North Bay Woman Magazine
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/547131
S U M M E R 2 0 1 5 | NORTH BAY WOMAN 33 Whatever her reasons, once Smith's daughter was born she says, all fear abandoned her. "Even if my work wasn't good, it didn't matter," she recalls thinking. "I wanted to try." She began simply enough, doing portraits for friends and experimenting with her camera for several years until she was ready to launch her photography business, Mariah Smith Photography, in 2006. "I practiced a lot, attended a lot of workshops watch and always tried new tips and tricks," she says. "Now, the challenge of never being satisfied with a photo I've taken keeps me excited." Since 2006, she has built a successful word-of-mouth business shooting wedding, portrait and corporate photography that ballooned from part-time to full-time five years ago. The secrets of her success "I like my photographs to be clean and fresh," she says. "And, I like them to be genuine and accurately represent the scene so that, in 30 or 40 years, clients can be transported back to that moment in time." Different scenarios call for different aesthetics, though. "As a general rule-of-thumb, if color would be too much of a distraction and takes away from the emotion of the moment, I'll shoot the image in black- and-white," she explains. "And I like studios for photographs where I just want to focus on the camera and the subject." For corporate shoots, she often chooses the company office for the backdrop. "It helps tell its story," she explains. "And, these days of the Internet and social media, it's hard for a business to succeed without a website and visual representation. If you have a great product, you should have a great photo of it." One of her most popular packages is the Modern Beauty Portrait that is designed to make the subject feel comfortable and look gorgeous. It starts at $280. "Normally, the camera distorts you," Smith explains. "You've gussied up and then, when you see the photo, it can be discouraging. You wonder if that's what you really look like." >> Photo by Mariah Smith Photography Photo by Mariah Smith Photography