Victoria Park resident Mario Mihalik is passionate about animals. He also enjoys photography and has combined the two into his company, Mr. Paw Portraits. Mario is extremely talented as a photographer and videographer, and he recently received the Best Photographer award from Fort Lauderdale Magazine.

“I enjoy pet photography because it affects people and is important to people,” Mario explained. “It means something to them and preserves memories. I like to brighten people’s day.”

Mario, who has taken pictures of over 200 pets, grew up in Northern California in the city of Concord. He moved to Fort Lauderdale four years ago with his girlfriend, Rikki Rodriguez.

His parents came to San Francisco from Slovakia. His father worked in construction, and his mother was a photographer and massage therapist.

Mario enjoyed growing up and living in California. He was All League in basketball at Concord High School where as a Senior, he averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds. Following a few years playing in junior college, Mario received basketball scholarship offers and elected to attend the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez.

“I went there to see a new country and was excited about being able to play Division 1 schools,” Mario said. We played Division 1 schools such as Clemson and Central Florida. “I also wanted to learn Spanish.”

After graduating, Mario went on to play professional basketball. The Puerto Rican Professional League drafted him where he played, and then he went on to play for the German League in Stuttgart.

Following his time in Germany, Mario played for the Harlem Globetrotters’ opponent, the Washington Generals, and went on tour to several international cities – which he really enjoyed.

In 2010, Mario went back to Puerto Rico to attain his teaching certification to be a teacher.

“I loved it so much. I went back there.” Mario said.

From 2011-2017, Mario taught school in Puerto Rico. He focused on science. During this time, some of his students introduced him to rowing, and he started rowing consistently.

“I was rowing for fun, and they asked me to join the National team,” Mario said. “I competed in two World Rowing Championships. I qualified for those in 2014 in Amsterdam and in 2015 in France. It is really hard, but I loved it.”

This was a great experience for Mario.

In 2017, Mario decided that he wanted to be closer to his family, especially his parents, and he moved back to Concord.

When I moved back, I taught science for three years in public and private schools.

In January 2020 right before Covid hit, Mario had seen some ads on YouTube about how to make money with a camera. He had worked for three schools in three years, and Mario was thinking let me do something else.

So, Mario reset, and a shift to photography started during Covid. Mario took on-line courses about filming and video. He also leaned on his mother.

He started shooting real estate houses and shooting weddings.

At about this time, Mario moved to Fort Lauderdale with his dad and Rikki. His mom and sister had moved to South Florida about a year earlier. They talked about it and decided that they all wanted to move. Mario’s family is very close, and everyone loves it here.

One day, Mario started taking pictures of Chloe, Rikki’s dog, for fun.

“I saw how important she was to Rikki and to me, and then I saw a lot of dogs in Fort Lauderdale and how everyone here in Florida thinks this (the pet) is like their family,” Mario explained. “So, I made a shift from real estate and weddings to pets because this is meaningful to people.”

Mario makes the experience easy for the pet owner and fun for their pet. He will communicate with the owner first to learn more about the dog and what is best for the dog. Mario is great with the dogs, making them comfortable and being patient with them. He gives them treats and will play throw balls with them.

“I wanted to be able to make memories of their pet so they can enjoy it,” Mario said. “It is different when a professional photographer edits the photos. They are like family photos – pieces of artwork in their house,” Rikki added.

In addition to actual pet photography, Mario can provide wall art and albums of their pet that people will cherish for years.

Both Mario and Rikki enjoy spending time with their cats, Luna and Tiger.