This blog is my longest running one and was a huge start to me actually shooting more in my spare time trying to make sure that it stays a hobby and not just what I do for work. In a good way I am really busy shooting basically every day which is great because that is what I have worked really hard for over the years but in sad way I find myself shooting less and less just for the fun of it because I have so much to catch up on. In the last few weeks I have started changing this even though these have been my busiest times but it’s really got me excited again on starting a proper personal project even if they take a while to show off but I just want to shoot.

Anyway, to cut my long story short, this was one of those random spur of the moment shoots where friends joined us (my girl and I) for some summer Pimms which ended up in quite a lot of Pimms and a last minute “tapas style” picnic in the park near our house while the sun went down. It was such a great time and I decided that we shoot a quick bunch of portraits. These are a mix of one and two light setups and just messing around but the single light shots are my favourite.

No matter what form of art you are into whether it be photography, writing, design, illustration, music (and and and) just make sure that you keep the passion there but working on stuff just for you.

Today I spent an amazing day with a bunch of special friends in Hyde Park just relaxing and hanging out. Nothing nicer than having a picnic and speaking crap with people close to you. I waited all day to shoot portraits of us but it started getting dark near the end and as I set up it was basically too late and we got cut short with rain. The light changed so quick and I had to keep adjusting so these are very different in terms of lighting but I like them so much. Special friends making special memories.

Hope you are all well. Happy Bank Holiday weekend.

Earlier this month I was booked to shoot Bloc Party’s live show in Brighton and seeing as they are one of her favourite bands we decided to make a day of it. We rented a smart car (which ended up being a ton of fun on its own) and then drove down for a day in a place that we really love a lot. Later that afternoon we made our way to the venue for one of the best shows that I have worked at this year. It was a good time.

Below is a photo of my girl with our smart car in Devils Dyke and then 3 of my most liked images from the show.

I hope you are all well. Marcus

Today, 13 September 2009, marks the one year (n)anniversary for my beautiful girl and I. It has been an incredible year and a LOT has gone on and it really has seemed to have flown by. Anyway, I know that this is probably really cheesy and I never do stuff like this but I wanted to shoot a photo of us so that we can have a memory of today. I shot this silhouette quick in our lounge and its quite cool.

Happy nanniversary my love. Here is to so many happy more. I love you. x

Currently listening to : Jack’s Mannequin – Spinning.

I had a really cool shoot with the guys from a band called Wildcard this passed Friday and even though I was limping around like a fool (wakeboarding injury), it was really a good time. The guys are super cool and I have not seen a new (up and coming) band so dedicated as they are so early in their journey. It is really a pleasure to witness and I always feel proud and excited to be a part of something like this.

Anyway, the location was close to my wife’s work so I asked her to meet up with us after her day and she did. The last location we shot at was in this really cool tunnel and I thought it would be funny to dress my girl up in the bands (and my) clothes so I could photograph her being a fake band member. I really like this photo of her just while I was light testing so I had to put it up.

She’s my everything. Check out Wildcard if you have a chance but you will definitely be hearing more of them in the future.

Currently listening to : Brand New – The Archer’s Bows Have Broken

I shot some self-timed fun portraits with some of our good friends about a week back and I thought I would put one of them up on here. This one is one of my favourites because we are all looking at the camera and not playing too much of the fool like the rest of them.

This weekend I shot some happy snaps with some good friends and my girl and then we shot this self portrait of the two of us. I love that Anja is SO stressed out. She was holding onto my head so hard I thought it would rip off. It was a fun time.

More work related posts coming soon.

Have a good week until then. Marcus

I got my baby a new bicycle last week and we have been riding every day since she got it. It’s such a fun thing to do that I feel most people take for granted. Anyway, I shot a photo today on our ride. I love her.

So, my site is still not completely finished which really is getting me down but that is how life goes some times and although I really want to update it with content and save my latest images for that, I have decided to post some personal experimental images that I have been shooting in my free time that isn’t part of the commissioned work that I do but definitely still as fun for me.

I have a lot that needs to be processed (physically and not digitally) and will post more as they come but for now here are 5 images that I shot with my Holga 35mm plastic lens camera that my wife bought me for this passed Christmas. It’s super cool looking and really has a fun feel to it but I really battle to shoot with something that doesn’t allow me to control exposure so instead I find myself using other means to get by this. These photos are mostly of the sky on a cloudy / rainy day about 2 weeks back and then a portrait of my good friends and wife that I shot in a tiny road off of Brick Lane.

Today we (my misses and I) had a super fun day out in the sun at Hyde Park with our good friends Warren and Andrea. It was really a relaxing time and we just spent the afternoon having a picnic and enjoying the outdoors and talking and getting lazy. Warren has recently bought himself a camera to play with so I brought mine along in case we got some time to shoot photos together and I ended up shooting some fun snaps of the group at sunset which is now peaking at around 8:15pm. I had very little gear with me but I made do with what I had and think that some really cool moments have been captured here. I did make a rookie school boy mistake and shot only in JPEG for some weird unknown reason so I have decided not to do any post work on these except for resizing. We were just playing the fool and some of them are slightly incorrectly exposed because of the light being moved over or aimed in the wrong direction but I like them and would really like to know what you think so comment if you have the time.

I hope you are all well. Marcus

Today was the 7th month anniversary since my lady and I got married. I know it may seem silly to celebrate the monthly’s but we are so excited on each other and it keeps us happy and going. Anyway, today we came to the beach and just enjoyed another really special and fun day in the sun together. I also decided to shoot a few photographs of us playing the fool and it ended up being quite a laugh.

These are just a few of the photographs that we took together. I hope you all had a good weekend and that the short week flies by for you all. M

I have been shopping for some needed and some new bits and ends for my work bag and I am as happy as a little child again. I had to leave a lot of stuff back in South Africa when we moved here to the UK so I have had to replace a lot of things as well as spoil myself for the hell of it. Haha.

One of my purchases include a ring flash that I have been wanting for ages now and I haven’t had time to shoot with it properly yet except for making my misses stand outside on our balcony with her umbrella for 2 minutes. I really like the way it works but will need to get used to holding my camera with it on as it already weighs 50000 kilograms. I am super excited though and have a bunch of ideas flowing in my head already. Going to be shooting with it on friday and will post the photographs as soon as I can.

Things here are going really good so far and I am really really getting excited at the possibilities of living out some of my dreams here.

I hope you are all well and promise to keep this more up to date from now on. It’s just been a bit busy here settling in. Chat soon, Marcus

My little girl was in hospital late last week and I got to hang out with her in the recovery room and it really was so scary. She is alright now but I really don’t like ever being in hospital for any reason at all. I was stressing out so much but she did help a bit when she started swearing and being super funny while coming out of the theatre still asleep.

I love you my girl. Get better so soon. x

I really like these two photographs of Anja and Simon walking around on the Nelson Mandela Bridge.

I am busy teaching Anja some photography stuff because she always likes shooting with me and it she is quite good at it. I shot this photograph of her playing around with my D200 during our photoshoot in Newtown on sunday. Going to post a bunch more from the day now.

Ok, this is the last post for today. I wanted to play a bit at the dam but Anja was super cold, sore and tired from boating all day so I dragged her out only for a bit. I wanted to try something but it didn’t quite work and I didn’t want her to get cold so this was the only shot I did. It is quite rad though and she looks super cool. Cute hey!

I shot these two photographs on Easter sunday. It was super good to spend it with the family and just relax it for a bit. Hope you all had some sort of a break.

First off, this is my first blog for 2008. I am sorry for being so quiet but my work was crazy and so was all the festivities over this time. Anyway, it was a good one and I hope you all agree. Best wishes to you all and may this year be a super one for you.

I was in Durban for a bit and just got back this morning only to fly out again tomorrow to shoot in Knysna for a few days. I took the misses to uShaka Marine World on one of my free days and thought I would shoot something to put up here. I really love these pictures of her looking into the fish tanks at the aquarium. She’s cute.

I also want to brag and say that I got myself the new Nikon D3 for Christmas and it just arrived so I am going to abuse it over the next few days down at the coast. I really am so excited about this camera and have been waiting for it for way too long now. So far it is really amazing and lives up to everything I expected. I will blog more about it later. Yay for my new toy even though I am more broke than ever imaginable.

I haven’t had much time to experiment with my studio equipment yet as it really has been a busy year. I do use them for the shoots I have but I really have been wanting to use them more for shooting people instead of objects. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I shot some photos of my fiance the other day and it was too funny cause she was trying to be serious and kept laughing. It was really spur of the moment and I surprised her so I am going to try again soon but plan it right so that the shoot suites her. This one is really cool though but you can see she is about to crack up laughing any second. She’s amazing.

Anja has been making a cool scrap book of our trip to London and I saw this photo yesterday that we shot together in Leicester Square aiming towards our home. It’s actually to Pretoria and we stay in Johannesburg but it is close enough when you think about the distance we are away. Good times.

This morning I was packing my stuff to go shoot for a client and Anja (my misses) was digging like she normally does and asked me why my press pass from saturday night is punched full of holes. I thought this looked rad so I shot a photo and just ignored her question until I was done.

We went to visit my friend, Jude, at Fulham Football Club last week and it is right on the river Thames. Anyway, he took us on the raddest personal tour of the club and it was such a good day together. I don’t know much about soccer but they are my new favourite team. Haha. This is a photo of Anja walking along the river. I really think she looks so pretty in this.

I realize that I haven’t ever put photo’s of my little girl up yet so I had a look back through my thousands of happy snaps with her and found this one that I know we both really like. I shot it last year on the beach at Langebaan lagoon during sunset. Isn’t she the cutest…….