Mark Farwell Photography

Name: Mark Farwell Photography
Address: Thảo Điền quận 2, Ho Chi Minh City, VN
Telephone: +84938340911

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Mark Farwell Photography

Hospitality and lifestyle photographer and videographer: Exteriors, interiors & aerial imagery

Photography and video production from editorial shoots to multi-location advertising campaigns, including photographers, stylists, hair, makeup, studio equipment and retouchers.

10/01/2026

Operation Smile, Return to Hanoi

By afternoon, we wrapped the final portraits and set off with the father and his two boys for Hanoi. Four hours later we arrived at the Cuba–Vietnam Hospital. They settled into a shared ward with other families awaiting surgery.

I asked the father if he’d been to Hanoi before. Without missing a beat he said, “Of course — with my first son.”�We both laughed. Fair point.

The next day, both boys were examined. The oldest received speech therapy and instructions for continuing at home. P**c went into surgery — just 15 to 25 minutes — and when he woke, he looked like a new child. A fresh beginning. A future without barriers.

Why It Matters
These boys will go to school like any other kids. They’ll walk through their village without fear of mockery. They will grow with confidence, build friendships, and shape their own futures.
And their parents — gentle, hardworking, endlessly loving — will watch their children step into a life that once felt out of reach.
Operation Smile changes the trajectory of families forever.�And being welcomed into that story — into their laughter, their mountains, their morning fires — is something I’ll carry long after the cameras are packed away.

03/01/2026

Daybreak
Early wake up at 4 a.m., we set off again, up the hill and down the dirt road to the trail. Walking down the trail in the dark, the black dogs barked until they recognized us. One of the French videographers nudged me, “You’re the dog guy — you go first.” Fair enough.

We photographed the family preparing breakfast on their wood-fire hearth, sending the kids to school, tending the cows, harvesting cassava. The house was simple — long, narrow, clean. Their meals were what they grew or raised: vegetables, chicken, fresh milk.
and
The father farmed three rice terraces. The youngest boy, P**c, had a double cleft lip and palate. The oldest boy had been operated on by Operation Smile two years earlier and now looked like any other child, grinning from ear to ear. Their middle sister — always laughing — tied everything together.
This was a happy home. A loving home.

05/12/2025

The Road to the Mountains
Family 2 — Yen Son District, Tuyen Quang

I joined Operation Smile as a volunteer photographer in August 2024. If you’ve never crossed paths with their work, they’re the kind of organization that alters the course of a family’s life. A simple surgery, a repaired smile, and suddenly a child that has a different future.

Our assignment was to follow two families in Northern Vietnam, document the intimate hours of the family’s livelihood, and follow the child through their transformation. What stayed with me wasn’t just the moments in front of the lens — it was everything in between.

Here’s the story of family two.

Our assignment was to follow two families in Northern Vietnam, document the intimate hours of their livelihoods, and follow the child through their transformations. What stayed with me wasn’t just the moments in front of the lens — it was everything in between. to take a while, so my French video guys and I wandered into the neighborhood to stretch our legs.

We picked up fruit baskets as small gifts, jackfruit, berries, and tangerines. By the time we got back, the officials were ready, and they got in their green truck to es**rt us toward the far edge of the district.

The paved road thinned… then thinned again… until it gave up entirely, dissolving into a dirt track carved along the mountainside.

Then we met a problem: a massive cargo truck stacked with freshly cut paper trees blocked the way. To the right, a vertical mountain wall. To the left, a steep drop that felt like it had no bottom.

Someone had to move.

Both drivers stepped out to negotiate. I stepped out too — half for curiosity, half because I didn’t want to be inside if things got interesting. But in classic northern Vietnamese fashion, the drivers navigated the situation with quiet, almost surgical precision. Inch by inch, our van slid past, tires flirting with gravity. And just like that, the road belonged to us again.

03/12/2025

Day three was the day we took her and the toddler to Hanoi for treatment. When we arrived, they weren’t ready. The father had decided the night before that he didn’t want the surgery. Our Operation Smile team spent an hour persuading the family and finally, they agreed, and we got on the road.

The Cuba–Vietnam Hospital in Hanoi was calm. We found her a bed in a shared ward, surrounded by other families waiting for their children’s surgeries. She settled in. We made sure she had food and diapers. The next day would be the boy’s checkup and scheduling.

Day four didn’t go well. The boy had a sinus infection and couldn’t be cleared yet. Two more days of waiting — and stress — ahead. And it got heavier. He cried endlessly, and the mother was unraveling from exhaustion, fear, and pressure.

By day five, he was finally cleared for surgery at 11 a.m. But the mother had reached her breaking point — yelling, packing up to leave, insisting she would cancel everything and go home. We’d already come so far. To lose it now would’ve been heartbreaking. Our Operation Smile teammate spent two hours calming her outside the hospital. Eventually, she returned. But the delay meant her son missed his surgical slot. We were told he might be rescheduled the next day — our last chance.

When the staff finally announced a 2 p.m. surgical time, the relief was enormous.
The surgery took maybe 15–25 minutes. When they brought him out, it was staggering. He looked like a new little person — someone who would not be hidden away, not mocked, not treated as lesser. Someone who could go to school like any other child.

Operation Smile changes the trajectory of families forever. And witnessing this — being allowed into these lives — is something I’ll carry for the rest of mine.

02/12/2025

Courage is something you feel in your chest before you move. I lifted the camera and began shooting, searching for any thread of tenderness in the scene.

The floor was dirt. Cooking was done over a log fire with three small pots. A few chickens out back. Nothing more. This wasn’t just poverty — this was neglect born from hopelessness. And my heart ached for the mother, and especially for the boy we were there to help.

On our second day, the father grew uneasy with our presence. He vanished, taking the two youngest boys. Three hours later, the older one of the two came back running, shouting, “Mẹ ơi, Daddy is drinking. He says you need to get baby!” He was drinking ruou, hard rice wine, with a neighbor.

I understood instantly, and the weight dropped through me. The film crew had no idea — they couldn’t understand Vietnamese. The mother bolted. She knew what could happen if the father got drunk while holding the baby.

A local constable came by to check on the commotion. Our Vietnamese team explained. He mentioned past domestic abuse, loud fights at night, the mother often sleeping at her parents’ house a kilometer away.

Two hours later the father returned and quietly began cooking rice over the fire. Pickled bamboo shoots came out of a jar — dinner. Someone asked if that was all they had, and out of pride the mother disappeared and returned with a live chicken. It was getting dark. Filming was done for the day. And we knew how valuable that chicken was, so we gently convinced her she didn’t need to cook it.

09/11/2025

Journey to Hanoi
I joined Operation Smile as a volunteer photographer in August 2024. If you’re not familiar, they provide life-changing surgery for children with cleft lip and palate — giving them a new chance at life, free from stigma and physical limitation.
Our project was to document two families in Northern Vietnam, following their children before and during their transformations.

Getting to Hanoi was its own little saga. The airline refused to let my camera case in the cabin, so I had to buy an extra seat — one for me, one for the gear.
Skip ahead. Hanoi. I meet the team: two videographers from France, a local drone operator, the client. We pile into a 16-passenger van and drive north toward Lam Binh, Tuyen Quang.

Four or five hours on the road, the provinces opening up around us. The landscape grew more dramatic the further we went — limestone karsts rising like Ha Long Bay pulled inland, rice fields rolling through the valleys.

We eventually arrived in the center of an alluvial plain, ringed by cliffs. Quiet. Beautiful. The rice had just been harvested for the fall season. Water buffalo wandered through the fields, cleaning up what was left. We grabbed our gear and followed a narrow path through bamboo clusters, across a trickling stream, until one small hut came into view — grass roof, corrugated steel walls.

An old pink bicycle sat at the front. Laundry cords hung with scraps of clothing. Three young boys sprinted out to us shouting, “Hello! Hello!” The youngest — a toddler — yelled “wah wah!” That little one was the reason we were there.
The mother stepped out. A hard face, weathered skin, no smile. She lifted the toddler, and his condition was immediately visible — a severe cleft palate. Two older boys were still at school.

The father nodded, expecting us, and invited us inside. Tea on a small plywood table. A worn wooden bench. He took long pulls from his thuốc lào pipe — strong to***co through water. This was their world. Five boys. A mother carrying everything on her shoulders. In thirty minutes, the reality hit me: poverty, exhaustion, mental strain, alcohol.

27/10/2025

Balancing the exposure between the foreground and the intense highlights of the rising sun is always tricky, especially when you want to maintain natural, soft colors without over-processing. I was able to preserve the subtle warmth in the sky, the gradient of light over the ocean, and keep the palm silhouettes sharp and crisp. The reflection in the pool also adds depth, giving a sense of calm and stillness that mirrors the serene atmosphere of early morning at a luxury resort.

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20/10/2025

First Day of Shooting at JW Marriott Cam Ranh: A Lesson in Flexibility and Collaboration

The day began at Villa 106, a stunning one-bedroom beachside villa with a private pool. We planned to capture multiple shots—interior spaces like the bedroom, bath, and living room, as well as stunning exterior views. I flew my drone out to shoot the building’s facade, while my interior shots were shot on a tripod using my Sony A7r3 and my new 16-24mm f2.8G lens.

Mid-shoot, disaster nearly struck: my tethered connection to Capture One was broken when my assistant accidentally stepped on the cable. My initial reaction was frustration, but quick thinking and a backup cable salvaged the day. Always have a backup—lesson for all.

Post-production was intensive, involving shadow reduction and sky enhancement to bring out the vibrancy. This process underscored the importance of careful shot selection, post-production planning, and working creatively with my client.

Throughout the day, I was reminded how vital teamwork is—my crew and producer were instrumental in turning challenges into success. The experience reinforced that flexibility, preparation, and collaboration are key in producing exceptional images under any circumstances.

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14/10/2025

Wyndham Phu Quoc

Address

Thảo Điền Quận 2
Ho Chi Minh City

Telephone

+84938340911

Website

http://www.markfarwell.com/

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