About PhotoMadly | Brighton Wedding Photographer
Who are we?
PhotoMadly is a husband and wife team, Erika Szostak and Mark Cooper - an American wife and an English husband - who are lucky enough to live beside the seaside in Brighton, England and to do something we love for a living. Erika is the one you'll see behind the camera, while Mark is her "enabler" in all things: the technical guru, second shooter, invaluable assistant and all-around photo support system.
In 2009 we had not just one, but two of our own weddings: one private barefoot ceremony on the beach in Malibu, California - just us, the officiant and the photographer - and one more semi-traditional ceremony in rural Indiana with our families, friends, vintage art deco glass decorations, flowers from the local farmer’s market and, because we met on a dance floor at Miami's Winter Music Conference in 2007, a little bit of soulful San Francisco-style house music as we walked down the aisle.Since then we've made our way to Brighton, England, and have recently welcomed our first child, a giggly good-natured boy named Oliver who attended his first photo shoot with us when he was only ten days old. Erika has been documenting his growth with her "Oliver Daily" project - one picture of Oliver every day, as long as he lets her get away with it.
Get to know us better by checking out our About Us Gallery.
What do we do?
In addition to our passions for music, Erika and Mark came to photography with backgrounds in writing. We still write, but now we do it with cameras and light. The most important elements of any story are its characters, which is why we are drawn to photographing people and events. We look for the stories told by the small gestures, the shared glances, the goofy inside jokes and the items left behind.
For your wedding, event and/or portraits, we will be sure that we spend time getting to know your personality and your preferences, so that they will be reflected in pictures that tell the story of you - as you envisioned it. We'd like to think of our job as helping you to write visual love letters to one another and to your family and friends.
And we know that photography is more than just a way of recording the ways you made your day amazing; it is one of the ways you make it amazing.
Style
While we would like to be right for everyone, if you are looking for very traditional, formal images, then we are probably not the wedding photographers for you. If, however, you are looking for fierce, fresh, fun images that are a mix of fashion-editorial inspired and reportage and you're not afraid to get a little silly (and you promise to laugh at our dumb jokes), then we will be a good match.
We are available to photograph weddings, civil partnerships, lifestyle family and child portrait sessions and events. We are also available for commercial commissions; please contact us to discuss.
Fun fact
Our wedding photography business was kick-started by Erika's experience appearing on an episode of Channel 5's How to Take Stunning Pictures - so if you think you have seen her on TV, you're right.
Props
Our work has been exhibited at a variety of blogs (see below), venues and festivals throughout the U.K. and the U.S. If you'd like to check out images from an entire event start to finish, check out our slideshows here.
All the best,
Erika & Mark