Known primarily as a very successful photographer of children and portraiture, but also a painter in later years. Born in Southampton, his father Walton Adams was a pioneering photographer in the 1860s (his clientele including Royalty). According to the 1891 census, the family were at that time living in Reading, where they remained until 1911. Adams studied at Reading Art College and in Paris before becoming apprenticed to his father in 1892. Marcus also photographed Royalty, including the then Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. 

His paintings were on wide variety of subjects, and he exhibited his paintings both in St Ives (STISA) and at the Reading Guild of Artists, amongst other venues in and around London. He was the father of the photographer, painter and teacher Gilbert ADAMS, who followed on in the distinguished line of family occupations. His home was in Oxfordshire/Berkshire. He died in North Stoke, near Henley.