Blog

Mosquitoes

Mark Leary — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:55:05 +0000

Here are two of three ads I recently completed for BBDO Warsaw. This campaign was for Mugga mosquito spray. Poland goes from extremely cold winters to very humid summers and so they suffer very badly with the little fly.

Art directed by Magdalena Kramer, Copywriter - Katarzyna Owczarek, Illustrator - Kacper Spała, Creative Director - Przemek Bogdanowicz, Produced by Photoby.pl

Contact sheet - Klaus

Mark Leary — Wed, 02 May 2012 20:47:21 +0000

Over the last couple of weeks I've been working on a series of five portraits for a lovely commission. Shot on film but worked up digitally.

This was Klaus who is one fifth of a theatre company 'Living Structures'. Their last production was about someone who becomes to live off of broccoli but to the point where you would have to cut off your own limbs as they have become broccoli stalks. In the play all the dolls legs [that Klaus is sorting through] were planted in plant pots around the stage. Very Brothers Grimm and Shockheaded Peter. I think I might sleep with the lights on tonight.

Think Quarterly

Mark Leary — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:03:05 +0000

Here is a recent portrait of Sir John Hegarty I shot for Google's 'Think Quarterly' publication. The online article can be found here. It's well worth the read.

New personal work

Mark Leary — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:02:43 +0000

Even though I log and scan everything for commisioned work when it comes to planning new personal work I just scribble my ideas down on whatever bit of paper is near to hand and then ducktape it to my office wall. I've have just bought myself some beautiful little notebooks from Muji though so I can work through my personal shoot ideas and progress them. I really like the idea of just having a shelf full of ideas, scribblings and sketches in about forty years time.

The very lovely people at Finisterre...

Mark Leary — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:02:01 +0000

...have just supplied me with a bunch of merino base layers. Not to test in a cold climate but, the exact opposite, in the heat of Sri Lanka and/or Indonesia.

I first bought myself some merino base layers about ten years ago (for an upcoming snowboard trip) after years of putting up with cheap, scratchy thermal layers. I took one pair of merino long-johns whilst my friends packed as many pairs of their cheap long-johns as they had. I wore mine for fourteen days straight. They got wet through many wipe-outs but would dry so quickly. On that last day there was still no sign of itching or odour. They were a revelation to me.

The joy with merino is that in the cold they keep you warm and in hot conditions they cool you [no wonder the New Zealand sheep always look so happy] so time for me to test the hot side of things.

I have a few commissions to wrap up and then I will be off. As always, I want to travel light as I will be lugging a plate camera with me and two or three surfboards. Therefore the thought of being able to pack just three merino tees and three pairs of merino pants and just wash them out (merino also dries quicker than anything I know (even in snow and ice)) is a lovely thought.

Thank you Finisterre.

Bicycle loading

Mark Leary — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:01:41 +0000

For the last ten plus years I have cycled around town with lots of thing strapped to my rucksack and other stuff under my arm or hanging off of the handlebars [not always to the happiness of the police officer as I cycle past]. But recently I treated myself to a pannier to make life a little easier. I'm not sure I've quite got it worked out though as everything keeps falling off. This was today's effort. I was picking up some supplies for a trip but I didn't quite line up the foam blank [yes, that is a heel dent in the end where I kept kicking it.] I need a bit more practice at stacking I reckon [and a few more straps. One just isn't cutting it.]

The Ride Journal - Issue VI

Mark Leary — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:18:04 +0000

So, issue 6 of The Ride Journal was launched on Friday night at LookMumNoHands [their strawberry and banana smoothies are very nice indeed] and the issue is beautiful. I haven't put it down yet as there isn't a dud article in there.

Sir John Hegarty

Mark Leary — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:29:37 +0000

I had the privilege of photographing Sir John Hegarty yesterday for Think Quarterly. It was an absolute joy listening to him talk about the future of advertising and he had some pretty radical ideas for the next generation of creatives. The film has been processed so off to the darkroom to get some prints done as the deadline is very tight.

New stuff

Mark Leary — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:19:38 +0000

Just had a great portrait shoot signed off so just getting film, lights, Polaroid etc. ready and then straight after that off to Japan and Iceland or Sweden for some shoots. When I get back, February will be spent updating agents books and the website and editing a couple of new films.

Right, where are my wooly socks and thermals...

The Ride Journal

Mark Leary — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:57:24 +0000

So a few weeks back I was up at the Manchester velodrome shooting a leg of the Revolution track series. The article will be in the next issue of The Ride Journal and will be out around February of 2012. Here is a quick peek at one of the shots -