We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mashal Smith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Mashal, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I had worked in a corporate setting for many years in New York, and I always felt like I was chasing some carrot I was never going to get. My work was fulfilling but it left me exhausted. I had always dreamed like so many other people, of a different life filled with adventure. I have grown up with photography in my life always because of my father, he was a professional wedding photographer for many years. But as I matured and finished college, I went into a career that was fast paced, and photography took a distant back seat. It was many years later after leaving my career and moving to Japan, that I realized how much I still loved photography and how much I wanted to explore the world. It was then that I realized that even the chance to see different places is something that many people don’t get to do. I decided to pursue photography full-time, and I maintain that no matter where I go, I go humbly. And I try to inspire others to travel if they are able and to conserve nature and wild places so that others can enjoy it too.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

While most people follow my work for my landscape nature and travel images, at least half of my work is done in social media supporting businesses and helping them to introduce their products. Another portion of my work is in the real estate industry, photographing commercial spaces, luxury homes, and private sailing vessels. I think as a photographer you have to be very adaptable to where your business leads you. For my clients, they return again and again because they know that I will give them the vision that they hope to share with others through images and promote them in a way that makes them stand apart from their competitors. I believe this is what makes me different as well. Specifically, I develop long-term relationships with the clients that I have and I do little to no advertising because of the quality of the work I have been able to produce. I strongly believe in quality before quantity. And I’m never afraid to try something new.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I believe that if you surround yourself with people that you most want to emulate, you will be more successful. I think that there is something very true and what was once said that “to know a measure of a Man you simply look at your friends.” On social media, I made a point to study those who were successful doing the things that I wanted to do. I develop strong relationships with people that I admired, and I continually fortify them with asking for advice, learning new techniques and having an open mind for when facing challenges. I also try to mentor other people in areas of success that I have had. On Instagram I’ve only been active for a year and a half. But I’m very excited to have made many connections that have made me a better photographer. In my travels, I have also met many incredible people and I like to share those experiences with as many others as possible, especially young people and future photographers. I also believe strongly that you can create photography and art, no matter what skill level you have and no matter what technology you use. Granted, the more advanced the technology and better equipment you have the more you are able to do. But I believe even using a cell phone you can create something amazing, and I always try to encourage others to do so.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Many times in trying to grow my own company I was faced with rejection. I was realizing more and more every day that I was competing with much larger companies and other much more seasoned international photographers. But when you have your own business you work harder for your own ideas and result than anyone else will. And if you want something bad enough the only person that’s going to give it to you…is you. The reason that this is true is that every single beginning of the week, every Monday for example, we wake up and we punch our own time clock. Whatever result we end up with is because of what we put in it. We cannot be afraid to try something new. We cannot be afraid to go to a place we’ve never been. And we cannot be afraid to fail. This is now my fifth year in business. And from now looking back to the beginning I have had great successes and sometimes I didn’t see them until much later. In 2024, I hope to connect with new brands, and begin to offer photo tours and assist new photographers with learning how to create incredible compositions for images in their travels.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: mashalsmith.photography
• Facebook: Mashal Smith Photography

Image Credits
Mashal Smith Mashal Smith Photography