My colleague Mark Wohlwender, who has died of lung cancer aged 50, was a photographer and picture editor, working for the Guardian in both capacities as well as for sports magazines and diverse editorial and commercial clients.

He specialised in sports photography, shooting football matches for the Action Images agency, covering winter sports (despite being afraid of snow as a child) and shooting the Tour de France three times. Motor racing was another passion – one of Mark’s best pictures was a portrait of Ayrton Senna, the Formula One racing driver.

Born in Finchley, north London, Mark was the second child of Janet (nee Godfrey), an accomplished painter and sculptor, and Eberhard Wohlwender, an accountant originally from Germany. He attended Tomlinscote school in Frimley, Surrey (where he took photography at GCSE and A-level), and went on to study photography and photojournalism at the London College of Printing, graduating in 1987.

He had a love of photography from a young age, taking after his paternal grandfather, who had produced fine black and white studies of flowers that illustrated a popular series of postcards in his home city of Reutlingen in Germany. Mark followed his example and started taking pictures with a borrowed camera while still at school. Later he produced his own book of flower images, in colour, Bloom! (2010).

Mark Wohlwender’s portrait of the racing driver Ayrton Senna. Photograph: Action Images/Mark Wohlwender

After college he began his freelance career, shooting for the Telegraph and the Sun, the Face magazine, BMW and France Telecom, among others. Having worked for some time as a sports photographer, he became a picture editor on sports magazines, including Procycling and Top Gear.

I first met Mark when he started freelancing for the Guardian in the 1990s, taking pictures and then picture editing, on news as well as sport.

Technically accomplished, he embraced new technology, and in recent years was building a comprehensive website aimed at online photographic education. He put in many hours researching the needs of local camera clubs and writing suitable syllabuses for amateur photographers and students. He also ran digital community projects, which included music promotion and web hosting.

His great ability as a desk editor may have obscured his skill with a camera. He could not leave the house without a camera. His family remember him going out to the shops and coming back without the shopping, but with a great picture instead.

Mark’s mother died in 2015. She had inspired him artistically throughout his life. His father and his siblings, Karen and Richard, survive him.