MERT & MARCUS

Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott are known as the Mert & Marcus duo of photographers. Mert Alas was born in 1971 in Istanbul to a family of a military pilot and a fashion model. From early childhood, he took a keen interest in glossy magazines and was an enthusiastic photographer. At the age of 19, he moved to London where he worked part-time as a stylist. His colleague Marcus Piggott was born in 1971 in Wales. Piggott’s father served as a military pilot in the British Air Force, and his mother was a hairdresser. Piggott grew up in a creative environment. In 1992, he moved to London, where he got a job as a photographer’s assistant. Mert and Marcus met in 1994. After working together on several projects, they decided to form their own team. They set up their first photo studio in an abandoned warehouse. Their first customers were friends whom they photographed using an old Hasselblad camera. At first they worked for the sake of the concept, but after the duo sent their portfolio to the iconic British magazine Dazed & Confused, they immediately received orders for commercial photographs. Just a couple of years later, they were doing shoots for advertising campaigns for Missoni, Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Fendi, YSL, Givanchy, and many other brands. In 2006, they authored the iconic Pirelli Calendar. Photographs featuring the famous models Natalia Vodianova, Gisele Bündchen, Kate Moss, Karen Elson, Jennifer Lopez, and Genevie van Sine were taken in the French Riviera. Notably, Mert & Marcus do not deny their love for photoshop and admit that their ideas only burst into bloom with the aid of retouching software. They believe that this type of photographic art is close to painting, where it is always possible to add in a missing object.