Biography
Practice
Mark Cocksedge is a photographer working across advertising, design, and editorial photography. His work centres on portraiture, interiors, and design-led imagery, with a particular focus on the people, spaces, and ideas that shape contemporary culture.
Design Culture
Known for a calm, considered approach, Mark creates images that are clear, atmospheric, and grounded in observation. He works closely with designers, architects, brands, agencies, and publications, creating imagery that balances visual precision with a natural sense of ease. His portrait work has brought him face-to-face with leading figures across design, art, architecture, and culture, including Sir David Attenborough, Faye Toogood, Norman Foster, Morag Myerscough, Thomas Heatherwick, Patrizia Moroso, David Shrigley, Sophie Ashby, Yinka Ilori, Ron Arad, Rossana Orlandi, Christo, and Bethan Laura Wood.
Alongside his commercial practice, Mark is co-founder of RyeZine, an independent design publication launched in 2020. Through interviews, essays, and visual storytelling, the platform explores architecture, interiors, and contemporary creative culture, reflecting his ongoing interest in the ideas, processes, and people behind design.
Design Background
Mark's route into photography began through graphic design. After studying Art & Design at Middlesex University and Graphic Arts & Design at Leeds Metropolitan University, his early interests lay in typography, layout, and visual communication. Growing up around his father's printing business introduced him to traditional lithographic printing, typesetting, and the craft of producing printed work, fostering an appreciation for how images and design function together. Encouraged by photography tutors during his studies in Leeds, this interest naturally developed into a photographic practice. Today, that design background continues to influence his work, informing how he composes images and considers their relationship to layout, narrative, and the wider visual context in which they are seen.
ASSISTING
After graduating, Mark spent several years assisting portrait and documentary photographer John Angerson and fashion, celebrity, and portrait photographer Daniel Kennedy, developing a strong grounding in observational storytelling, portraiture, and technical craft that continues to shape his approach today. Alongside this, his long-standing interest in design was further shaped through his brother, Paul Cocksedge, the internationally acclaimed designer known for his large-scale installations and material-led practice. Having collaborated for nearly two decades, Mark has documented Paul's projects internationally, gaining a unique insight into process, material, and spatial experience.
Member of the Association of Photographers (AOP).
