This web site is operated by Stephanie and Marc Barta from Dallas, Texas.  We are avid photographers, and much of this space will be devoted to displaying our photos.  Another substantial part of the web site will be devoted to Stephanie’s position as Chair of the Science Department at St. Mark’s School of Texas here in Dallas.

By training, Marc is an attorney.  He graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 1977.  Since that time he has spent most of his professional life as a criminal prosecutor -- first with the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office in Ft. Worth, Texas, and more recently with the United States Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Texas here in Dallas.  Marc got interested in photography when he was eleven years old and wondered how those negatives that came back from the drug store could turn into pictures.  A local camera store owner gave him some darkroom lessons and soon the garage closet at home was turned into a makeshift darkroom.  Marc loves all kinds of photography, but especially enjoys landscape, wildlife and macro work.

Stephanie is a microbiologist by training.  She has her BS from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington and her MS from the University of Montana.  She has been at St. Mark’s since 1974.  Stephanie has a special interest in using photography as an educational tool.  She has traveled all over the world to capture photographs that help show her students the real world part of all the things they study.

The Bartas are the proud parents of twin sons -- born in 1981.  Eric, the oldest by one minute,  is a mechanical engineer living in San Antonio, Texas.  In October, 2007, Eric married his wife Tiffanie -- they share their house with their two dogs Sadie and Packster.  Alan, the younger son, lives in Seattle, Washington, where he is on the faculty of the Epiphany School.  Alan works with very early childhood education -- an area that has always been a special interest of his.

Stephanie and Marc share their home with Buddy, a miniature long-haired dachshund who proudly runs the house and everything else he sees.