Hi! I'm Maria!


Welcome to my little page about me. I wrote the most amazing things. Then accidentally deleted it. I think that pretty much sums me up to a "T". If you know me, you're laughing now. If you don't know me, well, it will be fun! I have an assistant, Haley, who takes care of all the "things" (aka me) so I don't lose something important. When she leaves for the military next year I will flat out be LOST as last year's Easter egg.


I love Jesus. My husband and kids. My two dogs Bo and Missy (like ... a lot!!). And my mama and mother-in-love.


I love coffee, cold and sweet. I need a diet cherry limeade from Sonic every.single.day.


I shoot with Canon equipment. I have the new Canon R5. My favorite lens: the Sigma 105 f/1.4 followed closely by the Sigma 24-70 f/2.8. My mom shot with Canon cameras. She was a photographer. And now, here I am. I was her "second shooter" before that became a term and back when we shot FILM (gasp). Apparently I couldn't center a photo or shoot a straight image back then. Some things never change. It's because I'm too busy being IN.THE.MOMENT y'all! But ... that's what Photoshop is for anyway. Fun tidbit. My first computer purchase (when I was 18) was to publish Pleasant View's first newspaper, The Pleasant View Advertiser. It was a 20 MEGABYTE (yep) hard drive, with square hard cards for additional memory running the FIRST EVER version of Photoshop. So yeah, I'm that version of Photoshop old. :)


And I like the word y'all. A lot. And Hey, Girl, Hey! And giiiirrrrrlllllll. Even if you are a guy. Because the feeling you get from that word just doesn't work for "guy" or "dude" or "man". And Bless Your Heart. If you're from the South you know what that means. If you aren't, well, bless your heart.


I love hearing and making little kids giggle. Like a.whole.lot! And I love putting periods between three.word.phrases. I don't know why. It makes me happy. And life is really short, so people, Be.Freaking.Happy!!!


I love song lyrics. Ask Haley. You probably won't have a session with me without me quoting some obscure song lyric. I can't remember when my memory cards are, but I can remember the lyrics to a Christian hymn from the 50s or a TV jingle from the 70s.


Speaking of the 70s (ADD much?), I love all things 70s: movies, TV shows, songs ... because it was my childhood and like all the "old people" say, times were better then. :)


I love capturing moments that will never happen again, or a smile that everyone else missed. Or ANYTHING that everyone else missed. Or things that shouldn't happen but do. And things that happen that take your breath away -- like proposals, and kisses, and babies being born.


Another fun fact: I want a "look" to my photography. I want to have that "oh that's a Maria Latham image" because they all have the same look. But my heart is full of crazy ideas and patterns and looks and when I translate an image, it just comes out how it wants to come out. And so, my look ... it just isn't a look at all. Maybe one day.


I like to plan trips and leave to go on them -- and then come home pretty quickly. I love coming home. The in between part, sometimes isn't what I envisioned it would be because I have a great imagination about how things SHOULD be.


I love reading books. I just don't get (take) time to. I love paper books -- not e-readers -- and the smell of a bookstore. And looking at piles of books I want to read.


I'm an Enneagram 6. I don't have my wings nailed down yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm a 5. Sixes are "committed, security-oriented types. They are reliable, hard-working, responsible and trustworthy. Excellent troubleshooters, they foresee problems and foster cooperation, but can also become defensive, evasive and anxious -- running on stress while complaining about it." OH YALL!!!!!! This is so me. Every word.


I'd love to have a great photo of me to show you but ... I'm always busy taking the photos. So they are few and far between -- usually captured by Casey at a wedding while I'm doing something ridiculous or ridiculously tired (top photo). Having some "real" professional photos is on my "must do in 2021" list. I do LOVE the pink wig photo (below) from one of my years as the photographer for a local fundraiser, the "Booby Bolt" for breast cancer! I have no idea where the other one came from. It's two cameras ago and a flash I now only use off-camera, so ... it's an "oldie but a goodie". Next time we have a session, grab a selfie with me. I will ALWAYS share those... because you're in them! But maybe not the photo of me from the backside doing crazy things in like ... a creek, or the middle of the road.


Come on, book a session. Let's do something fun. Let's create something lasting.

My Peeps


Check out my favorite peeps. You'll see them with me a lot if you have a portrait session or wedding on my calendar.


On the left is my right hand girl, my "Girl Friday" (if you are old enough to know who that is), Haley. She makes sure I have keys, orders my diet cherry limeades on the Sonic app and carries ALLLLLL the things, does all the TALL things, makes sure I don't leave my lens on a street corner and manages to look like a model doing it all. I'll confess, I feel a little frumpy around her beautiful self. She is going in the Air Force next year to become a nurse. We will ALL be crying when she leaves. Shhhh! Maybe she won't go.


On the right is my "guy Friday" (that isn't a thing is it?), Casey. He has been the iron that sharpens me and I hope I have done the same for him. He has made me a better photographer. I have made him laugh ... a lot. He knows lighting inside and out. He knows computer and camera and techie things inside and out. It's a good thing I can pose or I'd feel a little inferior around this guy! He's SUCH an integral part of weddings and I'll tell ya -- I wouldn't do them without him. And HE is the addition of videography to our ever expanding wedding team. I'm super excited for what that's going to bring for us.


I love my peeps more than you all will ever know. They are what makes me better at what I do for you!