Marc’s father was a keen amateur photographer, and he became interested in photography from a very young age. After attending UCD, studying Economics, Marc discovered a photography course was being offer at DIT (now TU, Dublin). He spent three years qualifying before setting out on his career.

Starting Off

A lot of the work that Marc has done over the years has been through word of mouth. Ireland is a small country and in the media industry a recommendation can mean everything.  But luck also plays a part, while photographing Tom McGinty (Dublin’s famous “Dice man”), for an Aer Lingus campaign, Marc met his next employer. A woman who was part of the group that was setting up the Big Issue magazine, spotted him cycling through Dublin, carrying the arm of the Statue of Liberty, a photoshoot prop. She was so amused by the sight that she stopped him, discovering her was a photographer, she asked him to interview a job with the Big Issue. Needless to say, Marc got the job and was now a working photographer.  “It was a FAS scheme, one issue a month, it wasn’t great”. Everyone starts somewhere.

Marc went on to work for the Collins Agency and put in his time at the Four Courts, chasing photos and competing with other photographers for shots. This is where he would stand outside the courts waiting to get a picture of the accused. There were days when he was standing for 10 hours hoping to just get one shot. In these pre-digital days, he would run back and forth between the photo printers to check he had the right shot. After five years, he decided it was time to go out on his own.