2026/2027 Artist in Residence · Photography
Mary Mayer
Laguna Niguel, CA
My photography practice is rooted in curiosity about place, community, and the everyday moments that make a location feel like home. I’m drawn to local and regional landscapes, familiar streets, quiet corners, pools and reflections, and the people who give a community its character. I look for beauty in the ordinary and stories in the details we often overlook.
I have a particular passion for analog photography and vintage cameras. I love the tactile process of loading film, slowing down, trusting my instincts, and waiting to see what I’ve captured. Film’s warmth, grain, color, and imperfections bring a sense of personality and surprise that I find incredibly appealing.
My work also explores memory and change—how landscapes and communities evolve over time, and how photographs can preserve a feeling of a particular place and moment. Ultimately, photography is my way of paying attention, wandering, noticing, and finding something worth remembering in the everyday.
I’m a nontraditional image maker and visual storyteller drawn to the quirks, surprises, and human connections that make photography magical. I prefer the tactile unpredictability of analog film to the polished perfection of digital, and my collection of vintage cameras is always close at hand. Favorites include a Brownie Hawkeye, vintage Leica rangefinder, Leonardo pinhole, Holga, and several Polaroids.
I love the spontaneity of street photography, travel photography and the intimacy of informal portraits—whether of friends, family, or someone I’ve just met. Vintage cameras have a wonderful way of breaking the ice; they invite curiosity, spark conversations, and often lead to unexpected opportunities to create. I firmly believe there is a place in the fine art / photography world for humor and fun, and strive to explore themes that lend themselves to just that.
