About Maria

Personal: Born in Vietnam and raised in France, I moved to the United States from France in June of 1986. Photography is a huge part of me. I started photography in 1978 with my first Nikkormat 35mm camera. I started developing my own film in the darkroom in 1979. My parents were huge influences on me, especially my Dad since he was an avid photographer as well. I grew up with music, art, and fashion so those are still today things that I find fascinating and are still have a huge impact on my life today. I started college  in January of 1987 majoring in Fine Arts, I was going to be a starving artist because that was “what life was about”.   As a backup to Starving Artist plan, I did also get my BSE in Mechanical Engineering and did graduate work in Industrial Engineering at Arizona State University. It turns out that it did come in handy for a few years.  I married my husband, Eric in July of 1990. We are proud parents to our Shih Tzus, Chloe (9) and Bentley (3).

Professional: We moved from Arizona to Texas in October, 2006. My Cedar Park studio was completed in November,2007, that is when I officially became a Texas-based photographer. I am currently sponsored by several companies(Expoimaging, Profoto, Pocket Wizard, California Sunbounce, Sekonic) to teach photogaphy to both professionals and amateurs. I am best known for my lighting styles and that is what I teach the most. I started talking with Amherst Media Publishing last year about writing a book on lighting and so..I am now writing a book as well. That is much harder that I though. Huge commitment. Loving the challenge. Coming from the world of fashion (through my mom and myself), I have been fortunate to discover and grow several successful full time models who now have been modeling around the world, I am so proud of them. I have also been fortunate to know and mentor numerous photographers in the US as well as outside of the US and help them build their studios. I love what I do and I hope that you see that when you look at my work.

I am the 2010 Vice President for the Austin Professional Photographer’s Association (Austin PPA) as well as a member of the Texas PPA and National PPA associations. I am also a member of Wedding and Portrait Professionals International (WPPI) and Senior Portrait Artists (SPA).  I am actively involved in all of these organizations and I really enjoy them all.