1. Get there early.
The best light of the day happens while most people are still asleep. I scout every location in advance and set up long before the subject arrives, so nobody's first memory of the day is a camera in their face.
About
I make photographs the slow way.
No shotgun bursts, no heavy presets, no eleven-second highlight reels. Just patience, good light, and the willingness to be bored until something true happens.
The Short Version
Hello from Buxton Avenue.
I'm Mara Ellison, a photographer based in Asheville, North Carolina. I spent eight years as a field biologist before a borrowed camera rearranged my priorities — one misty morning on the Blue Ridge Parkway, I realised I cared more about describing the light than counting the salamanders.
That training never left me. I still work like fieldwork: arrive early, observe quietly, keep careful notes, and never let the equipment matter more than the subject. Today I shoot weddings, portraits, and landscapes across the Southeast, and my prints hang in homes and cabins from Boone to Charleston.
Off the clock you'll find me on a trailhead before dawn, at the burrito cart on Lexington, or in the darkroom-turned-print-studio where every order gets signed by hand.
— Mara
12Years behind the camera
380+Sessions & weddings
23States photographed
6Group exhibitions
How I Work
Three rules I never break
2. Stay later.
The picture after "the picture" is usually the real one. I build in extra time for every session so the hurry has time to drain out of everyone — including me.
3. Ask, then wait.
Portraits are a collaboration, not a capture. I ask questions until we're talking about something real, then wait for the expression that follows. It always follows.
Selected features & clients
- Our State Magazine — “The Quiet Hours,” feature story (2024)
- Blue Ridge Outdoors — cover photograph, October issue (2023)
- Asheville Made — artist profile (2023)
- Filter Photo — juried selection, “Land & Memory” (2022)
- Southern Highland Craft Guild — commissioned collection (2021)
In the bag
- Fujifilm GFX 100S with 45mm f/2.5 and 110mm f/2
- Fujifilm X-T5 with 16–55mm f/2.8
- Kase NXT polarizer and 6-stop ND filters
- Peak Design travel tripod
- Profoto A2 for off-camera light
- F-stop Ajna pack, spare batteries, and emergency peanut butter
Say Hello
Now that you know me…
Tell me what we should make together. I reply to every message within two business days.
Get in touch