Meet Maxwell Mason | Photographer

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

Hi Maxwell, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
The biggest risks I have taken throughout my career come from a place of existing where I don’t belong. Having grown up in a middle class home in the Midwest, attending a high school with kids from wealthy families and eventually working my way into NYC’s fashion industry has always tested my identity and willingness to conform. Not fitting in has been a common theme throughout my life and career as a photographer. I am the quintessential, “marches to the beat of his own drummer.”

Though sometimes money was scarce growing up, my parents always encouraged me to be an expressive and creative individual, and to exercise good judgement with sound morals despite circumstances. Passing through the ridicule, judgement and ambivalence of colleagues and classmates was a true testament to what it means to stay true to oneself.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I started working in the NYC photo industry circa 2009 after graduating from photography school in Santa Barbara, CA. Initially I was dabbling in fashion and producing test shoots with LA Models and Wilhelmina while I was still a student. After moving to NYC that evolved into shooting for several modeling agencies around the city, and eventually the world. Namely I can attest that my creative acumen evolved, in part, by assisting so many industry legends. Gradually, I networked with some powerful industry professionals and I landed contracts for notable brands, including: NBC Universal, BCBG, Bloomingdales, Forever 21, Love Shack Fancy, Amex and my favorite, Petsmart. That all came to a screeching halt in July 2020 when I finally left NYC—weary of the city, the pandemic and in search of new principles.

For about a year I lived on the road, hauling a 27′ travel trailer with a Ford diesel truck. I lived in Paonia, CO which is a town of 1500-people on my family’s 33-acre farm. I then moved through Moab and St George, UT and finally ended up in Las Vegas for 5-months to take portraits of ‘pandemically unemployed’ acrobats. After a brief and messy relationship in Montecito, I moved to Los Angeles in October 2021.

Regarding my career now, I don’t really consider it the same way I had been working in NYC for 12-years. I just want to surf and to be with friends. I make a little more than enough money, and eventually it’ll be nice to share an intimate partnership with a woman who loves and supports me, (and who hopefully surfs too). Creating more certainty and consistency with my photo business is the focus moving forward.

Why? Because my health and happiness is all that really matters to me anymore—rather than landing the CK billboard on Houston Avenue, for instance. The fashion and branding worlds are not for me, which is why I no longer chase it the same way I use to. If companies want to hire me, they’ll get a substantially integral product that helps sell their widgets, but I’m certainly not going to spend my life tailing it by producing TikTok content for the spoiled, the desperate and the inhibited. Surfing is magical and it makes me happy. Happiness is valuable, not your Gucci slides, fam!

In the future I’ll move to Hawai’i—probably to shoot weddings because, fuck it! I will continue to work for myself, surf everyday and eat the freshest seafood in the world…buy an underwater housing kit for my camera and sell photo packages to tourists “learning” how to surf…take photos of animals, sell prints the size of walls and donate the proceeds to animal wellness is more in line with my principles. I want to be a member of my community, to work on city council and try to make a difference in people’s lives instead of just sporting a T-shirt or making some weak-ass post that lets all of my followers know that, “I’m a social justice warrior, too!”

Photography was always “my thing.” But once I made it my career, I had to find a new thing to avoid the low feelings of rejection, competition, and the all-encompassing sellout. Once I found a way of life that made me happy, “my new thing,” it made being a photographer enjoyable again. In short, my career as a photographer has been about self discovery.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The beach. It’s my happy place and where I feel the most comfortable. Though none of my friends who live outside of LA surf, so I’d probably take them on hikes. Various ethnic restaurants where we can get authentic cuisine from Ethiopia, Thailand, Korea or Mexico. Dive bars and maybe some concerts. My mom was recently in town, and I took her to all the touristy places like the Getty, Melrose, Sugar Fish – which she loved!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Photographer Dean Isidro has been a very big part of my career. I started working for Dean in 2012 as a digital technician and still work on projects with him to this day! He taught me the artful skill of client management and how to negotiate while keeping them happy.

Website: www.maxwellmasonphoto.com

Instagram: @maxwellmason

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwell-mason-25741a34/