William Mark Sommer
williammarksommer@gmail.com
Education
2019 BFA Art - Photography from Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
2012 AA Photography from Sierra College, Rocklin, CA
Residencies
2025 High Desert Test Sites, A-Z West: Self-Structured Residency May 12th - 19th (Joshua Tree, CA)
2025 Homestead National Historical Park Artist-in-Residence April 21st -May 5th (Beatrice, NE)
2025 Kala Art Institute Artist in Residence: February 3rd - 28th (Berkley, CA)
2024 Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts Residency (Nebraska City, NE) July 15th - August 9th
2024 Farwell House Artist in Residence (Frederick, IL) June 3 - June 15 2024
2023 Chalk Hill Residency Artist Residency (Healdsburg, CA) March 12th - May 16th.
2022 Off The Coast "Rent Free Residency" (Online) One Month Online
2018 OpenWabi "Artist in Residence" (Fredricktown, OH) July 1st- July 15th
Awards / Scholarships
2023 1839 Awards “Gold” in Film/Analog category.
2023 refocus Awards Color Award “3rd Overall, Gold in Still life, and Silver in Minimalism categories ” (Professional)
2023 URBANAUTICA Institute Awards 2022 "Special Mention" Anthropology and Territories
2023 Black & White Photo Contest "Honorable Mention" Landscapes, Film/Analog, and People categories (Professional)
2023 1854 Media & British Journal of Photography "Open Walls" Single Image Category Winner
2022 Center for Photographic Art "2nd Place Award" International Juried Exhibition Juror: Paul Kopeikin
2022 Center For Fine Art Photography "Honorable Mention" Center Forward Exhibition Jurors: Alyssa Coppelman & Christy Havranek
2022 1854 Media & British Journal of Photography "Decade of Change" Single Image Category Winner
2022 Chromatic Awards "Honorable Mention" Architecture and Travel (Professional)
2022 reFocus Awards "Honorable Mention" Travel - OneShot Photo Contest
2021 1854 Media & British Journal of Photography "Open Walls" Single Image Category Winner
2021 Life Framer Shortlist "Colors" Selected by Neil Krug
2021 Critical Mass "Top 200 Finalist" Photo Lucida
2021 Royal Photographic Society "Shortlist" International Photography Exhibition 163
2021 Midwest Center of Photography "2021 Juried Exhibition" Jurors Award: Landscape
2021 A Smith Gallery "Jurors Award" Life Exhibition Selected by Alyssa Coppelman
2020 Life Framer First Prize Award “Open Call” Selected by Alex Prager
2019 Merit Scholarship Arizona State University
2018 Merit Scholarship Arizona State University
2018 OpenWabi "Artist in Residence" Two Weeks (Fredricktown, OH)
Selected Solo & Group Exhibition
2025 Photo Alliance & San Francisco Arts Commission “Metaphors of Recent Times” Group exhibition (San Francisco, CA)
2025 Small Talk x Oregon Contemporary “Light Conversation: Vol.5” (Portland, OR)
2025 Los Angeles Center of Photography “Thresholds” Public Digital Projection (Culver City, CA)
2025 Nevada State Museum & Desert Companion “Focus on Nevada” (Las Vegas, NV)
2024 Griffen Museum of Photography "Vision(ary) | Portraits of Cultures, Communities, and Environments" Public Group Exhibition (Winchester, Ma)
2024 Griffen Museum of Photography "14th Annual Photobook Exhibition” Curators: Karen Davis and Crista Dix Group Exhibition (Winchester, Ma)
2024 MONCA The Museum of Northern California Art “Spell it Out” Group exhibition (Chico, CA)
2024 The Billboard Creative:10-Year Anniversary Show, "SURREAL: The 2024 Installation." Curator: Mona Kuhn (Los Angeles, CA)
2023 Chalk Hill Gallery "On The Road, William Mark Sommer" Solo Exhibition (Healdsburg, CA) March 12 - May 16th.
2023 Alexandria Museum of Art "36th September Competition" Juried exhibition (Alexandria, LA) July 1 - October 7
2023 Masur Museum of Art “60th Annual Juried Competition” (Monroe, LA) Juried by: Jovanna Venegas
2023 Yellowstone Museum of Art “Art Auction 55” Juried exhibition (Billings, MT)
2023 The University of Southern Mississippi Museum of Art “Southern Miss National Poster Show” Juried exhibition (Hattiesburg, MS)
2023 Colorado Photographic Arts Center "Nights" Digital Projection (Denver, CO)
2023 Dallas Center For Photography "Analog Now" Group Exhibition (Dallas, TX)
2023 Grants Pass Museum of Art “6x6” Group Exhibition (Grants Pass, OR)
2023 RI Center for Photographic Art “Words Matter” Juried exhibition (Providence, RI)
2023 Galerie Huit Arles x 1854 & British Journal of Photography "Open Walls Arles 2022" (Arles, France)
2023 LoosenArt "Night Skies and Astro Imaging" Group Exhibition (Rome, Italy)
2023 Ph21 Photography Gallery “Scene and Meaning” Group Exhibition (Barcelona, Spain)
2023 Dallas Center For Photography "Off The Walls Fundraiser" Invited Exhibition (Dallas, TX)
2023 Strata Gallery “Fragments” Group Exhibition (Santa Fe, NM)
2022 Center for Photographic Art "International Juried Exhibition" (Carmel, CA)
2022 InCadaqués Photo Festival x British Journal of Photography Group Exhibition (Cadaqués, Spain)
2022 City Quays Gallery-Part of Belfast Photo Festival "Decade of Change" Group Exhibition (Belfast, Ireland)
2022 International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum “Photography Contest 2022” Juried Exhibition (St. Louis, MO)
2022 Center For Fine Art Photography "Center Forward 2022" Juried Group Exhibition (Fort Collins, CO)
2022 Griffen Museum of Photography "Winter Solstice" Group Exhibition (Winchester, Ma)
2022 North Carolina Museum of Art "Revelo" Part of Click Photography Festival Group Exhibition (Raleigh, NC)
2022 Vault Gallery- University of West Georgia "Infinite Weight/Present Histories" Group Exhibition (Carrollton, GA)
2022 Glasgow Gallery of Photography "Pandemic" Juried Group Exhibition (Glasgow, United Kingdom)
2022 Yeiser Art Center "Art Through The Lens 2022" Group Exhibition (Paducah, KY)
2022 Griffen Museum of Photography "Members Project(ions)" Group Exhibition (Winchester, Ma)
2022 Midwest Center For Photography "Americana" Group Exhibition (Wichita, KS)
2022 Panopticon Gallery "Film Is Not Dead" Group Exhibition (Boston, MA)
2022 CAV Gallery "El Santo Niño Project" Benefit Show (Las Cruses, NM)
2022 Well Well Projects "Smart Objects / Flattened Image" Group Exhibition (Portland, OR)
2022 Northlight Gallery "Circle of Influence: Honoring Mark Klett" Group Exhibition (Phoenix, AZ)
2022 A Smith Gallery “Twelve Year Anniversary” Group Award Exhibition (Johnson City, TX)
2022 Punch Projects "Barnstorm" Juried Group Exhibition (Thorp, WA)
2022 Gwinnett County Public Library "Photo Annual Exhibition"Group Exhibition (Dulut, GA)
2022 Axis Gallery "17 National Juried Exhibition" Group Exhibition (Sacramento, CA)
2022 Photographic Center Northwest "Chase The Light 2022" Fundraiser Exhibition (Seattle, WA)
2022 Subjectively Objective "Everything is Narrative” Group Exhibition (Detroit, MI)
2022 Downtown Arts Collective & Public Darkroom "Analog Today" Group Exhibition (Orlando, FL)
2022 Center For Creative Photography & the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research "Trees" Group Collaged Installation (Tucson, AZ)
2021 Galerie Huit Arles x 1854 & British Journal of Photography "Open Walls Arles 2021" (Arles, France)
2021 Decode Gallery "Traveled Paths" Group Exhibition (Tucson, AZ)
2021 Tree House Analog Selects "Pandemic" Group Exhibition (Honolulu, HI)
2021 Black Box Gallery "Fieldwork: Landscape & Architecture" Group Exhibition (Portland, OR)
2021 Black Box Gallery "Focus: Portraiture" Group Exhibition (Portland, OR)
2021 Photo Place Gallery "Quiet Landscape" Group Exhibition (Middlebury, VT)
2021 PH21 Photography Gallery "Silence" Juried Group Exhibition (Budapest, Hungary)
2021 7th Annual Allegany National Photography Competition & Exhibition (Cumberland, MD)
2021 D'art Gallery "Photography: Your Vision" Juried Group Exhibition (Denver, CO)
2021 Galerie Echo 119 x Life Framer Group Exhibition (Paris, France)
2021 Midwest Center For Photography "2021 Juried Exhibition" Group Exhibition (Wichita, KS)
2021 Colorado Photographic Arts Center "Reimagining Hope" Digital Projection on Daniels and Fisher Clocktower (Denver, CO)
2021 A Smith Gallery "life" Group Exhibition (Johnson City, TX)
2021 SE Center for Photography “Open” Juried Exhibition (Greenville, SC)
2020 Contour Gallery x Life Framer Group Exhibition (Rotterdam, Netherlands)
2020 RVCA SF “Friends and Family” Group Exhibition (San Francisco, CA)
2020 Houston Center For Photography " Togethering" Juried Exhibition (Houston, TX)
2020 Axis Gallery "Portraits Without People" Juried Exhibition (Sacramento, CA)
2020 Subjectively Objective "Observations In The Ordinary” Group Exhibition (Detroit, MI)
2019 Sparrow Gallery, “The Latent Image” Juried Exhibition (Sacramento, CA)
2018 Gallery 100 "Surface" ASU BFA Group Exhibition (Tempe, AZ)
2016 The Photocopy Club "Xerox and Destroy 2" Group Exhibition (Exeter City Centre, England)
2016 The Photocopy Club “Hit The Road” Group Exhibition (Fotofestiwal, Poland)
2016 KVIE Gallery "Fine Art of Public Television Group Show" (Sacramento, CA)
2014 Grant Hall Gallery UNLV, “Just Being Human” Group Exhibition (Las Vegas, NV)
2014 Book and Job gallery, Findrangers Zine #3 “Smoke and Mirrors” Group Exhibition (San Francisco, CA)
2014 Book and Job gallery," Findrangers Zine #2" Group Exhibition (San Francisco, CA)
2013 Ro Sham Bo “365/Circles" Solo Exhibition (Auburn, CA)
2013 Lifecycles “Go Gettas” Group Exhibition (Montreal, Canada)
Selected Online Exhibition
2022 Too Tired Project "Carry My Heart" Group Exhibition Curated by: Troy Colby
2022 Float Magazine "Seeing Red" Group Exhibition Curated by: Dana Stirling
2022 Lenscratch "2/22/22: Pairs and Diptychs" Group Exhibition Curated by: Aline Smithson
2021 Lenscratch "Politics of the Kitchen" Group Exhibition Curated by: Barbara Ciurej and Lindsay Lichman
2021 Don't Take Pictures "Blue Skies" Group Exhibition
2021 Lenscratch "Family Gatherings" Group Exhibition Curated by: Aline Smithson
2021 Humble Arts Foundation "Embracing Stillness" Group Show 67 Curated by: Sara Urban and John Feinstein
2021 Don't Take Pictures "Dusk To Dawn" Group Exhibition
2020 Off The Coast "The Shape of Content" Group Exhibition
2020 ARTDOC Photography Magazine "Analogue Renaissance" Group Exhibition
2020 Analog Forever Magazine "Love In All Forms" Group Exhibition Curated by: Rashod Taylor
2020 Don't Take Pictures "A Show of Hands" Group Exhibition
2020 Don't Take Pictures "The View From Here" Group Exhibition
2020 Lenscratch "2020 Self Quarantine Exhibition" Group Exhibition Curated By: Aline Smithson
2020 F-Stop Magazine "Past/Future Issue" Group Exhibition
Teaching Experience
2016-2017 Special Education Teaching Aid in the Loomis Union School District (K-8th)
2009-2012 Teachers Assistant at Sierra College for Chris Fraser
Self-Publised Books and Zines
2018 Buckeye zine
2017 To The Sea zine
2017 All The Time In The World zine
2016 Desert Days zine
2015 Vegas Streets zine
2015 10 years zine
Published Solo Books and Zines
2019 Subjectively Objective Mini Monograph “Issue 73: William Mark Sommer” zine - Edition of 65
2014 A Love Token Zine “All The Time In The World” zine - Edition of 25
Selected Publication / Interviews / Features
2025
Shots Magazine Issue # 167: Wide Open single image
Gelatin Magazine #10 “66” Series Feature
Find Rangers Camera Club "#30" Group zine (Print)
2024
The Griffin Museum “Vision(ary) | William Mark Sommer: A Road Home” Interview Feature
PhotoKlassik “Portfolio: William Mark Sommer” Interview Feature Magazine
Shutter Hub “Food Stories” Perfect bound book
2023
Lenscratch "Isolationism In Photography: William Mark Sommer: The Loneliest Highway" interview
Booooooom “Pictures & Songs” Perfect bound Photo Book
Float "Home Is Where" Group Zine
Another-Earth "What Makes a Lake? Tracing Movement" Group Book
Insider "39 award-winning photos..." Awards article (Pink Donut) Feature
ReFocus Awards "William Mark Sommer Interview"
Booooooom "Black Thumb" Feature
2022
Lodown Magazine - Drifters issue "The Loneliest Highway" Feature and Interview (Print)
Nowhere Diary "The Loneliest Highway" Feature
Fisheye Magazine "Les coups de cœur #404" The Loneliest Highway Feature
Booooooom "Photographer Spotlight" Feature
Life Framer"Colors: An Elevated Spectrum" Editors Pick Feature
Treehouse Hawaii "Pandemic" zine (Print)
The Flying Fruit Bowl "Lost Highway" Feature
Aint-Bad "The Loneliest Highway" Series Feature
Find Rangers Camera Club "#27" Group zine (Print)
Japan Camera Hunter "Jesse's Visual Interviews: William Mark Sommer" Photographic Interview
The Flying Fruit Bowl "The Loneliest Highway" Series Feature
2021
Subjectivity Objective "Everything is Narrative" Group Book
Booooooom "Magic Hour Photo Book" Group Book
Fiiiirst "Edition 5" Photographic Conversation with Federico "Monty" Kaplan
Booooooom "The Lincoln Highway" Series Feature
Nowhere Diary "Dusted" Series Feature
Life Framer "World Travelers" Editors Pick Feature
Find Rangers Camera Club "#25" Group Zine
Float Magazine "The Loneliest Highway" Series Feature
MonoVisions Magazine "The Loneliest Highway" Series Feature
Edge of Humanity Magazine "Father and Son Story" Black Thumb Feature
Off the Coast "Dusted" Interview & Feature
2020
Life Framer "Glory and Contradictions" Dusted Interview
The Independent Photographer "Black & White Award" Editors Picks Feature
Booooooom "75 Photos by 75 photographers" Article
Then There Was Us "Western America’s Post Mining Towns That Fell Victim To Decline" Dusted Feature
The Modern-Day Explorer "Dusted" Series Feature
Analog Magazine "Dusted" Series Feature and Interview
Landscape-Stories "Dusted" Series Feature
Format Magazine "Landscape Photography" Portfolio Feature
Find Rangers Camera Club "#23" Group zine
Aint-Bad "What We've Found - Mass Production" Article
Don't Take Pictures "Photo of the Day, April 10th"
Booooooom “Dusted” Series Feature
2019
Aint-Bad “Dusted” Series Feature
Aint-Bad “What The F**k Are We Doing?” Article
Float Magazine "Established View" Series Feature
Eyeshot Magazine “Lost Highway” Series Feature
Journal of Urban Photography "Vegas Streets" Series Feature
Findrangers Camera Club “#20” Group Zine
Subjectively Objective “Observations in the Ordinary” Group Book
Mono Visions Magazine “Dusted” Series Feature and Interview
NewLandscapePhotography.com “All The Time In The World” Series Feature
Phoenix Transect “Dusted” Series Feature
2018
Format Magazine “18 Landscape Photographers Who Will Inspire You to Get Outside” Article
Findrangers Camera Club “#16 Color” group zine
2017
Stay Wild magazine “We Will Survive” Winter 2017 Issue, Coverand Reverse Cover. Feature
Feature Shoot “12 Photos will make you yearn for the American West” Article
Aesthetica Magazine “New Artist: August 2017” Feature
Indisposable Concept “Roll 5” Film Feature
2016
*82 Review "Issue 4.4" Print Edition
Indisposable Concept “Roll 3” Feature
Findrangers Camera Club "#11 Travel" group zine
Findrangers Camera Club "#X" group zine
2015
The Analogue Project “Abandoned” Feature and Interview
Indisposable Concept “Roll 1” Feature
Desert Companion Magazine "Awards" Article
Findrangers Camera Club zine "#8" group zine
Thrasher Magazine "March 2015, "Photograffiti" Feature
2014
Findrangers Camera Club "#5" Group zine
Portland Mercury “Catching Out” Train Hopping, Article.
Nighted zines “Nighted Life 6” Group zine
Findrangers Camera Club "#3" Group zine
Findrangers Camera Club Zine #2 Group zine
Fecal Face Dot Com “Photo of the day.” Feature
2013
Blood of the Young zine “100 photographs of 2013” Group zine
A Love Token Zine “Moonbeams” Group zine
Fecal Face Dot Com "Photo of the Day"
Fecal Face Dot Com “Photo of the day”
SFMOMA Blog "Mouth Pinholes" April 12th, Photo Feature
2012
SFMOMA Blog “Mission Riot" November 9th, Photo Feature
KALTBLUT Magazine Featured Artist
Strongbox Magazine, Volume Four, Issue One,"The Boy With The Russian Camera" Feature
2011
Light Leaks Magazine “Issue 19: Secrets...”
Events
2022 SFV Zine Fest (Virtual)
2020 SF Camera Work, Holiday Book & Zine Fair, December 17th (Virtual)
2018 LA Zinefest, Pasadena Convention, Center, May 27th
2016 SF Zinefest, County Fair Building, September 4th
Collections
Homestead National Historical Park (Beatrice, NE)
Griffin Museum Library Collection (Winchester, MA)
Mark Klett Achive (Tempe, AZ)
Northlight Gallery ASU (Tempe, AZ)
Presentations / Invited Lectures
2025 Homestead National Historical Park “Book Making Workshop”
2024 Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts Residency “Open House Artists Talks”
2024 The Griffin Museum “14th Annual Photobook” Artists Talks
2020 Notre Dame Lecture Photography Class
2017 Lincoln High School Lecture Photography Class. October 12th
2017 Awesome Cameras Podcast Episode #31 William Mark Sommer
Curation
2021 Monovisions Photography Awards Judge
2020 Monovisions Photography Awards Judge
Professional Experience
2011-2019 Studio Assistant to Chris Fraser
2014 Polaroid Fotobar Las Vegas Museum Technician
2009-2012 Black and White Lab Assistant at Sierra College