When you think about your dream job, does taking photos of the world’s most beautiful weed come to mind? It should. Travel, weed, amazing people, weed, behind the scenes access, and weed: what isn’t to love? One man turned a side business into a full-time career, and here is his story. All the shots below are his work (except the picture of him), just to give you a glimpse into the world of weed porn.

Meet Bubbleman, the master of weed porn

Marcus Gary “Bubbleman” Richardson has spent most of his life working with weed. Starting out at the BC Compassion Club, he grew herb for patients in the 90’s. Then, in 1999, he and his wife started their own company, Bubble Bags. If you have ever looked at making your own ice hash at home, you know the product is as well placed as Band-Aid bandages.

To really showcase the product, he had to take photos of them in action to generate sales online. What began as the means to an end for one business soon took off into a career of its own.

Weed porn

His attention to focus, detail and an eye for bringing out the beauty of cannabis became widely known. He began shooting closeup bud shots for High Times, National Geographic, & Cannabis Now. Others might try to imitate his work, but few capture the rich detail of Mark’s camera, and his amazing bud shots.

I ended up getting a little Sony Cybershot and because of it, we were really able to shine in the way where we could just shoot anything and put it on the internet. This hadn’t really been done prior, if you could imagine.

An eye for amazing bud

Mark really got his foot in the door by going to Amsterdam, and meeting Nick Zorro. Zorro ran a magazine called Red Eye and was judging entries for the Cannabis Cup.

When I walked in, there was a bowl full of 30 hash entries. I went over to the bowl and I dug around. I didn’t see them all, but I saw one and said, ‘That’s your winner.’ At the end of the Cup, that entry won and Nick told me, ‘I want you to write for the magazine, I want to promote Bubble Bags, I want to promote your photos, and I want to promote everything you do.’

Soon, with the promotion of Zorro, Mark began working for Cannabis Culture, Skunk, Weed World, and many others, including book photos for Ed Rosenthal.

Being there for many firsts

Bubbleman, because of his unique work, has seen many industry firsts. He took beautiful bud shots to a whole new level and was called to put his lens to the test for some spectacular advances in cannabis, especially in concentrates as that has taken off.

One of the most beautiful shots I’ve ever taken was of the isolated heads of cannabis resin away from everything else [on the plant]…

…It was basically the cleanest and purest hash known to man at the time. That was the original 99.99%.

What makes a great photo

Just like at a Cannabis Cup, you have two groups: the super connoisseurs, and then the people who are just like, “I like weed.” It’s the same with photography…

The Holy Grail macro shot is to get a bug flying mid-air, which you could never do on a rail system or tripod. Any movement is very visible when it comes to macro photographs, so you have to learn how to breathe and track your subject the same as a sniper.

Today, Bubbleman can shoot with pleasure and ease, but only a few years ago, he risked everything shooting illegal gardens. His equipment could be seized, he often wasn’t paid in cash (cannabis lovers do have a great barter system), and he coud have been arrested. Now, as the industry has grown in legal status, he feels that the legitimacy of what he does will become more apparent as well. After all,

Since we don’t have scratch-and-sniff computer screens, e-commerce requires photos to engage the viewer so that they purchase the product. As a result, cannabis photography is a very important part of sales, as is videography. I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

Want to see more of his amazing work? Check out his website or Instagram.

Do you have the eye for great photography? What do you shoot? Tell us on social media or in the comments below.