create a long-term photographic project for a nonprofit or social cause ,” said Marshall .

You may have gotten a friendly hello the last time you dropped by for a bite at Ivanhoe ’ s — and if you ’ ve been around for thirty years , you may have noticed that one of these “ hellos ” has been consistent for that whole time . Mark Souers is coming up on his 30th anniversary serving at Ivanhoe ’ s in Upland , Indiana .

Mark started working for Ivanhoe ’ s when he was just 16 years old . “ Dennis , the manager ran into

my parents one day and said , ‘ Hey , when Mark turns 16 , tell him to come fill out an application .’ I needed gas money , so I did .” He explained that his first night didn ’ t go as he had imagined , “ It didn ’ t go over well for me working with people so much . I went home that first night and told my parents that I couldn ’ t do it anymore .”

Mark shared that he had grown up with a speech impediment and this made him very shy . Despite his

first thoughts , Mark decided to continue on at Ivanhoe ’ s as counter help . In the beginning , it was most intimidating for him to be out with the public , forced to open up and talk to them , but he happily declares that that is his favorite part now !

After just a year as counter help , he began to be promoted to a supervisor . Since then , Mark has become a type of spokes-person for Ivanhoe ’ s — “ one day someone wanted to interview Ivan , the owner . Ivan wasn ’ t much of a people person and asked me if I could do it for him — I enjoyed it !” Mark has now represented Ivanhoe ’ s in countless articles , TV clips , and presentations out of town . He feels thankful to get to have the experiences he does , and is glad to have worked through the fears he held early on .

One aspect Mark particularly loves is working with the many high-school students who are employed by Ivanhoe ’ s . “ For many of them , it is their first job . From the beginning , Carol , Ivan and I hoped that they could gain from their experience here and learn things in their first job that they could carry on the rest of their career .” Mark loves that he can be a manager who encourages his employees to get out of their cocoon as he did .

He is open in sharing

that he once struggled with social anxiety , and he encourages those experiencing the same to press on . “ Society nowadays is always making you feel a pressure to meet a certain standard , but it shouldn ’ t be about what someone else thinks . Set goals for yourself and don ’ t let someone else ’ s negative opinions hold you back from that goal .”

As a manager , he gets to do a bit of everything , whether IT work , quality assurance , negotiating inventory , and fixing or ordering equipment after general wear and tear . This role seems to fit Mark ’ s natural talents well , as

he ’ s always been fantastic at watching , teaching himself , and then applying whatever he learned . He grew up building and fixing mechanical or technical things , and he ’ s found opportunities in this job to continue this passion . “ Over the years I ’ ve had a tendency to look over the shoulder of anyone hired to fix something , and from that I could learn to do it myself .”

Mark has lived his whole life in Upland and he doesn ’ t have plans to leave . “ I ’ m happy here in my little community — I ’ m not big on traveling . I like to go on vacation every once in a while , but I

like to come back to little Upland .” He ’ s thankful for the life he has here and for his family who has supported him . He ’ d like to thank his wife for being by his side and always being willing to help him out — even when she get ’ s funny looks buying him a last-minute 10 packages of Oreos and 6 gallons of milk . Make sure you drop by for a frosty treat , and congratulate Mark this November on a happy 30 years with the Ivanhoe ’ s team !