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Short History
Having studied at Canterbury College of Art for four years, Mark joined Design Consultants Cooper Thirkell, before being one of only two designers that Nicholas Thirkell took with him to set up the highly renowned and influential design consultancy Carroll, Dempsey, Thirkell.
Following a year as a senior designer at Penguin Books, in 1987 Mark with friend and work colleague Roy White, set up the London based The Third Man Design Consultancy which ran for nearly five years before becoming a book designer, which in turn led to a long term career as a lifestyle photographer. Mark’s LinkedIn page shows his complete CV and client list.
Having worked and lived in Chelsea, London for twelve years Mark has lived with his wife in Kent. He enjoys all forms of dance, yoga, hill climbing and music. A former musician and puppeteer, his formative years revolved around the stage.
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Matt Biggs, gardening writer and broadcaster
“Mark’s portfolio shows his skill and versatility. He has clear vision and a great sense of humour – essential qualities when working to deadlines. I have worked with him on three books now, all of which have benefitted hugely from this exceptional talent. I highly recommend both the man and his work.” -
Which? Gardening, trials
It’s the backgrounds I wish to draw your attention to really because they’ve become a bit of a thing for me. Textures. Staining. Ageing. For instance, the background for the Dwarf Beans trial was dredged up in a pond on the grounds of a medieval manor house in Kent during the drought of 2021. I cleaned it up and slowly dried it out for a couple of years before it saw the light of day again last year. This beautiful medieval oak door is one of my favourite backgrounds and was one in a series of articles I was commissioned to photograph for Which? Gardening last year. For the Roast Potatoes shoot I managed to find some incredible chestnut planks. Woodfield Restorations in Streatham, London (who I’ve worked with for many years), coloured, stained and polished one of the pieces to produce this wonderful mid toned background. Fabulous work by Tom Pockley, woodturner, and ceramicist, Rose Turnwell featured in the Brussels article. -
Virgin Classics
Commissioned by Jeremy Hall, Mark Winwood designed over 75 record covers for Virgin Classics, and was one of the leading lights involved in the 'design revolution' that was redefining classical record sleeves during that time. This was picked up by Creative Review who wrote the article 'Music's Little Gems' in the early nineties which heavily included Mark's work. It was an excellent opportunity to explore old and forgotten typefaces and pen Elizabethan calligraphy for various projects as and when it was needed. He also worked for EMI and Decca. -
BBC/ The High Street
“I’ve worked with Mark on many assignments over the years and he always delivers excellent results. Quercus commissioned Mark to shoot stills for BBC Series HIGH STREET – he had to deal with five TV crews simultaneously, each day, covering several shops with different lighting levels indoors and out. And this over several days each week for six very busy weeks. All this while keeping a low profile as filming progressed. Needless to say, he delivered excellent photos and got on really well with the producers, film crews and the actors. Great work Mark!” -
Mimi Tanimoto, Science Communications and Engagement Consultant
“Mark is a fantastic photographer to work with. He provided excellent shots for us at Kew Gardens. He showed real commitment to fulfilling our brief – carefully considering and discussing the logistics, and bringing in great creative ideas. I would be delighted to work with him again in the future.” -
Which? Gardening
Mark has worked for Which? Gardening for the past fourteen years, under three publishers and five art directors. Noted mainly for his work on the ‘Action Now’ series, he is a regular contributor to the magazine. His work features of range of areas: from people and their gardens, step-by-step, plant portraits and product shots. One of his most successful series he did for Which? Gardening was a year long study of a young family and their allotment plot. -
RHS A–Z of Plants
“To each project he does for us, Mark always brings tremendous passion and energy. A mammoth project such as the RHS A–Z of Garden Plants requires an immense amount of organisational skill to plan and shoot the 5,000 images at their optimum time. The 120 days commission was shot over a period of 18 months. Mark took some wonderful images for this title and was always enthused and dedicated to this project. It was a joy to work with him and his lovely images looked fabulous in the book!” -
Lockdown, design
During Lockdown, Mark went back to design for a while, designing various logos for both UK and US clients, including a series of 30 Facebook ads for fellow tennis-nut ‘The Double Bagel’. For ErgoDriver, he designed and shot a new range of products, designed their catalogues as well their new exhibition layout. For Elements SFX (the UK special effects company that primarily makes special effects for the film industry), he redesigned their logo and produced a series of adverts for them. -
Tom Paine, Special Effects co-ordinator, Elements SFX
“Mark helped us through the process of re-branding. As well as our logo he also re-designed the look/feel of our marketing. He was very quick to come up with some excellent options, very reactive to our requests for any adjustments and most importantly he really tuned in to what we needed as a film/TV special effects company.” -
Radish & Nettle
Here are a range of Christmas wreaths designed by the wonderfully talented Alex Ball. Alex dries all her own plants, and uses locally sourced lichen, pheasant feathers, and a manner of materials found in hedgerows and grown in her extensive garden that overlooks the Tillingham River, in East Sussex. Alex’s wedding bouquets and wedding arrangements are her main creative work but these dried flower arrangements are noteworthy in their own right. -
Women’s Institute
“Mark sourced an impressive location in Spain for this shoot, found the models, took care of the art direction and was always affable with good humour. I trusted him to look after all contributors, including the author, for the duration of the project. The shoot was a success; delivered on time, on budget and with great results.” -
Lockdown, photography
In Lockdown and in the coming months after it we (as a family) had never been so busy: I was giving free yoga classes for workers at The Samaritans via Zoom and designing logos for US clients during the evenings. The days were taken up with a massive photography project for the RHS at home and with it a collection of smaller projects – some of which have been included here. One of those projects was for Selfridges US at the UK flagship store in Oxford Street. Taking shots within the Government guidelines could be tricky at times but smoke and mirrors made it look as though everything was normal and as it should be. -
Recent books, photography
“Mark has taken photographs for many of our lifestyle books over the years. He is talented, hardworking, great to work with, and takes gorgeous pictures. Even on days in the garden where we had wind and rain, he somehow manages to make all the pictures magical.” -
Graphic Design
Mark designed book covers for most of the top publishers in the UK during the mid 80s and 90s, including Penguin, Virago, Heinemann, Hamish Hamilton and Verso amongst many many others. The combination of winning a D&AD Award and commissioning illustrators brought him under the radar of The Association of Illustrators, where he sat as a judge of their review panel for 1989. He went on to design fully illustrated books for several years, where he commissioned photographers, illustrations and book designers. He worked for a variety of imprints and publishing houses during that time. -
Julian Weigall, Digital Asset Manager, RHS
“The RHS commissioned Mark for a three year project to document the development work at RHS Garden Hyde Hall. This encompassed architectural, garden, plant and people portrait photography. His commitment, flexibility and ability to deliver high quality images has been invaluable throughout the lifecycle of the project and beyond.” -
Gardenista
“Mark wanted to make this series of photographs very delicate and all with the same dying light at the end of the day. To capture the final moments of light throughout the photographs in this article, the 20 shots were carefully flagged and set up in advance with all photographs being shot within the 15 minute window, with the final shot – of the field in front of the house – was done moments before the sun disappeared behind the trees.“ -
RHS Encyclopedia of Gardening
Most of the photographs shot for this project were done either at RHS Wisley or Mark’s 1.5 acre garden in Kent during and after the lockdown in 2020. This is the fifth time that a DK book has been used as a major location, and it has been a location for many articles and books over the past 20 years. Shot during Covid, the RHS Encyclopaedia of Gardening is the sister book with Dorling Kindersley’s publication, The RHS A-Z of Plants which Mark shot several years before. -
Other commissions
The image that opens this section was the culmination of three years work highlighting the £26m redevelopment of RHS Hyde Hall. A project that he was commissioned to undertake every month for its entire duration. Mark has always had very strong connections with Book Publishing his client list includes Kyle Cathie, Penguin, The Reader’s Digest, Quercus (to name a few), and for Dorling Kindersley alone, he has shot 12 books over a twenty year period. He has also done extensive work with Magazine publishers including Gardens Illustrated, Garden Life, BBC Gardener’s World, Which? Gardening, Sainsbury’s Magazine, Gardens Monthly, Beautiful Britain and The National Trust Magazine. -
Art on Instagram
At the beginning of January 2024 I joined Rye Art Centre to become a portrait painter…in my spare time, but first things first: Life class. On my Instagram pages I chart the ups and downs, ideas and inspirations that may help others try and give it a go to paint themselves. At the moment I’m using the Zorn palette. Four colours: Yellow Ochre, Ivory Black, Cadmium Red and Titanium white. I’m not concerned that I’m a novice…Actually the final piece didn’t matter what mattered most was the enjoyment of simply doing, it was the journey of it all that I found so thrilling. Addictive. -
Jeff Eden, Head of Creative Studio, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
“Mark has taken over 300 portrait shots of the science staff here at Royal Botanic Garden’s Kew. He is always professional and reliable, and manages to bring out a warmth in everyone, even those who would prefer not to be in front of a lens! Thank you Mark.”
