A Few Things You Should Know…
- A bit about me
My name’s Mark and I’m a photographer living in a small town in Northern NSW called Pottsville – recently voted one of the top 10 places to retire in Australia!! WOOHOO!!…? 🤨
I’ve been shooting weddings all over the world since 2014 – Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Sweden, Canada, Spain, UK, Bali, France… and a ton in Sydney, where I lived for 10 years.
While I still fly to Sydney for the occasional wedding, I mostly shoot local weddings in this beautiful part of Northern NSW (that’s so great for old people and retirees!) – the Tweed Coast (current fave venue: Fins Plantation House), Gold Coast, Byron, etc. – anywhere that’s near the sea/forests/hinterland 👍🏼
My wife Elissa is from Murwillumbah, hence our recent change of home – turns out that being near your in-laws when you start having kids is a big help!
The pic above was taken on our wedding day, with Mt Warning in the background. We had a small ceremony with family at Mavis’ Kitchen with a truly awesome photographer… more on him soon.
- 10 Random Facts about your future wedding photographer
- I’m half English, half Japanese. I lived in Tokyo for 7 years and loved every sushi-munching-minute! 🍣
- I grew up in Nottingham in the UK, famous for Robin Hood, Paul Smith and gun crime! 🔫
- I studied French at uni and lived in Paris for a year, working at Disneyland Paris! These days my French is absolute merde. 💩
- I shot our wedding! Somehow it made it to the Huffington Post, the Daily Mail, Mama Mia… 🤷♂️
- I was famous in Japan after starring in a prime time tv drama. My acting is ridiculously bad… but well suited for Japanese tv! ✌️
- My mum used to be an air stewadess back when planes had propellors, and served the Beatles on a JAL flight in the 1960s. We have a signed photo on the wall at home 🎵
- I’m the Grounds of Alexandria’s recommended wedding photographer. Kevin Bacon RIP 🐷 ➡️ 🥓
- We have 3 little monsters – Harry (6), Leo (5), Edie (2). I now appreciate why family photography is so important. ❤️
- I’ve recently taken up cycling and have an obsession with getting KOMs on Strava. Current tally: 1 🤨
- I run a site for photographers called Shotkit. I love camera gear and can pretend to be really interested to your father telling me about his fancy new DSLR. 📸
- Back to you and your big day…
I realise it’s hard to choose a wedding photographer you’ve never met. You probably have 5 browser tabs open right now, scratching your head and wondering who’s cheapest!
In an ideal world, my photos alone will resonate with you enough for you to shout THIS IS THE GUY I WANT whilst frantically prodding your finger at the screen.
Wishful thinking aside, I’m hoping that you might get to know me a tad more by reading this, and perhaps some of the kind words my past clients have written about me.
(I delete all the negative reviews that say I ate a guest’s dessert or trod on the bride’s mother’s dog’s tail.)
If you can’t be bothered to read reviews, I’ll summarise them for you – most people say that at a wedding I’m easy-going and relaxed, which helps the couple/guests feel the same, and that I’m good at blending into the background and letting the day unfold without any intervention.
- My approach to your wedding
Have you ever been a bridesmaid/groomsman at a wedding where the photographer took you far away from the party to spend hours getting you to do weird things?
(Hmm, that sounded a bit like you were abducted and molested – let me try again…)
Your Wedding isn’t a Photo-Shoot. That’s better.
When it comes time to take some photos of just you guys and/or the bridal party, I like to keep everything really close to where the party’s happening.
I also don’t want to take up lots of your precious time – definitely less than an hour, but I can work with 15 minutes or whatever you give me too.
We should get some nice creative shots together, but the most important thing at your wedding is that you get to spend time with your friends and family*.
Weddings are unique like that – all your besties and family together in the one place partying together – how cool is that?!
That crowd probably won’t ever get together like that again, except for maybe at your funeral… and we won’t be able to get many creative shots there of you then, that’s for sure… ☠️
My point is, I won’t treat your wedding day as a photo shoot. I’ll get lots of natural, candid and emotion-packed photos of all the action, a handful of creative portraits, and lots of drunken moves on the dancefloor… but I won’t take over your day with my camera.
* Unless of course you’re having an elopement, and it’s just you guys, the celebrant, and me. I love elopements – they’re the best thing to come out of COVID! 🤦🏻♂️
- My Style
I will tailor my approach based on you and your wants. I’m not the kind of photographer who will mould and sculpt you into awkward poses or tell your bridal party to do a human pyramid… unless you want to.
A lot of the photos you’ll see on this site are a bit ‘moody’, but that doesn’t mean I don’t capture the happy-fun-crazy stuff too!
(To be honest, although I love the look of moody, it doesn’t really reflect my personality – see below and the blog for a selection of comedy moments that are more in tune with how I view the world!)
…but first, Dr. Seuss has something important to say:
- “You don’t realise it’s a moment until it’s a memory“
My goal at every single wedding is to capture as many ‘moments’ as candidly possible.
All those wonderful, fleeting seconds of joy, laughter, tears – I want you to be able to see them after your wedding day, and relive them all for years to come.
My style is a mixture of photo-journalistic (a fancy way of saying candid or natural) and creative… with some random stuff thrown in for good measure.
How about getting ready photos?
Yes, I’m happy to hang out with you guys before the wedding and take photos of whatever it is you’re getting up to – whether that’s putting on fancy clothes, skulling from a champagne bottle to steady your nerves, or covering up vomit from the night before (true story).
Also, bonus points for any male nudity! 🍆
Sidenote: it’s actually becoming popular to completely skip the getting ready photos.
What about family pics? Yep, I take them too. They’re really important, even if at the time you’ll be hating all the fake smiles and extended-family awkwardness.
Also, I’m all about the kiddies – as a father, I appreciate just how precious these shots can be. If there’s a child at the wedding who’s picking his nose at an inappropriate moment or rolling around the aisle, I’ll photograph it!
Fur babies? Check.
Bridal Party? Definitely! Aside from the formal shots for grandma’s fridge, let’s have some fun…
Group photo of every mofo at the wedding at once? CHALLENGE ACCEPTED 😎
Drone pics? Maybe! If we’re not near an airport, I’ll get my mini drone up in the air to catch some top-down awesomeness.
Creative Night shots? Yep, we can have some fun with those too. Usually, by that stage of the day, you guys will be… let’s say, ‘relaxed’ 🍷🥂🍻🍷🥂🍻🍷🥂🍻… so it’s nice to sneak off away from the action for a few seconds and play around with some lights.
Speeches? Yep! The reactions are gold!
First Dance? Ahh, every bride and groom’s secret nemesis! Don’t worry – no matter how bad you might look in the video, photos can always make you look like you’re owning the d-floor 😉
Dancefloor craziness? Anything. Goes. 🕺🏻🕺🏻🕺🏻💃💃💃
OK, I think I’ve covered everything.
200+ weddings later, and I’m finally getting the hang of things!! 🤪
- OK, so what’s next?
Close all your other browser tabs – you just found your wedding photographer! Click here to say ‘ello.
