Noah Markunas
I started as a photographer who was just looking for a purpose when I had no clue what my plan was for the future. Now I know exactly what I want to be… a storyteller. My passion is to tell stories of the world of sports and society. I grew up around sports every single day. My brother and I played baseball growing up and would watch sports on tv whenever we weren’t actually playing them. That’s what made the transition to the photography side of things so easy for me even though saying goodbye to playing was one of the hardest things I’ve had to go through. It’s because I already knew the ins and outs of the world of sports, so I knew exactly how to capture them.
I graduated from Illinois Central College in the Spring of 2025 and I am currently pursuing a Bachelors in Studio Art at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I have received awards from the Illinois Community College Journalism Association for my sports photography. I have also recently received 1st and 3rd place in the sports photo category at the Illinois College Press Association Conference for the Fall 2025 semester.
I used to think that I was creating art with my photographs. Then I realized that the world around us is the art, I’m just capturing it the best I can.