If you stopped by the MagMod Community on Facebook this week then you surely saw what everyone has been talking about. The most admired, discussed, and liked post was most definitely this one here by Marlies Hartmann.
Marlies didn’t just share one incredible photo; she shared 33 extraordinary images that had everyone in awe, all lit with flashes using MagMod modifiers. This is one of those posts you don’t want to miss. If you haven’t seen it yet, jump into the community and go be inspired by her incredible art.
Marlies might have a familiar face to many of you already. She’s been a MagMod Ambassador now for a couple years and has been featured in a few of the videos over on our YouTube channel. You might have even seen her on “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader” or more recently on “Price is Right” where she won the top prize each time. Seriously! But when she’s not winning game shows, she’s out winning photography awards for her images and more importantly winning the hearts of her clients that are able to cherish their photos for a lifetime.
When I first met Marlies back in 2018, I thought for sure she has been shooting weddings for years. Her ability to capture moments, previsualize scenes for future edits, see light, even interact with her clients looked like it would have come from a seasoned veteran. My jaw dropped when she told me she started just a year earlier in 2017. See her adventure started with an iPhone and a health coaching business. While snapping photos for Instagram she became fascinated with good lighting while shooting food, so she set herself on a course to learn everything she could about mastering lighting. Soon she upgraded the iPhone to a Canon 5D Mark III (she now runs around with the Canon 5D Mark IV) and decided she would take that love for lighting and photography into the world of weddings and headshots.
As a Los Angeles based photographer it surely can’t be easy getting your business off the ground. But see where Marlies excels is her uncanny ability to connect with people. If you get just a few minutes with Marlies you will feel like you just earned yourself a new best friend. She makes you feel appreciated and loved! As photographers we must remember that while on shoots it’s not always the pictures we create, but how we make our clients feel during the experience, and there’s no doubt Marlies’ clients walk away ready to refer her to everyone. You’ve got to love being a photographer and being with people, and there’s no doubt that Marlies loves both of those things.
Marlies’ favorite MagMod modifiers are the MagGrid, MagSphere and MagGels. While she loves beautiful, natural light, she is unafraid of creating light if it’s ever needed. Having the ability to create light with her Canon 600EX-RT II Speedlights and use MagMod modifiers to shape or color the light is like having another arrow in her quiver that Marlies is able to use when needed.
I first was introduced to Marlies when I saw her share a few posts in the MagMod Community and have seen her career in the photo industry absolutely soar. In less than five years, she has earned a title of one of the Top 100 Wedding Photographers in the World by SLR Lounge, one of the Top 10 Photographers in Los Angeles, an educator for Canon, and Ambassador for both SLR Lounge and MagMod. On top of all that, she is constantly helping the industry by helping other photographers in various communities on Facebook.
If all of that isn’t enough, Marlies is doing it all as an amazing single mother to her beautiful daughter London. Together the two of them love to be out exploring the world and spending time together as best friends.
If you are not already following Marlies, go do it now. You can find her at https://www.instagram.com/m.hartphotography - you won’t regret it. Her posts are super inspiring and her Instagram stories are full of educational tips and tricks for photographers. You can also visit her websites to learn about Marlies and see more galleries of her images.