Mark Murfitt

Stuart & Nikki preview

mark — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:48:52 +0000

A sneak peak from Stuart and Nikki’s wedding.

The full post will be posted next week…

James & Ursula

mark — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 08:01:31 +0000

It’s so great being involved in a wedding where the couple getting married have so many great family and friends, and to see the massive effort so many of James and Ursula’s friends went to was really quite humbling.

I was thrilled to be photographing this wedding, not least because I had some friends attending, which is always nice.

The weather was gorgeous – so much so I got a sun burned head – James and Ursula were fantastic, and great sports, the venue was amazing and the day was perfect.

When I’m circulating, taking photos, I watch people and how they interact with the couple and after a while I notice some ‘trends’, and what I noticed at James and Ursula’s wedding was how much they both mean to so many of their friends.
For your friends to make an effort to make your day special is one thing, particularly when you work and live in the same area, but it’s completely another ‘thing’ when, as James and Ursula do, you live in Singapore, nowhere near any of their friends, and still everyone makes a massive effort, even flying in from all around the world.

So if there’s one thing which struck me, touched me, it was friends, make them, cherish them and hold them.

I made the ‘Top 100 UK Wedding blogs’

mark — Mon, 30 May 2011 13:48:48 +0000

It’s a funny thing recognition.

It’s something I’ve certainly never gone after, I just do what I do and I’m glad I seem to bump in to people who like what I do.

So it made me smile when a friend of mine emailed me to let me know I’d made the Top 100 UK wedding blogs… I didn’t realise they were even looking..

Anyway, new in at number 40 is me!

Here’s a link, just so you can check I’m telling fibs, but also to see some other great sites..

Top 100 Wedding Blogs

Top UK Wedding Blogs

James and Ursula – a preview

mark — Mon, 30 May 2011 13:13:21 +0000

I photographed a fantastic wedding last weekend at the amazing Hampton Court House.
It’s such a cool venue, and when it’s packed with lots of lovely people, well, it really doesn’t get much better than that!

Here’s a sneak peak, and one of my favourite shots..

Love146 Flash Mov video..

mark — Tue, 10 May 2011 07:33:57 +0000

As you’ll see from a previous post I photographed an event for the Love146, a charity whose aim is to bring an end to child slavery and exploitation..something which I’m also completely passionate about. The event was a flash mob in Trafalgar Square featuring 100 of the top west end musical dancers, it was such a cool event, anyway, the video’s finally been published on YouTube…YAY!!

Darren & Lizzy at Wotton House

mark — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:42:16 +0000

I can always tell when I’ve had an amazing time at a wedding, it’s not only a warm fuzzy glow, but when I’m driving home I feel sad I’m leaving everyone behind.
There are weddings I photograph where I feel part of the family; once the day is over, the lights dimmed, the festivities are winding down and everyone’s exhausted, and I’m on my way home, I sometimes get that feeling you have when you know you’re not going to be seeing your family for sometime.
I know, I know, it’s a little bit silly, but then again I kind of like it, it proves to me it’s been a good day, it proves to me I’ve connected with the couple and very often the family as well.
I had that feeling driving home from Darren and Lizzy’s wedding, we had such fun, their family and friends were awesome and it was just a good wedding and I’m very happy to have been part of it.

Happy days..

Apricot..

mark — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 10:57:49 +0000

It’s funny where you find beauty.

Sometimes it’s in a sunset, sometimes it’s a sunrise.

It can be a photograph, a relationship or… just something else..

This? Well, this is beauty in every aspect..

Do yourself a favour, click the HD button and watch it full screen.

Love146 Flash Mob in Trafalgar Square

mark — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:05:07 +0000

I’m always happy to use what meagre skill I have and be involved with and help out charities I believe in. And so yesterday I was asked to photograph a ‘Flash Mob’ in Trafalgar Square for a charity which I’ve worked with a little bit before called Love146 (their website is www.love146.org).

Love146 is a completely awesome charity, they really are great, they’re helping to not only stem the tide of human traffiking but to eliminate it completely, and if there’s anything I can do to help this cause then I’ll go out of my way to do so. In fact, I’d go as far as to encourage YOU to get involved in some small way, it may be a little, or it may be a lot, but there must be something each one of us can do to help these poor children caught in the sex trade.

Actually, there is something you can do, check this link out, it’s a sponsored run/walk in Richmond Park…come on, you know you want to..you can walk or run it.. www.runforlove146.org

Anyway, for those that don’t know, a Flash Mob is an impromptu dance routine thing in a public place. The track below is the soundtrack they all danced to..very cool, and although it was a remix it had Annie Lennox’s blessing (just a suggestion, but plug some good headphones in, turn up the volume a bit…then turn it up all the way! Trust me, it’s the only way to listen to this track…COME ON!)

There were eight cameras recording the flash mob situated around Trafalgar Square..I’ll post the video once it’s been released.

It was such a priviledge to be involved in this project, and I can’t believe how much work all the dancers and volunteers put in. I only joined them at the eleventh hour to photograph it, but I know there was months of work put in, in organising this event to make this thing a reality. Oh, and in case you’re wondering why the little girl is holding a sign saying ‘Can You See Me’, it’s to bring awareness to the fact that such a lot of the traffiking goes on right under our noses, and we just walk on by without noticing..makes you think really.

I’m not sure I’ve been involved in anything quite so cool and fun.

It’s very humbling to have been involved in something which really matters..

Gareth & Karyn

mark — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 11:32:15 +0000

Gareth and Karyn’s wedding was a record for me, in that it’s the shortest time I’ve been booked before a wedding, I received the call 10 days prior to the big day! My first question was to ask whether their photographer had let them down…’oh no, nothing like that, we only got engaged last weekend’ was the reply. This meant they only had two weeks to organise the wedding…which they did with remarkable ease and a complete lack of stress or panic.

My hat goes off to them for not only trying to arrange a wedding in two weeks, but succeeding, I’m just glad I had a free saturday..

Matt and Lydia

mark — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 17:52:10 +0000

I don’t mind admitting that when I woke up on the morning of this shoot I thought ‘bliming heck! How on earth am I going to make this work!’

All I wanted was some sunshine, not a mass of sunshine, not sunshine like you’d see on the west coast of America, just some tepid wintery english sunshine..alas it wasn’t too be.

So it was with a heavy heart that I drove to meet Matt and Lydia, however I needn’t have worried as once we arrived at first location I realised that the dull weak overcast weather could actually work in my favour.

Matt and Lydia were such good sports allowing me to try some new stuff, faithfully traipsing off to their specified ‘spot’ with ‘this’ll only take a minute’ ringing in their ears.

To say I’m thrilled with the photos would be an understatement, I think these are amongst my best and favourite photos, and the fact that Lydia’s my cousin has nothing to do with it…honest