Mark Looney is my name and I'm a wedding & family photographer because I'm a big sucker for two things: relationships and emotion. 

WHY?

Because we all die, we all forget, and we all love. 

I know this sounds like a real bummer but … bear with me.

My mother passed away a couple of years ago and that has been – as you can imagine – really, really shitty.

In the months afterward, I started looking through old pictures of her, including my wedding photos. 

I was sad about what I didn’t find.

Don’t get me wrong, my wedding photos are amazing; one of the best photographers in the area took them. Valentina and I (and my family in those group shots) look awesome. My mom is happy and smiling. 

What's missing is what I didn’t know I wanted at the time: real, candid, emotional images of how I loved and was loved on that day. I wanted images of that way she held her head and leaned in because she was losing her hearing. The way she twisted her mouth and touched my hand when we laughed together.

Those are the photographs I want now. Those are the real moments that matter, not the posed, stand there, tilt your head this way, angle your knee that way kind of wedding photos that are so common. 

That's why my family and wedding photography is different. I photograph not just the moments you will love looking back on – I photograph the moments and the relationships in this moments that you will need to look back on.

My documentary approach to wedding photography fights back against that big jerk-face: time. 

It’s not about pinable poses; it’s about the individual and unique way you show your love and are shown love by others.

If this sounds like the kind of photography you'd like, here's a little more about me..

I'm originally from the South but am now based in Ames, Iowa where I run Munn Woods Studio. My partner, Valentina, and I have an amazing little girl, Thea, (who might be part dolphin based on her love of water) and a snuggly 2 year old, Massimo, who is obsessed with all things with wheels.