- December 15, 2025
Mark Langello, a Flagler Beach resident, has been taking pictures of the National Football League for more than 18 years.
Step inside Flagler Beach resident Mark Langello’s home, off A1A, and you’ll quickly notice the walls are covered with sports magazines covers.
Jerry Rice catching the ball. Ricky Waters sprinting in the open field. Motorcycle racers zooming around a track.
It’s not just because Langello enjoys sports or magazines. It’s because he took those pictures.
All of them.
More than 200 covers are framed and mounted on his walls. He could’ve kept going, but he ran out of room.
Langello, 53, is a Flagler County developer with M&M Development. But when he’s not doing his full-time job, he’s a professional photographer.
Langello took one photography class while doing his undergraduate work at Syracuse University. When he went to the University of Southern California for graduate school, he took another photography class.
After graduating, he moved across the country, from Los Angeles to Flagler Beach. “I got into construction and left photography behind,” Langello said.
He then moved to Alaska in 1987, but one thing led to another, and in 1989, he moved back to Florida and got back into photography.
Langello said the connection to photography comes from painting — something he thoroughly enjoyed as a child.
“The thing I don’t like about painting, though, is it takes a long time to get the work done,” he said.
Photography, Langello said, is an instant gratification.
In the beginning, he simply liked photographing people. He shot pictures for advertisements for various companies, including Camel cigarettes.
Then he got into sports, such as golf, motorcycle racing, baseball.
He soon realized those were boring, though. In fact, after getting an assignment to photograph Barry Bonds, he walked out of the stadium in the middle innings because he was so bored.
For the past 18 or so years, Langello has done a lot of NFL and NCAA football.
“It’s a challenge to get the shot (in football),” he said. “It’s very hard because it’s generally hard to capture the player, the ball and their face. ... I have to predict where they are going to be on the field next.”
Langello used to shoot nearly every weekend. Now, the leagues are hiring their own photographers, so the competition continues to get tougher. Still, he urges people to follow their dreams.
“I’m 53 years old, and I see so many people who are always saying, ‘I wish I would’ve done this or that,’” Langello said. “Honestly, in this country, there’s no reason that you don’t. If you like to do something, give it a try. Give it your best effort because you might be surprised and able to do it.”
