Sep

MARK BORTHWICK HOUSE IN BROOKLYN

Photographer Mark Borthwick`s house in Brooklyn.

Mark Borthwick is a photographer based in Brooklyn, he lives in a lovely country house in upstate New York, a 19th century townhouse and a remarkably charming and attractive family.

Stepping into Borthwick’s house feels like stepping into the book’s frenetic world. The photographer’s two children go tearing up and down the stairs in incandescent bursts of energy. The back wall of the building has been replaced with floor-to-ceiling sheets of glass, filling the rooms with shimmering light. The walls are covered with pasted-up pictures, and a guitar and chimes sit at the center of the living room floor. Most appealing of all is the smell of delicious food wafting up from the ground floor kitchen?—?Borthwick is a terrific cook and an almost overly generous host. Dinners tend to be regular social occasions, guests sprawled contentedly throughout the house and wandering into his garden outside. The vibe at these dinners is, as they say, “continental,” with a rural bohemian edge. Initial conversations may be about work, but that won’t last throughout the evening?—?if things get too serious, the host is sure to pick up his guitar and set off on a Marc Bolan-esque musical ramble. There is no real boundary between the various components of his life, the whole thing a patchwork quilt of haphazardly arranged social connections.