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Mac Elliott Media
@macelliottmedia
Photographer based in the US
From the very beginning, when I picked up my first camera at the age of 12, my photographs were always bold, dramatic, and vibrant – It was a reflection of an idealized kind of world I wanted to live in. Growing up on the Texas coast, my parents made sure I was brought up feeling confident and at peace in the outdoors.
"The coast became a kind of refuge where I would end up growing my love of photography."
I first learned landscape and nature photography on the Texas Gulf Coast. I was obsessed with the native birds, coastal scenes, and summer storms here. As traveling became more accessible to me, I ventured out of Texas and towards the west, where the natural splendor of wilderness is abundant and totally opposite from the Texas travel scene. I began wandering further and further away from Texas and wound up traveling to 20 plus countries trying to capture the most epic scenes the world had to offer. To be honest, I didn’t think there was much to capture here in Texas.
"After enrolling in university and studying print journalism, I was feeling stuck and uninspired."
I couldn’t see a path forward into finding the vocation of my dreams. I decided on a whim to apply for a summer trip to Thailand so I could be reminded how diverse and wild the world is outside of the sleepy college town I found myself in. After my short trip traveling by train through the Thai countryside, I returned to school with a desire for more. More adventure, more opportunity, a more vibrant and adventurous life. That’s when I got the opportunity of a lifetime to leave everything behind and work as a media production intern for a gap-year company. I walked straight into my college advisor’s office and gave them my notice of un-enrollment from school. The advisor told me I was ruining my life and any chance of future success- but I didn’t buy that for a second. I can remember smiling and saying, “Well I’m sorry you feel that way” before walking out of the office. I packed up my life in a small backpack and camera bag and set off to travel across the globe, across New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Nepal, Tibet, South and Central America. I know for a fact that I wasn’t the best candidate for that job, and what I did to deserve such a life-changing opportunity will always allude me.
"But I am sure that I would not be the same artist and media producer today without that all or nothing decision to change the course of my life."
It took me coming home from the beaches of Thailand and the peaks of the Himalayas to realize that Texas had her own kind of beauty – if you were open to finding it. Funny enough, 12 years after I began my photo journey I would come to realize that my Texas photographs would be the ones that put me on the map as a visual creator! Looking back, I know that I was destined to come home and experience Texas through the lens of a world travel photographer.
"The recent pandemic had a lot to do with my re-discovered love for the Texas coast."
I began fishing with my family and would bring my camera along to pass the time. Being forced to stay in Texas and seek adventure locally was a big turning point in my art career. In summer 2020, our family drove up to Montana to try my hand at freshwater fly fishing. I’ve never been one to understand the intricacies and the art of fly fishing so I’ve always observed from afar. My dad and brother are avid saltwater fly fishermen, and they normally go for much larger fish than a freshwater trout. We try to release all of our fish back into their environment so they can continue to grow and positively impact their coastal habitat.
After all, while in the middle of the Great Bear Wilderness, I finally decided that fly fishing was way out of my league. I caught some small trout while up in the mountains, but I didn’t get the same rush that my family did when they landed a fish. So I handed off the fishing rod and picked up my camera instead. The pure adrenaline I experienced while attempting to capture the small trout fighting the fly line was indescribable! I thought, “ha, this is what the fly fishing passion feels like!” Six months later I took that feeling and applied it to saltwater fly fishing. The beauty of saltwater fly fishing lies in the size of the fish. Here on the Gulf Coast, Redfish and Tarpon can get pretty big, so the intensity of the fight, catch, and release is next level.
"For my fly fishing shots, I learned quickly that you need to take as many photos as possible to even have a shot at capturing a split second of movement."
My shutter speed is always bumped up to 1/8000 of a second, and I keep my aperture anywhere between f/2.8 to f/5.6. Fly fishing photography is all about tracking for me – I get as close to the water’s surface as possible to track the clear fishing line through the water. Someone on the boat calls out a direction like “approaching 12:00” to understand the general movement of the fish. Their direction can change in a split second, so the camera’s ability to auto-focus is a massive factor in these types of images. Once the fish is near the boat, I will jump out and wade in the shallow water to get tighter shots and prepare for the release shot.
I shoot with a Canon 5D Mark IV exclusively for fly fishing photography – and I use either a 16-24mm, a 24-70mm, or a 70-200mm lens. The 70-200mm is a beast to wade through the water with, but you can’t beat the results of a close crop and pin point action! I just invested in the Aquatech Reflex housing with a dome – and that has changed the game! I use my 16-24mm lens with the dome port for taking split shots to show the fish truly at home in the shallow waters of the Laguna Madre.
"I took my first saltwater fly fishing images in December of 2020, and since then they have been my most successful photographs to date!"
From landing spreads in magazines, to articles, cover photos, and flyers – the fish photography frenzy has been a whirlwind I did not see coming! I am debuting my first Texas inspired gallery at the Rockport Art Festival this summer and it is truly an honor to be able to use my art to inspire and encourage Texans to protect our coastline and countryside.
I was thrown into the media marketing deep end with my global internship, and I have since become a professional media producer with a focus on business marketing and content creation. As our world and business is being taken online and virtual, it has never been so important for brands to build a strong online presence. I use a combination of photography and branding video production to help businesses grow and gain confidence in the digital age. I am four months into my media production business and I have seen incredible success with supporting brands, regardless of size or industry, to create media content that is beautiful, thoughtful, and timely. If you think about it, even art is commercial and marketable if you are trying to convince strangers to buy it, follow you on social media, or simply engage with a post. I try to approach every photographic opportunity in the same way I would with a marketing video – be professional, sell the idea, and tell a story people want to hear!
"To make the brand sustainable and maximize success, I urge all of my clients to start building a social media presence to create a sense of community within their business."
Even as I build my account and personal brand on Instagram, I find by interacting with my community through frequent posts and stories that your community will build itself. I have found the most wonderful community of anglers from around the world, simply by paying attention to what my followers want to interact with. The same goes for any individual or business that is trying to grow a community and build a (personal) brand.
"In that very same line of truly connecting with people, most of the clients I have come to collaborate with in the first few months were found through networking and word of mouth."
One opportunity led to another – and after a while I found myself working for dream clients who found me! My most exciting project lately has been the work I have been collaborating on with the Coastal Conservation Association. A driving force behind my art is conservation of Texas’ wildlife and wilderness. Being able to support the rehabilitation of our coastal areas and game fish species through photography has been a dream come true – and it brings me so much pride. For my first art festival, I have pledged to donate a percentage of the sales back to protecting our fish species. This year, Texas was hit with a state-wide freeze which killed over 300,000 game fish species in our home waters. It has never been so imperative to protect our coastline and treasure the creatures that call it home.
"If my fish photos can inspire others to protect and admire these creatures in their natural habitat, then I’ve done my job!"
My parents have always said, “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity,” and I take that motto with me to every photoshoot. You could look at my fish art and say “wow, she was lucky to have caught that,” but I believe it is a culmination of years of practice, struggle, and moving forward despite the failure. I didn’t begin taking fish photos until the pandemic shut the world down, but I found a purpose for my art through making the most of the time I was given.
It is easy to look at other professional artist’s work and feel intimidated because yours doesn’t look the same as everyone else’s. You have stuck with your unique shooting style for a reason – and that is that it is 100% your own look! Some of my followers have told me that they can determine that an image is my own before they even read the credit below. You don’t have to change your shooting style, sense of color, or editing style just to blend in with the other pros. That being said, if you have a paying client who prefers something different than your normal shooting style, be open to their feedback and strive to deliver them your best work. Commercial art is collaborative – and that is part of the fun of building a business centered around visual creation!
"After all, I wouldn’t say that my college studies in media production taught me much that I wouldn’t have figured out on my own eventually, but it gave me the time and incubation period I needed to be successful right out of the gate."
My degree was more about proving to myself that I had the willpower and dedication to finish what I started. I have yet to be asked in my freelance work what honors I graduated with, what my GPA was, or even what classes I took. I would say I learned the most from my business marketing courses. When working with commercial clients, marketing and sales is almost always the goal of any media campaign. Knowing how to tailor the media you are producing to those goals makes all the difference! I like to approach every photo or video production from a marketing viewpoint – if not for my client, than for my own personal brand.
"By far my favorite photograph at this moment is “Texas Sunshine.”
I am so very grateful to have taken that photo because it propelled my career forward in very unexpected ways. I’ve heard that it just takes one shot to make your photographic career, and this was the one that did that. And I’ll never forget the moment I captured that photograph either.
I visited my family’s sunflower field on the day of my 23rd birthday. The sun was setting into golden hour as I walked through the endless maze. Out of the 370,000 sunflower seeds planted, I stopped at one unique sunflower that stood just a bit taller than the others in the middle of the field. The clouds were soft, the sky was still blue, and the sun was just high enough to create a starburst effect behind the petals. I must have shot hundreds of images out there that day, but this one image became the one that would change my art career. I thank God everyday for that perfect and peaceful moment under the Texas sky.
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