Meet Maralee Nielson | Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Maralee Nielson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Maralee, what’s the most important lesson your business/career has taught you?
The most important thing I have learned from my career as a photographer is to not be so hard on yourself and give yourself grace. Oh, and to not compare yourself to others. I’ve been working on this especially the last 3 years. There are so many ways to create, and take photographs. There is not a single way that a photo should be taken. There is so much room for creativity in this field. Everyone also edits differently, which brings on working on not comparing myself to others. Personally, I have so many moments where I look at my work and look at my friends work and absolutely hate everything about mine. The color isn’t as good as theirs, they edited the mic stands out I didn’t. Small stuff like that can get to you and really bring you down. If you think you don’t take good pictures, you aren’t going to. You need to give yourself grace if you are like this too. Like I said, everyone takes their own pictures in different ways. You cannot compare to others. And at sometimes you can be right, you see what you can change and make it look better and learn from it.
There are so many photographers in the world, and not one is exactly like the other.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a live event/concert photographer, of 5 almost 6 years. I started as a little fan at Vans Warped Tour. After seeing the photographers there, I knew that was what I wanted to do. So I went out and bought a dinky old Nikon and started playing around with it. My very first show I photographed was State Champs back in early 2017. I had a meet and greet ticket, and decided to ask at it if I could photograph them. Somehow Ryan Scott Graham let me photograph them.
Then I found an email for Real Friends and Broadside’s PR and I decided, hey let’s try this out. And I got that gig as well.
That summer I applied to photograph Vans Warped Tour and got accepted for the Salt Lake City date. That was the best experience, and I was screaming this was a dream to me. After Warped Tour I started getting emails about shows in Salt Lake and coverage for them. I also started writing emails to PR teams. With that, comes disappointment sometimes. You don’t always get approved for shows. Sometimes you don’t even get an answer. It’s hard at first to get rejected but you just try and try and build up a portfolio.

Fast Forward 3 years, M.A.N Media was the new and official name my outlet. It was previously Maralee Anne Photography, but as I grew and had a handful of shows under my belt I decided to re-name and had my friend Kory design a logo for me and then made T-Shirts and did sell a handful of them That made me feel incredible to know I have others who support me.

I would not be here, If it wasn’t for live music and the opportunity to photograph. Music is what keeps me alive. Something to share is, Mental Illness is real. And at times this job can be very stressful if you have full books, plus a day job it can get to you.
Don’t forget, you are important. You need to take time for yourself, even if it requires missing a show. Don’t over do yourself. Love yourself, love what you do.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If I had a friend in town I would be down for whatever they’d like to do. We’d probably go to some abandoned places, there is this place in Logan UT called St Anne’s Retreat. It’s a huge property that is abandoned. Rumor has it there are spirits there. If they aren’t into that, we’d go to lunch at the Gateway, and go to Urban Arts Gallery in Salt Lake. It is a store full of local art. Paintings, sculptures, T Shirts, all sorts of things. Another good stop for local shopping is The Hive, Located at Trolly Square in Salt Lake. It is full of local items as well, support the local artists! We would also visit rock shops like Purring Buddha, Lotus, and pick up some crystals.
For food, I love Salt Lake Eatery, also if you are into Beers I recommend Wasatch Brewery hands down.
Some fun things in Salt Lake to check out is the Peace Gardens. As well as Giligal Garden. For a Hotel, we would stay at The Little America in Downtown Salt Lake City.

We’d end the day going to Little Dell Reservoir. It is up East Canyon past the Zoo. Watch the sun, the water. It’s very peaceful up there.
If it is fall and we want to go Camping I would go to East Canyon Resort. It is a beautiful camping ground.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shoutout to Vans Warped Tour. – As an attendee about 7 years ago, I saw a photographer in the pit, and wanted to be them. To that stranger photographing in 2016, thank you for changing my life.

And a HUGE thank you to Ryan Scott Graham for letting me photograph State Champs as my first show. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that.

Website: www.manmediaslc.com

Instagram: www.Instagram.com/m.a.n_media

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/manmediaslc