A Winter Wedding in Cornwall!
March 13th, 2012 by Mark
Here is a little Film I made recently for the beautiful Caroline + Chris.
Wedding Ideas Magazine, April 2012
March 13th, 2012 by Mark
Guest writer, Annabel Beeforth (Love My Dress), has very kindly included me into her article for Wedding Ideas Magazine (released April 2012), advertising how to incorporate Vintage / Retro into your wedding. Many thanks Annabel xx
My stay in beautiful Lisbon, March 2012
March 13th, 2012 by Mark
I was very lucky to be invited to stay in Lisbon over the weekend of March 9th – 12th, by a friend who was staying there with work… even luckier that she knew the area and the language, as well as the best places to eat, drink and dance!
The weather was perfect, as were the natives of Lisbon, who were so very hospitable and welcoming. My favourite part of Lisbon was the grub! The food was probably the best I have ever eaten… but only because I was taken to the restaurants off the beaten track. I felt so sorry for the tourists squashing themselves into the usual high street cafes at 7pm… when the “real” places opened up in the back streets, behind unmarked doors around 10pm!
My second favourite part was the Fado music, which is basically Portuguese Blues, and sung to a basic accompaniment of guitar and violin. Again, a lot of bars show a basic form of Fado for the tourists, but to get the real deal you need to travel out of the centre to the quieter parts of town, stand about the streets after dark and listen out for music… then follow the sound to a door, and knock! Every Fado bar in unique, but what we found was a small bar, occupied by 15-20 locals, all ages, watching with heart felt eyes as they took it in turns to stand up and sing a song of hardship, loss, betrayal, mourning and general sadness… but usually with a grand finale of better times ahead, for without Fado we have nothing!
Awwwww… I cannot wait to go back!
Love My Dress article
January 25th, 2012 by Mark
Love My Dress Blog leads the way yet again by publishing a beautiful article on my Super 8mm films!
New Short Film
December 22nd, 2011 by Mark
Short Film, Foreign Language, 2011
A young French girl has just arrived in London by bus and takes in her new surroundings. Captivated by the night time life of the West End.
Written & Directed & Edited by
Mark W Brown
Shot by
Alexandra Welensky & Mark W Brown
Starring
Anastasia Popova
Narrated by
Lucie Santamans
Mark & Marianne on Style Me Pretty
December 1st, 2011 by Mark
The wonderful Marianne Taylor and myself have appeared recently in the leading American blog Style Me Pretty!
It’s always such a pleasure working with Marianne, her pictures are simply stunning (click the picture above to see her work)… she is without a doubt the leading wedding photographer in this country! Lisa + Alex marks our second Wedding together… well, third if you count my sisters Wedding, where we first met! And our second blog article. I hope there will be many many more to come!
And before you ask, the song playing in the film is When I’m With You by JJ Heller (just buy the album).
M
Kitty Gallannaugh
October 18th, 2011 by Mark
Well folks… it’s official, Mark Brown is in love!
I stumbled across the amazing Kitty Gallannaugh somewhat accidentally and spent the remainder of the day staring longingly at her website portfolio. I’m not sure what it is, but there is something uniquely beautiful about Kitty’s photography, an effortless beauty so perfectly taken it almost looks accidental. This is an artist to watch… and watch… and watch!
“Kitty realises how nerve-wrecking it feels to stare into a camera lens, which is why she always tries to make her clients feel at ease. She hates forced smiles and awkwardly framed poses, so she works to bring out the emotion and personality of the model. Imagining up new concepts to communicate a photograph, she tries to stretch the margins of regular photography and turn it into a tale.”
www.kittygallannaugh.com
xx
Imogen + James… and Thursday Treats with Rock’n Roll Bride
October 13th, 2011 by Mark
Imogen + James, ICA London, August, 2011
The ICA is a fantastic venue for any London wedding, it is based slap-bang in the centre of the city (just down the road from Buckingham Palace), it’s cool, artistic and the right size for an intimate / inner-city party.
Imogen and James (high school sweethearts… aww) looked perfect together, the decoration for the day was a light elegance, non-obtrusive and worked well as a modern London wedding.
The film is now being shown on the amazing Rock’n Roll Bride blog.
Lisa + Alex
October 13th, 2011 by Mark
Lisa + Alex, Sandwich, 19th August, 2011
Another gorgeous wedding courtesy of the awesome Marianne Taylor! I have to hand it to Marianne, she certainly gets some beautiful wedding’s, and it is always such fun working alongside her.
On this occasion she recommended me to Lisa and Alex, who were having a vintage/fun fair/retro inspired wedding day at the gorgeous Preston Court. One word about this place: WOW! Not only do they have spectacular surroundings of rolling fields with grazing horses, but they have a large pond, along with it’s own island where you can marry on, a fully working merry-go-round, a dining barn adorned with vintage fair ground decor and to cap it off… amazing staff!
Lisa looked stunning, as did her bridesmaids and it was a perfect blue sky day. I loved every second of this wedding. I hope it shows!
MwB.
Marianne’s pictures here
Caitlin + Jonny
October 13th, 2011 by Mark
Caitlin + Jonny, Winchester, 30th July, 2011
An absolutely beautiful American/English wedding day at the stunning Winchester College, planned by the wonderful Beckie Gregory @ Temple Gregory.
It was also a pleasure working with the hugely talented photographer Zoe Collyer, you can see her C+J pics here
The Wedding of Leanne + Bobby
September 7th, 2011 by Mark
The Wedding of Leeanne + Bobby, Norfolk, 15th July 2011
Mark W. Brown on Super-8mm
August 18th, 2011 by Mark
For all you MW Brown fans out there, this is me according to the last few seconds of a Kodak film cartridge I had to use before delivering to the processors. Not a bad timelapse. The music used is the intro to Miles Davis Birth Of Cool album.
On the other side of the lens!
July 26th, 2011 by Mark
I recently had the pleasure of working along side the very talented Wedding photographer Britt Spring. Aside from being a brilliant photographer, she is also a lovely person and now a good friend. She forwarded these pictures she had taken of me throughout the day, and I am thrilled with them!
Her work is stunning, simplistic, elegant… well worth a look.
Thank you Britt! xx
A very English wedding
July 19th, 2011 by Mark
The Wedding of Victoria + John, Farthingstone, 11th June 2011
Lynne + Matthew
July 12th, 2011 by Mark
The wedding of Lynne + Matthew, Saltburn On Sea, May 27th 2011
Marianne & me :)
June 28th, 2011 by Mark
Marianne Taylor, one of the great Wedding photographers around, and myself have appeared in another beautiful feature on top Love My Dress blog. This time for the work we did together on the Wedding of Niki & Steve @ Home House Members Club, London.
Marianne is such a wonderful person to work with (this is our third Wedding together), her pictures are breathtaking and I recommend all of you to click the link above and check out the fantastic article!
M x
The First Film of the Season… A Central London Romance!
June 22nd, 2011 by Mark
What better way to start the season of 2011 off… than with this gorgeous Wedding. Held at Home House members club in central London, this spectacular location boasts vintage decor on all levels of splendor and is known as the best kept secret in London.
Niki glowed in her beautiful dress, she was stunning and the camera loved her almost as much as her new hubby Steve. It’s Wedding’s like these and wonderful couples like Niki & Steve that make me and my camera LOVE what we do… I enjoyed every moment in creating this film…
“You have reduced us to tears! We’re speechless – it’s absolutely beautiful – and love love love the music as well. I honestly don’t know what to say – it’s absolutely perfect. We’ve watched it about 50 times now. We’re absolutely over the moon! Cannot thank you enough, really…! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!” -Niki Manley, 20th June, 2011
xx
A little about Super-8mm Films
April 26th, 2011 by Mark
Super-8mm is a motion picture format, different to video because in stead of capturing the image on an HD card or a video-tape it exposes the image onto a strip of film 8mm wide (hence the name). The final result is beautiful, with a timeless quality that video cannot replicate. Super-8mm was at the height of its popularity in the 60′s & 70′s, but with the increase in digital videography, it became too expensive for the average household and simply faded away. But in the last decade it has had a comeback through visual artists and (more recently) Wedding Filmmakers who wish to create films that are more closely associated to art than your run-of-the-mill Wedding video.
Although Super-8mm Wedding films are more common in the West Coast of the United States (Joel Serrato, SharkPig, Brandon Goodwin), their reputation has drifted on a westerly-wind toward Europe, where couples who are after that something special and different are taking notice.
It is my ambition to make Super-8mm Wedding films as big here in Europe as they are in the USA.
MwB
A new Beginning!
April 5th, 2011 by Mark
I’ve been making Wedding Videos and Super-8mm Films for a little while now, I’ve maybe filmed fifty Weddings or so and received 100% positive feedback. But this has always been a side “hobby” of mine, something I’ve enjoyed doing and never fully committed myself due to other work restraints.
But as of the 5th April 2011 I am proud to say I am now a full blown Wedding Videographer! This is my passion, this is what I love to do, this is… everything! And it gives me great pride to know I spend my life doing what I enjoy, traveling, meeting new and exciting people, capturing that special moment… I can say my life revolves around Love!
How lucky I am to be able to say this.
Thank you to all the couples and the people who have made this possible.
Mark W. Brown x
Gorgeous Tuscany!
October 7th, 2010 by Mark
The wedding of Ruth and Jon set in the rolling hills and vineyards of Tuscany was absolutely gorgeous. They were married in an ancient church in Certaldo that looked out over the stunning countryside. Ruth looked beautiful.
Trash The Dress
June 3rd, 2010 by Mark
Nisha + Anthony are two lovely people I met recently… Lovely in the way all they do is smile and beam happiness. They are truly, madly, deeply in love with each other and it is an absolute joy to be in their presence. I shot their wedding in December 2009 and Nisha wanted to do a separate Trash The Dress film – so we went out in the last Sunday of May 2010, which happened to be a lovely day in the midst of rainy ones and shot this film around the alleys of Old Street, London. Luckily they didn’t need much direction, it was hard to keep them off one another and all I had to do was point my camera and shoot.
What a joyous time! MB
Photographs by Lucy Birkhead.
Paris, je t’aime!
March 8th, 2010 by Mark
Paris is my favourite city in the world… and luckily only 2hrs train ride from the centre of London.
The first time Lucy and I visited Paris together we were staying south, near the Latin Quarter, but we found ourselves spending most of our time north near Montmartre. I saw images of Jack Keruac from the Lonesome Traveller, 1952, leaning against a rotten wall, drinking cheap wine and smoking rolled cigarettes, watching in awe as the decadent streets roared to life as the sun went down. Now, of course, like everywhere in the world, you can’t get past the tourists, the inflation, the big sell out! But there is still that magic hour, especially in the summer, when the tourists go back to their hotels and the hilltop is once again as it was and always will be… decadent. Sweet decadence!
We drank rose by the jug out on the street and watched as they illuminated around us. We befriended two girls from America who were now living close to where we sat and we shared dinner. One of them, I forget their names, thought it would be a good idea to buy two bottles of champagne and go sit under the Sacre Coeur. By midnight the steps beneath the Sacre Coeur were in full swing. Parisians of all genres were there and drinking and singing and laughing. We sat down, opened the champagne and gazed out over the city. This was it. What Keruac loved. The heart and soul of Paris. This is what the people that dismissed the French as snobs never found… midnight to 5am under the Sacre Coeur with a bottle of champagne!
This is my place in the world, no matter where I am or who I’m with… Paris, je t’aime!
My first Super 8mm Wedding… done and dusted!
March 7th, 2010 by Mark
In February 2010 I took the leap from HDV video to Super-8mm by shooting my first wedding film at the beautiful Royal Exchange, London. It is now early March and the footage has been successfully printed and delivered back to me for editing.
I made a brief cut, leaving it mostly unedited and showed it to the recently wed couple to see first reactions… purely for selfish reasons… does it work? Did I really capture it? Etc,etc.
Their only working DVD player was in their bedroom so we sat on their bed drinking red wine and watched it, me sitting behind them to watch the reactions. Luckily for me it went down an absolute storm… it actually blew my mind a little because the reaction was ten times greater than any good reviews I was rewarded with when using HDV. To see their big day, friends, family and themselves properly captured on film… not video, FILM, in all its timeless glory… there is no better drug in this world. We then got drunk on the second best drug in the world and I left them late in the night watching the film for the third time.
I LOVE this format!
Long live Vision 3 500T.
MB
The Wedding Of Sarah & Paul
February 27th, 2010 by Mark
This is the 5 minute trailer to the wedding of Sarah and Paul, shot 2008.
This is one of the best weddings I have ever been to… it was the right mix of everything and they were such a lovely couple with lovely friends and family. Since making the film we have remained close friends and I have gone on to do further video work with Paul.
They recently had their first baby… the beautiful Zena.
On The Road to Rhode Island
February 27th, 2010 by Mark
I first met Lucy in a dive bar in the East Village… it was 2003 on the eve of my 23rd birthday. I knew from the moment I saw her that we were going to be together forever.
It was difficult, her living in New York city, me in London – but we worked it out. Our first holiday together was around the east coast… around Maine mostly, Boston, Block Island then on to Newport, Rhode island. We were somewhere on route 138, it was a beautiful day and I was in the passenger seat fiddling around with my fathers old Olympus film camera. While it was on my lap I accidentally took this photo… this is one of my favourite photos as it represents a moment of nothing, no thought, no feeling, nothing learned – just a passing moment during the best week of my life.
Lucy Birkhead, New York City
February 27th, 2010 by Mark
My muse, drinking coffee, nameless cafe, NYC
Untitled Beauty
February 26th, 2010 by Mark
Untitled Beauty is a short film I made with a couple who had just got engaged. They wanted something quirky with their Save The Date, so I came up with the idea of making a Save The Date film. They were getting married in The Royal Exchange, Bank, London, so we shot the film around that area. It took one hour to film and the final draft was finished the following day.
The couple were extremely happy with the outcome… as was I.
I Love Rome
February 24th, 2010 by Mark
Rome is a very special place to visit, not just because the wonderful history and architecture – but the locals are lovely. Most tourists stick to the familiar trails and it’s hard to get anywhere or see anything up close because the streets are overwhelmed with tour guides, flashing cameras and giant maps! A funny memory is being advised to see The Spanish Steps, we turned up and I asked someone where they were, he pointed forward and ‘There!’… buried beneath thousands of tourists eating take-out. That seemed to be the norm… we eventually gave up looking for historical landmarks due to the fact you couldn’t see them!
But as soon as we left the tourist trails and hit the back streets, the real Rome unfolded before us. Here we found the most charming locals and restaurants serving up some of the best food I have ever tasted!
I love Rome. I love the people. I love the food. I love the perfumed air. The blossom trees. The cobbled streets. The lunch-hour priests. The alleyway music. The amazing sunsets and above all the feeling that what ever you’re doing is right.
