I am Mary Okner of Mary Bea Photography, based in San Jose, CA and photographing families up and down the San Francisco Bay Area as well as around the country and I'd like to share with you a little bit about myself and just 3 of the reasons why I absolutely love being a family photographer!
Growing up I was always dreaming about my adult life and how fantastic it was going to be. Even my teachers would tell my Mom that I was going to be a great adult, clearly, academics were not my forte...I am dyslexic and while that does mean I learn differently it also means my creativity is nearly endless. Be it my imagination, my eye for photography or my needle pointing hobby, each of these things feeds my soul!
I am so lucky that I am able to use my unique perspective to artistically tell the stories of families, their unique relationships and document their children's growth, that is reason number 1 why I truly love what I do.
I am so lucky that today I am able to say I do what I love and mean it. They say if you love what you do, you won't work a day in your life and I am so blessed to say that is true for me. When I was asked to do a photography session for some close family friends on a recent family vacation not only did I not hesitate to say yes but I was thrilled to do so!
The flexibility to work anywhere especially while on vacation (really who else can say they love getting to work while on vacation?) is reason number 2 why I truly love what I do.
At the end of this photo session, the sun hadn't quite set yet but I knew we had a ton of fantastic images. So, I took this opportunity to break out my Sweet 35 LensBaby lens that I brought with me to play around & experiment. Taking that opportunity to stretch my creativity even further feels like such a treat to me and icing on the cake to an already fantastic family photo session on the beach.
The ability to constantly push myself creatively, be it through double exposure, free lensing, specialty lenses or my newest challenge underwater photography is reason number 3 why I truly love what I do.
I hope you enjoy seeing this images as much as I loved creating them. Thanks for taking the time to check them out!
