Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Bell.
Hi Mary, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I have always been an artist and photographer. My grandparents used to give my siblings and me disposable film cameras during the holidays to take photos, art was my favorite subject in school (I got in trouble multiple times for drawing during math) and I’ve never really been seriously interested in anything else. I photographed my first wedding when I was still in high school and even though I had no idea what I was doing I just knew that wedding photography was something I wanted to do. After taking all the art classes I wanted to take (and then some), I dropped out of college, started booking weddings and never looked back.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Honestly, it’s been pretty smooth. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have always had really supportive friends, family and mentors. The hardest part is working with and for myself. There are a lot of highs and lows, like sometimes I feel like I’m the best at what I do and other days I wish I could just quit and have a normal job. I think being an artist and business owner is inherently lonely and it took me a long time to find a network of people who I trusted and understood the unique challenges we face.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a photographer that specializes in weddings and portraiture on both digital and film. The weddings I photograph tend to be smaller, less traditional events, often in restaurants and cozy hotels. My portrait sessions have a bit more of a day in the life vibe as opposed to heavily posed or prompted and curated. I love that when clients reach out to me almost all of them start out with with some form of “we’re doing things a bit differently”. After doing photography for over a decade it’s important to me to get to work with people who want to shake things up a little. It’s also fun (maybe funny?) that a lot of my wedding clients specifically really highly value photography and love it but want to spend as little time as possible dedicating their time to being in front of the camera. My clients and I want to focus heavily on the organic moments and spending time with their loved ones.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I’m a pretty open book! I love talking about photography and weddings with other photographers, people getting married or anyone who’s just curious. It’s a weird little (big) industry.
Pricing:
- Portrait Sessions – $850 – $1,200
- Weddings – $5-10k
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.marybellphotos.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marybell.photo/
