Photos by Mara G. | A Photography Journey

Here’s an SEO-optimized blog post I created for my website:

Hi! I’m Mara Brak, a photographer based in Pittsburgh, PA.

The Start Of My Journey Taking Photos

I used to be really into National Geographic when I was younger. Every week, I would wait by the door for the mail and dig through the pile to the magazine. One day, I must have mentioned an interest in photography to my parents.

15 years ago, they bought me my first camera: a Canon EOS Rebel T6 that came with two kit lenses. One was an 18-55mm lens and the other was a 75-300mm lens.

That camera traveled with me everywhere for a while. I participated in a summer camp with one of my close friends and tromped around Sewickley, PA, taking photos of flowers, dogs, and fun motorcycles that caught my eye. I even learned to make my first cyanotype! It’s somewhere around my house or in my room. I’m sure I’ll unearth it as I pack up my stuff to move.

The Lull

Somewhere along the way, I stopped taking photos. I think it was somewhere around high school. The only time I would pull it out was for family vacations. I didn’t even learn how to edit photos until years later.

I focused more on my other hobbies, like drawing and painting. I’d sometimes spend up to 8 hours a day drawing with charcoal. In my home, I have a whole room dedicated to my hobbies, which includes my bookcases, an entire wall of art supplies, and a reading nook where I can also crochet and knit (yes, I’m a grandma at heart). It went on like this until I graduated high school.

College

When I moved into college, I decided to bring my camera with me! I went to the Collegian interest meeting, and the rest is history.

I started out casually taking photos for the newspaper every now and then. Since I wasn’t in any particular niche then, I mostly did event photography.

The Turning Point

Then, Coach Horner (former coach of the men’s tennis team) asked me to help out with media. That’s when I fell in love with sports photography. Thank you, men’s tennis. Before that, I had never touched videography. I made a few edits (that were kind of rough, but the team hyped them up anyway) and learned the software through that.

I started going to football and soccer games. Most of those ended up in my design portfolio as well! I landed a job as a student marketing and communications department photographer and also took photos for the E+I Department for various events. I started running the Communication Arts and Design Department social media account and pulled out my camera for some fun posts. At one point, I earned a whole photo spread in the Collegian.

On the side, I took engagement photos, graduation photos, baby shower photos, you name it. I can’t wait to take wedding photos for my wonderful friends this summer.

I had the amazing opportunity to take photos for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds last summer. That was incredible. I can say I took photos for a professional sports team!

Another time, I made the front page. That’s the photo that won me an award. This semester, I won my first award for photography at the 2026 Student Keystone Media Awards. I was blessed to be able to end my career at The Collegian on such a high note.

Reflection

Over the years, I’ve absolutely loved to see the official school account, the men’s tennis and soccer accounts, the E+I account, and the alumni account use my photos. I even got the back cover of The Gedunk at one point, which was awesome (definitely going in my scrapbook).

I can’t wait to see where this takes me next. Although I’ll be keeping photography as one of my tools in my arsenal and as one of my favorite hobbies, I plan on pursuing media and marketing over the next few years. The goal is to work for the Steelers one day in their media department. We’ll see what happens!

Follow my photography Instagram for more! @bymarag_

I’ll post more on there once school ends.

Until next time 🙂