Mark D Young was born in the South African capital of Pretoria in 1962 and educated in the city at Rietondale and Clapham schools. With a father working as a senior mechanical engineer in the state transport systems, in addition to living below the extended flight-path of a nearby fighter aircraft base, Mark has had an abiding interest in the mechanical aspects of transportation and aviation since boyhood. Mark was, in common with many of his peers, conscripted to serve in the South African Defence Force after school. He was honoured to serve with the South African Air Force (SAAF). In the SAAF, flight safety and the discipline of professional aviation practice were non-negotiable and these factors have remained with him, serving him well in his eventual graduation as a private pilot. Mark, however, pursued a career with his other great passions, photography and writing, meeting with much success in this regard. As a motoring correspondent for the erstwhile Argus Newspapers group and later as founding editor of SA Photo Magazine, Mark’s wide general knowledge and dedication to factual, yet concise writing has won him acclaim. Awarded the South African Specialist Press Association’s coveted Journalist of the Year award in 1997, Mark has also had examples of his writing permanently lodged in the International Corpus of English reference library of contemporary writing and English practice. The University of Grahamstown’s Journalism department called on Mark to address its inaugural and subsequent Photo Journalism conferences and, in addition, Mark has often been a guest lecturer at the National College of Photography in regard to Photo Journalism. He currently writes for a range of magazines and websites. Mark is also a regular contributor to travel industry publications with a special emphasis on aviation matters.
