See My Portfolio at www.marianemaynardphotography.com

I began my career when film was still around. Digit Cameras were new and untrustworthy but now times have changed. I remember shooting my first wedding in Glenwood Springs, CO with a Canon 35mm Camera and I remember being very nervous since I was using film and had no way of knowing that I exposed everything correctly. I was very meticulous every time I was shooting anything. I remember also running out of film during the reception and I had to have the groom’s sister drive me into to town to get more film. Thankfully, wedding photography doesn’t work that way any longer. I admit that it calms me to be able to look down at an LCD screen and see first-hand that the exposure and focus is dead on.

When I was 22 I started working for Sharpshooter Imaging in Glenwood Springs, Colorado at the Glenwood Caverns. We would shoot tours that came through the cave. It was horrible if our slave ever went out and I was shooting in the dark with just an on camera flash. But it shaped me as a photographer into being something more. I had to be quick on my feet. I had to get thirty people I didn’t know to like me in an instant so that I could take their photo. I had to get these strangers to smile and let’s just it’s helped me a lot in wedding photography.

I started a business with a friend of mine called Dragonfly Studio. We were very successful and had weddings almost every weekend during the summer months. I’ve done weddings anywhere from Two Rivers Winery to a wedding at a ranch in Bloomfield, Indiana. At 25 I moved up to Montana and continued to do photography on the side and I devoted a lot of my time as an adoption specialist at an animal shelter. Working at an animal shelter is very stressful, instead I volunteer now. I devote time to Montana Companion Network taking photographs of the dogs up for adoption and I foster dogs a lot as well. I work at a marketing firm as a social media manager and I spend my weekends again taking photos of someone’s special day. The energy, love, and positive atmosphere are things I enjoy more than anything in the world.

I enjoy going back to Colorado for weddings since I have family there I can visit. I love doing destination weddings just to experience a new place. I think I was born to do photography and I was lucky to be gifted with the artistic eye that I have. I had went to college to direct movies and receive my degree in directing and screenwriting but there was always something missing. I found those missing pieces in wedding and event photography. I love capturing a person’s smile, joy, and sometimes their tears of happiness. It’s something indescribable to witness and I wouldn’t choose any other path than the one I’m on now.