hey there! i’m marilyn
My pronouns are she/her, and I live in New York City with my partner, and our orange cat Maple. I speak for all three of us when I say we love our cozy little life in our apartment.
I’m an introverted, soft-hearted mush with an insatiable need to document the beauty in life. Coming into this career felt like the most natural choice in the world for me.
What started in middle school with practicing self-portraits, eventually grew into an affinity for capturing people’s memories once I graduated from New York University with my photography degree. Weddings are so uniquely special and human, it’s my honor and greatest joy to be able to document them, especially in a way that breaks the boundaries of historically gendered traditions.
As an avid reader, day-dreamer, and vintage dress collector, I use my camera as a means to bring to life stories and feelings.
It allowed me to escape into the art I’m making - sometimes playing a character, other times seeing deeper into myself.
Weddings are a fascinating and beautiful opportunity to create this escape for ourselves, play dress-up, all while celebrating a very real and tangible love.
some of my favorite things
〰
some of my favorite things 〰
The Hunger Games / long taper candles / running through wildflowers / crocheting / wlw relationships succeeding in media / baking desserts / the color green / Anne with an E / crafting hats for my cat /
riding a bike around the city / road-tripping through the Catskills / white tulips / hosting craft nights / re-arranging my furniture
my philosophy
My philosophy around photographing my clients is always putting your comfort and your memories at the forefront of the entire experience.
My works centers on challenging the stereotypes of what a wedding day has to look like. The industry still has harmful stereotypes and gendered practices, so my mantra is to make weddings accessible for all types of love.
I won’t ever ask you to be someone you aren’t. As a queer woman, it’s incredibly important to me that you get to express yourself honestly.
my key practices:
quality over quantity — In my experience, more photos doesn’t always equal a higher value. I like to think of it like a phone camera roll. Endless scrolling through multiple similar angles doesn’t give me the same awe-inspiring feeling as a curated, thoughtfully captured album. Quantity can be overwhelming, leading to the paradox of choice when we have endless options. Shooting more on film has taught me that 100 beautifully unique images is worth more than 1000+ options.
photograph as a witness, not an orchestrator — I believe your day doesn’t have to feel like a staged shoot. For me, documenting means that if I’m not capturing group photos, I am blending into the background and capturing moments as they happen, in the most candid way possible. Group photos are timeless keepsakes, but most posed photos can be consolidated into about 30 minutes-1 hour of your day, leaving the rest of the time for you to act natural.
So if you’re looking to forgo the strict shot list and long list of posed portraits, I may be your girl!
