Dear fellow awesome photographers,

It is that time again! We are launching our Mark Brooke Classes.... and they are even better than before! We are launching three classes: Rad photos 101, Reception and off Camera Lighting, and Booking Out Your Year. We love teaching our classes!

We have been full time wedding photographers for many years now and we put a lot of love, time, energy, brain power, and thought into our business. Every decision that we make is thoroughly thought through and we spend a lot of time chatting about what direction we want to go in. We have fought hard to make our business a strong, artsy, fun, happy, colorful, photojournalistic brand. We love what we do, and we honestly love all of our clients! So where we are today in our business has not been based on "luck", and we would love to share why we believe that. We also love teaching our Mark Brooke Classes. Workshops for photographers have become very popular over the years, but we have chosen to stick to teaching topic specific classes that can help photographers grow in areas that need attention. At our classes we laugh, we learn, and we have a lot of fun. Because they are only two hours you won’t leave with information overload. We have taught these classes several times and we are thrilled to be launching them again. You can take one class or you can take them all.

The number of photographers for each class is limited to keep the learning community small. We want you to be able to ask questions and truly LEARN! If you book 2 classes we are giving the 3rd half off! If you are a husband and wife team you must buy two "seats", but we will discount the 2nd seat by 50% (email if you have questions on this).

We hope to see you soon! Please click the link to find out more about the details!

http://markbrooke.com/classes/

IF YOU’RE A BRIDE PLEASE ENJOY THE AWESOME IMAGES BELOW, IF YOU ARE  A PHOTOGRAPHER PLEASE READ THE LEFT COLUMN!

OR CLICK HERE: http://markbrooke.com/classes/

One of our favorite types of shoots are our "post wedding shoots".... on the wedding day we get awesome images, but during the post wedding shoots, it's so fun to take our time and really capture some rad images that might not be available on the wedding day. When we meet with clients we like to mention that each image we take should be able to be used as a "piece of art over your mantel"... post wedding shoots are just that.

Last week we got to rock Kate and Franks post wedding shoot and it was soooo much fun! Kate and Frank are two amazing people that are so in love. We were honored to be apart of their entire wedding process, so seeing them again was awesome! Here are just a few of our favorite images!

Faye and Ben got Married last month, and we could not be more excited to share it with all of our blog readers! Today is super glooming, so we know this post with brighten everyones day! Faye and Ben are two amazing clients of ours that had an amazing wedding at Rancho Los Lomas. Every detail was perfect! I think their Cake was one of my favorites from this wedding season!... and according to Mark, the candy bar was gone within 30 minutes because it was soooo amazing! Faye and Ben are seriously perfect for each other! Here are just a few of our favorite images!

A few weeks ago we got to be apart of Dolly and Andrews wedding. Almost four years ago they met threw mutual friends at Knotts Scary Farm which started the begininng of an awesome friendship. That winter they spent alot of time snow boarding up in Big Bear... Which followed by them starting a solid dating relationship :) Dolly and Andrew are amazing people! We loved being apart of their wedding! They are the type of people that everyone wants to be around. Here are just a few of our favorite images :)

Did I mention that I think their wedding details are out of this world awesome!!!?

All of our clients are awesome... And to go a little further, most of our clients share similar lifestyles and interests as Mark and I.  Mark and I are obsessed with sushi! To be honest we use to have it at least 2 times a week. But now with the little ones, and busy season, we don't get to have it as much as we would like! Eileen and Peter love sushi also. They met online, and their first date (which went amazing) was at a sushi restaurant in Irvine. They are so cute together, and we cant wait to be apart of thier wedding. Here are just a few of our favorite images!

photographer tip: Make sure you find your "brand and style" in all areas, including editing! Mark edits all the photos on our site to keep them consistent. Its important to find consistency in all areas, even after the shoot is all over.

Shereece and Doug are two awesome clients of ours! We got a phone call from Shereece a few months ago, which lead to us having the privilege of being apart of their special day. Doug and Sheerece are such a cute couple. You can tell they just "get each other" in every way! Their wedding was at the Biltmore Hotel.

Photographer tip: don't take an "ok" photo and turn it black and white, just because you think that will make it an "awesome" photo. You should be thinking of how you want the shot to look as you are taking it. We call it shooting with "the End in mind".  Use black and white photos to your benefit by expressing the emotion of the shot, or the art.  :) -just a thought.

Mark and I are headed to palm springs right now, and I could not be more excited! My mother has the kids for the day so we can fully enjoy the weather and pool.  I can only imagine bringing Wyatt and having to sit in the shade all day with an ice cream cone in fear that a melt down is right around the corner.... So leaving our little monkeys at home will be nice :)  We are meeting up with our good friend the Kaisers for Nates 30th B-day. I have been looking forward to this little trip for over a month now... so Palm Springs here I come to get my tan on :)

Mary and Nik are two awesome clients of ours that really know how to throw an amazing Wedding! They got married at the Marvimon in LA, which is one of our favorite locations (we love the smog shoppee too). They are both from London, and really know how to bring the party! Mary is honestly the nicest and happiest person I have ever met, and Nik is super duper fun to be around. They just glow with love for each other and to all the people around them. Here are just a few of our favorite images.

Photographer tip: capturing details is super important for a bride and groom. Make sure you set aside time in your day to capture everything. We shoot the details either right before the ceremony, or right before the guests are allowed over to the reception area (during cocktail hour).

Thoughts and suggestions from our Bride Mary!

Food: heirloom la (everyone was amazed by the food)

Coordinator: Beverly Murphy (a life saver!)

Hair: Laura d of Fred segal Santa Monica (super lovely and amazingly talented)

Make-up: steve Rodriguez (great fun and a fantastic artist)

DJ: simon and Leah petty (got the party started!!)

Flowers: mary white (really sweet and completely got what I wanted)

Cake: hotcakes bakes (the cake was gorgeous and yummy…and Gina was

great and made it all v easy)

Dress: Nicole miller (fabulous and lovely sales people and alterations

Marie at west coast couture….who was amazing and fantastic)

Pianist: Richard Green (who can play anything that you request)

Shoes: Jimmy choo (which were actually really comfy and besides

chocking on our first dance I could dance the night away!!!)

Nik’s suit: Paul smith (which is always a winner) his shoes John

varvatos (he didn’t didn’t choke, but had dreadful dance partner!!)

Today I am having my in laws over for dinner. Now some of you out there might cringe and the sound of the word "in laws", but not me. I LOVE the family I married into! When I was sixteen my mom was having some health problems around thanksgiving and Christmas time. I had just started dating Mark, and my now mother in law suggested that our family join them for the holidays. Now looking back on that gesture it was very generous considering I was only a "16 year old girlfriend of one of her sons". We accepted the offer and had a year of amazing holidays as a blended family. Since then the tradition has stuck. I have been with Mark for 9 years now, and still to this day our families join together for every holiday, birthday, and special occasion!  So this morning I woke up with a hop in my step because it's my turn to have everyone over and cook a big family meal. Since I am a new cook, meaning I just decied to step up my game in the kitchen, I am making a chicken prosciutto dish. It's going to a fun night.

Shereece and Doug are a just a few of our awesome clients for 2011! Sometimes we don't get the opportunity to meet people in person, only over the phone... Shereece was one of those clients that gave us a jingle one day and graced us with her amazing presence and joyful spirit. Even though it was just a phone conversation I knew they were going to be the perfect fit for Mark Brooke Photography. Doug is a producer (one of his successes was the move the "RING" , yes our clients are way cool)! He is such an amazing person and so fun to be around...We feel honored and excited to be apart of their wedding! Here are just a few of our favorite images!

I grew up in a house where my mom always seemed to be doing a craft. Im not going to lie sometimes she got a little out of hand by making my sister and I matching outfits for EVERY occasion.... Once we were able to pick up a glue stick, crafts started coming our way. You would think I would be over the "art" of crafting, but Im not! Today I am meeting up with my good friend Lindye to get our craft on for a baby shower I am throwing next week. Today the goal is to turn 9 tennis balls into an owl baby mobile to hang over the food table. With a little felt, hot glue, and some cute string, I think it will be a success. Wish me luck :)

Last week we were able to be apart of Sara and Adams Day after session! We love when clients book Day After Sessions! It gives us the opportunity to get photos that we would NEVER be able to get on the wedding day... mostly because the bridesmaids would kill us if we ever suggested getting ankle deep in the ocean 30 minutes before the bride walks down the aisle. Sara and Adam are honestly perfect for each other! Adam is one of the greatest guys I have ever met, and I honestly think Sara is the prettiest girl I have ever seen!!! They are so fun and we were thrilled to be apart of their engagement, wedding, and Day After Session.

Here are just a few of our favorites!

As mentioned before, Mark and I are headed to NY. We will be there August 7-10th. If you are interested in photographer classes or mentor sessions please shoot us an email. And of course we are shooting while we are there! So, if you would like any type of portrait session, shoot us an email for pricing and details. We have been going to NY every summer so we are super excited for this up coming trip :)  We hope to see alot of you there!

Leland and Nicole are two of our awesome Mark Brooke Clients. I can honestly say they made me tear up 10 minutes after meeting them because I WAS LAUGHING SO HARD! Nicole leads an extreme cycling class and is a dancer (not to mention one of the pretties people I have ever met). Leland is a basketball coach and is currently working on a documentary (way awesome). When I met them for their e-session I knew I was going to have a blast. They are such a perfect couple, and are so sweet with each other. We feel honored to have them as clients!