Welcome to Big Mark Studio

My first job after I left New World Miramar was scrubbing pots and delivering meal trolleys at Wellington Hospital. It was the start of a career in hospitality that took me all over the country.

I washed dishes and chopped up fruit salad under the shadow of Mount Cook. I was very nearly the personal butler for the President of the Philippines, but a last-minute change in schedule meant I ended up waiting on the tables of his support crew. I coordinated events at Te Papa. Managed conferences at Sky City. Bussed tables at the Airport Hotel. My career highlight was managing the State Dinner for HM the Queen back in 2002.

The people I worked with were the most amazing, incredible people that I miss dearly. Hospitality people are the best. Have you seen the TV show The Bear? The moments you see in the show where everyone works in synergy to get the job done… that stuff was so real. Those were the moments I miss. Everyone had your back.

But just like in The Bear, it can start to get a bit too much. Hospitality becomes your identity and gets to the point where you can’t imagine your life being anything else. You burn out. I burned out. I gave temp recruitment a short go, but that didn’t work out. So I came home to Wellington to figure things out.

And I became a photographer.

I didn’t expect to become a photographer. I had just bought a digital SLR and people on Facebook were liking my photos. So I decided to go for it. I did a six-month photography certificate out at Mel’s Photoschool on the Kapiti Coast. Then I started Big Mark Photography.

Big Mark Photography was a photography business that did everything from covering conferences and events to weddings, environmental portraits and commercial work.

Things were going along nicely until, in 2016, I had what is called a pulmonary embolism, which is “a sudden and serious blockage in an artery in the lungs.” The doctor at the hospital said to me, “The good news is, you aren’t dead.”

After I got out of hospital, things weren’t the same. I was increasingly breathless, and it made it difficult for me to finish photo shoots, or even just walk short distances. I had to bring people in to shoot for me, and the business evolved from Big Mark Photography to Big Mark & Co. Again, I worked with the most amazing people who helped keep the business alive.

But a few years ago it all became a bit too much, and I stepped right back.

Big Mark & Co stopped offering photography services and I started to focus more on web design. I still volunteered my photography services for the dragonboats and the circus, but I was really slowing down. Then, during a cardiology appointment a few years ago, they detected what is called atrial fibrillation/flutter. I’m still not entirely sure what that means, but I started to “slow down” even more.

So if you were wondering why I’ve been so quiet, this is why. I haven’t been able to work very much lately. And I’ve been thinking a lot. And that’s led to a couple of decisions. Firstly:

I’m retiring from photography.

Hopefully it won’t be for good. I will reassess in the new year. But it’s too hard for me to get out and about and, when I do, I can’t do what I used to do. To give you an idea of what it’s like for me, if I do go out, even if it’s just for a few hours, I can take a day or two to recover.

So I’m calling it a day. I largely already had. But if you don’t see me around covering a few events I used to always cover, that’s why. There are still a few photo projects I wanted to do but never got a chance to get started. When I hit the new year, I will reassess what I can do. But that leads into the second thing:

Welcome to Big Mark Studio.

I have reimagined the business into a proper solo web design studio. Over the last few years, the web design industry has been heavily disrupted. The search engines don’t work the way they used to any more. It is simultaneously easier than ever for anyone to spin up a new website with a couple of prompts, but also harder for anyone to find that website because of the new way search engines work.

So it isn’t just about the website any more, and I’ve had to adapt my processes in order to keep up with the pace at which the technology has changed. Big Mark Studio is largely platform agnostic now, although there are some platforms where I have more experience. But my goal is, as always, to help people, businesses and organisations to be the best they can be.

And because this is also me saying goodbye to photography, I wanted this first article to look back as much as it looks forward. Photography has been such a huge part of my life for the last 15 years that it didn’t feel right to quietly remove it and move on. So if this page feels unusually photography-heavy for a web design studio, that’s why. This is me giving that part of my life a proper send-off.

There are far too many people to name who have helped me, supported me, worked alongside me and kept me going over the years. Clients, friends, family, colleagues, photographers, creatives, hospitality people, Voda models and talent and their boss, dragonboaters, circus people and everyone in between. I wouldn’t have made it this far without you.

Thank you. For the work, the opportunities, the encouragement, the patience, the friendship and for having my back when I needed it. It has meant more to me than I can properly put into words.

I want to build good websites for people. I want to keep learning. I want to write more. I want to make some videos again. I want to work with good people on things that matter. And I want to see whether I can slowly build this into something sustainable.

So this isn't me saying I'm back. Not quite. It's me working towards being back.

And this is what that looks like.

Welcome to Big Mark Studio.‍