We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mariah Hagenbach. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mariah below.

Hi Mariah, thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I’ve been able to make a full-time living wage as a creative for almost seven years now. Before then, I was working four ten hour days at a preschool, while working as a part time photographer for a dispensary on the weekends, and doing occasional brand deals on Instagram when I could. After two years of feeling like I was running on fumes, I decided to take a leap of faith and quit my hourly job. I felt like I had the skill, the passion, and the motivation to make it as a full time photographer, but was being held back by the limited amount of time I had. I told myself I’d give it six months, I’d put everything I had into booking photo clients, gaining a following on social media, and building a brand for myself, and if I couldn’t make it work I’d always have the preschool to fall back on. Luckily, that six months of dedication brought in 20k followers on Instagram which lead to multiple brand deals and a comfortable living wage.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have always loved taking pictures, the way you could freeze a moment in time and preserve it eternally. I remember getting my first digital camera on Christmas when I was 12- a silver Canon point and shoot that I absolutely loved. I took that camera with me everywhere, for years. While I loved being creative, I never saw it as a career path. Growing up, I never wanted to become a full time photographer, let alone one that primarily works with the cannabis industry. From the time I was in elementary school I wanted to become a nurse. So, fast forward to 2014, I was living in Corvallis, Oregon attending college for nursing while working part time at a cannabis dispensary that I helped open with my then partner. We didn’t have money to outsource anything at the time, but we needed to start marketing ourselves, so I spent what little money I had and purchased a nice camera- I became the unofficial official photographer for the dispensary.

I began taking photos of cannabis and posting them to the dispensary’s social platforms. After about a year, I started posting similar photos to my personal instagram and that is when everything changed for me. Cannabis was only legal for recreational purposes in three states at the time meaning that people weren’t used to seeing the plant displayed openly, and cannabis photography was very much in its infancy. I noticed my account gaining thousands of new followers with every photo I posted of myself consuming cannabis and decided to go all in with this new niche. I was/still am extremely passionate about the medicinal benefits cannabis provides and I wanted to help normalize consumption while simultaneously ending the stigma associated with cannabis and those who consume it. Now, almost 8 years later, I am still providing cannabis brands with lifestyle / product images that showcase the plant in a positive light but have grown into a more diverse photographer in that I do a lot of editorial portraits and the occasional wedding as well.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Because my journey started on Instagram, I put most of my eggs into Mark Zuckerberg’s theoretical basket for the first few years. After many, many changes to their community guidelines, and their ability to silence any page they deem unworthy or inappropriate, I began to realize that I should have focused on growing my email list and seo during my years of extreme growth. I wish I would have taken more time to really understand key words and the importance of bringing your clients to a website that you own.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most important thing to me is my time, its the one thing we have a limited amount of, and its one thing we can never get back. Being able to create and share my art with people who appreciate it is an unmatched feeling, but being able to do it on my own time, from anywhere I want to be, is by far the most rewarding aspect of my job as a creative and something I will never, ever take for granted.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://knoxandko.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/muh_riah/

Image Credits

I took all the images provided and own the rights to all of them.
Mariah Hagenbach, @muh_riah