Light and Shine Headshot Photography

My daughter’s experience with Mary from Light and Shine Photography was amazing. Mary scheduled a week of shoots in the Austin area, which allowed us to be able to experience an LA quality photographer with the convenience of being close to home. Mary was very personable and engaged Emily while doing a professional job on Hair and make up. She also encouraged and coached Emily through the photo session which made the experience totally enjoyable. Because Emily felt so comfortable with Mary, I believe we got some of the best shots we’ve had of Emily in over two years in the business.. Because Mary’s background is in hair and make up, she is a complete package. She has the attention to detail and the creative eye to capture great images. We would highly recommend Mary and hope to be able to use her again in the future.

Mary is the best! Very talented and professional. EXCELLENT!!! Oh and the pictures!!! AMAZING! Thanks Mary!

Having professional pictures taken can be a daunting task; from picking out the wardrobe to doing your hair and makeup to tilting your head just right to putting the finishing touches on the photos. With Light and Shine, ALL of that is taken care of for you. You just show up and have a great time! Mary is very professional, insanely talented AND she knows what makes a great photo. She gives good direction which eases your nerves. The fact that you’re comfortable and enjoying yourself will result in fantastic photos.
And the final product will make you never want to have your photos taken by anyone else.

Absolutely the best headshot experience I’ve ever had. Hair and makeup was incredible (to the point that I feel silly asking for retouching) and the photography was excellent. I wish I could give the overall experience 10 stars. Felt 100% comfortable the whole time we were shooting — she gives great direction and I got my shots insanely fast and have SO many great shots to choose from. Highly recommended!

Working with Mary was amazing. She’s knows how to make the most camera shy of people feel comfortable, and is one of the most professional people you’ll ever work with. She strives to make her product the best that it can be, and makes sure to talk to you about what you want and need.
She absolutely knows the headshot biz, as she worked in LA for years, and really knows how find your type and accentuate that in photos. She’s a master of a light and color, mine looked great before retouching!
My agent loves them, and I constantly am asked about who did them. Thanks, Mary!

I am extremely self conscious when it comes to headshots. You would think as an actress that wouldn’t be the case, but your headshot is your calling card, it’s a lot of pressure and nerves come out! What I can say about Mary is that it was the downright best experience I’ve had for taking headshots. She kept me completely at ease, feeling confident and having a ball! I had multiple shots to choose from from all of the different looks we did and I’ve never had that before.
I can say with complete confidence that Mary will take the best shot for you to get in the door and in front of the right people. She made me feel awesome and the investment I’ve made in Mary I feel is going to help further me in where I want to be in my career. Best decision.

Mary is SO good at what she does! I’d never had head shots taken before and was nervous about not knowing what to do. Mary put me at my ease, gave me some great information, and made it really fun like we were solving a puzzle together. Her work is beautiful and so full of color and light. This was such a great experience.

I cannot recommend Mary enough. My son has been acting for quite some time and this is his fifth head shot session and she’s the fourth photographer we’ve used. She was so patient and able to get the best out of him. He’s got L.A. representatives as well as local agent and they LOVED her work.
The photos looked great even prior to the retouching as she really knew how to use light and color.
She is not as inexpensive as some other local photographers BUT she’s not unreasonable either. Very competitive pricing.
She promises the proofs within five working days but she got them to me the next day and because I had to wait on several different reps for picks, she was willing to take my choices one by one and send them back as they were available.
She did hair and make up (concealer really) and he looked great! I can’t recommend her enough!

I highly recommend Mary for business headshots and portraits. For my shoot, she did my hair and makeup and put together a great ensemble — knowing which textures and colors the camera would love. Mary was a pleasure to work with. She’s super professional and friendly and makes the experience enjoyable. I received my photos the day after my shoot and loved them! Book your next shoot with Mary– she’s the best!

Mary made me feel so comfortable in front of the camera. The fun we had in the photoshoot came through in the photographs and I can honestly these are the BEST pictures of me ever taken. The response from my clients, friends and family was overwhelming.
Mary put great care into the preparation for our photoshoot. We worked together to set up the vision for what I wanted to portray and the types of clothing and makeup that would set me up for success in my goals. On the day of the shoot, she was fully present with me and her clear joy for her work was amazing to experience. Our time together was a gift – I left feeling uplifted, beautiful and inspired.
Mary also did a wonderful job on my hair and makeup for the experience. I recommend signing up for the full package – hair, makeup and a photoshoot!

I cannot say enough nice things about Mary and her business! Where do I start? She is an expert make-​up artist, an expert photographer and an expert hair stylist all rolled up into one woman! I have had headshots taken before with other people, but nothing even close to what I got with Mary. My other headshots were pretty, but looked nothing like me. Mary captures your true essence in her photos. She is great at coaching your poses too. I don’t really know how to pose, so the coaching was so helpful! Mary is very relaxed and makes you so comfortable that you don’t even realize you are being coached! She’s just laughing and telling stories and you feel like you are hanging out with your girlfriend. Then you see your photos, and she has truly captured the best version of you! She also sends you all of your photos! (The last photographer I went to made me choose 2 photographs on the spot right after our session, and that is all I got for the same amount of money!) Mary is a perfectionist and you can tell she loves her job. I would recommend her to anyone!

Mary is both professional and delightful to work with. I’ve had headshots done by a number of photographers, and she is simply the best– and she also sells her service at a very low cost. I’m shocked to have gotten such a good deal.

I am so unbelievably happy with my photo shoot! Mary really brings so much to the table– creativity, a fantastic eye, an incredible work ethic, and she’s just plain fun to work with! I love every single shot, they are all so incredible!!!

Mary is just plain INCREDIBLE! She makes you feel comfortable and cared for right from the start. If you need to update your acting head shots, Mary is an absolute MUST! She puts so much thought and energy into your hair, makeup, wardrobe, and lighting, and it absolutely shows on camera. Her unedited images are beautiful by themselves, and her retouching is very subtle and natural (no crazy soap opera airbrush blur). Needless to say, I’ll be a returning customer :)

It was an absolute joy working with Mary! She knew exactly what to say to get me smiling and laughing so my smile looked natural and not forced. She is obviously a pro and knows her stuff which was demonstrated by her clear instruction during the shoot. She was super responsive in the planning of the shoot and got me the photos very quickly afterward. I highly recommend Mary for your headshots or any other photoshoot for that matter!

This was my first photo shoot EVER and I was very nervous! But Mary is so encouraging and wonderful! The pictures turned out beautifully! (Thank you Mary!!!)

I am really uncomfortable in front of cameras, and am never satisfied with how I look in the resulting photos. Mary was so good at making me comfortable, and giving me guides for how to look my (honest) best in photos, the time flew by! She was an absolute joy to work with, and I learned a lot, too.
She also did an excellent job with my hair and makeup. I’ve never felt myself in makeup before her, but after the shoot, I wanted the makeup to never come off.
When I received the unprocessed photos (VERY quickly after the shoot), I was floored by how beautiful the photos were. My only issue was that there were so many photos I loved, I had trouble picking which ones I wanted her to process.
I couldn’t be happier with the process, start to finish.

Mary is a delight! She is extremely talented at make-​up, hair, and photography. The bonus is that she is so nice to spend time with. She brings joy and a sense of calmness to those around her. I’m very happy with the investment I made. She did a wonderful job with my professional photos. It was a fun experience and I’m very happy with more good photos than I can sort through!

Mary was excellent. Her space was clean and open. She was professional, easy to talk to, and made me feel totally at ease. My pictures turned out more beautifully than I could have hoped. Definitely highly recommended.

The only professional pictures I had ever taken were when I got married. I decided years later that it was time for a photo shoot. I was a little nervous because I wasn’t sure what to expect and am camera shy. Mary made the whole experience amazing! Her eye for detail with her make up application made me look and feel flawless. She was so patient and encouraging through the whole process. Even though at times I felt silly in front of the camera, her coaching and direction helped me feel at ease and gain confidence. I didn’t want the photo shoot to end! The pictures turned out better than I could have imagined. It is impossible to find a favorite. Mary captured with a camera a part of my beauty that we discovered together that day.

Mary is a gem. I went in to the session feeling like I would never take a good photo and she put me so at ease that I was surprised and even shocked that the unedited shots made me feel so pretty. I also loved that she allowed me to question the hows and whys of the process. It was just another way that she helped me get comfortable so she could work her magic. I love my photos!

Mary is a fantastic make up artist and talented photographer! I was a little nervous since I had never done a photo shoot before, but she made me feel completely comfortable and I had so much fun. I love the photos and definitely recommend her!