Karla Mason Interview
“I’m truly lucky and honored to be able to do this as a job.”
This week, I had the privilege of sitting down with Karla Mason of Karla Mason Photography located in Stafford, Virginia. Karla started photography as a stay-at-home Mom needing an outlet. She enjoys teaching and all things true-crime. In college, she studied Criminal Justice with the hopes of becoming a police officer, pursuing forensics, or becoming a crime scene photographer. A few years into her studies, she found herself being easily distracted, bored, and needing something more. That’s when she found special education. After graduation, she taught for a year before military life took its toll and her family was forced to move eight times over the course of twelve years. Having no say in moving every 18-24 months, she found comfort in local wife and mom groups; as well as being a part of her kids lives and keeping them active. Now that her husband is retired from the military, they spend their weekends traveling in their RV, mountain biking, and making memories as a family. When she is not with her family, Karla surrounds herself with easy-going, supportive friends who she can count on to roam the aisles of Target with. “As you get older, you realize what’s most important. Having those close friends that you can count on is really important to me. I make sure in whatever time that I have I’m doing something for myself, but I equally love going to Target with my friends”, she says. “I like decorating my house, cleaning, organizing a closet- weird shit like that brings me joy.”
The first five years of being in business, Karla offered every photography genre but boudoir. She goes on to explain, “When I did find boudoir, it just kind of fell into my lap and once I did the first session I was hooked. I dropped everything else.” Karla works from her Stafford in-home studio, “I wanted to be a Mom first”, she says. This intimate environment not only brings a level of comfort to Karla during her sessions, but to her clients as well. When she was new to the boudoir scene, Karla first shot her sessions using the dining room in her home. She now has a spare bedroom and loft area that she works out of, while still maintaining her comfortable and welcoming home environment. While she applauds other photographers who have a separate, professional space for their studio, she believes that the location of the session is not as important as the experience you bring your clients. “Every person can make their business tailored to who they are, and then those clients will gravitate towards you”, Karla says. When asked what she brings to the table for her clients she explains, “Just me. My personality. I make people feel comfortable. I feel like I’m relatable. I’m willing to put myself out on social media”, she goes on to say, “I really use who I am to create an amazing experience; because I truly care about my clients and want them to have a good time.”
“I want people to look at themselves like ‘DAMN, OKAY!’ Because a lot of times we see photos of ourselves and we don't feel that way... You deserve to feel like that.”
Karla’s easy-going lifestyle is shown in the way she runs her business as well. Setting boundaries was something she implemented early on, to avoid burn out. “I’m not stressing myself out because I’m not going to make this not fun”, she says, “I make it work for my ‘chillness’… I’m not in that ‘hustle, burn yourself to the ground for your business’. Girl bye. I would rather sit in my room staring at the wall than have seventeen sessions in a week”. Karla explains as a newbie photographer she made the mistake of giving all of her free time to her business. “Every second I got I was editing, I was making a pamphlet, I was working on my website- doing this, doing that… As soon as the kids went to bed I would stay up until two or three in the morning and then wake up at six before they woke up just so I could work without feeling guilty. I would do what I needed to do quick, and then run back to my computer and do research or watch a tutorial, or something to do with my business because I loved it so much. I was constantly doing stuff.” Setting boundaries has been a game-changer for Karla, her family, and her business. “I set my business hours first and foremost and stuck to it, which was huge. Business hours, I think for anyone, are important; not answering messages past a certain time. Also another big one was holding my sessions when they were convenient for me. I don’t shoot on the weekends. Never have, never will. It’s just not convenient for me. I don’t care if it’s convenient for somebody else, it’s not convenient for me. I run my business, I don’t let my business run me. A lot of people get hung up on what other people are doing, and it effects their business.”
At her sessions, Karla likes to keep her gear set-up simple. Switching over from Nikon, she now uses a Sony a7iii along with a Sigma Art 35mm f1.4 for all of her sessions. This combination has really helped her find her style and get those crisp, clear images that she strives for. Being a visual person, she was sold on Sony’s live view function and the adjustable screen. “I love seeing my image on the back of the screen and knowing exactly how it’s going to turn out,” she says. Taking the simplistic approach, she doesn’t have tons of props, or multiple sets. Instead, Karla’s energy is focused mainly on her lingerie closet that she has available to all of her clients. Currently, she houses 400+ pieces of lingerie, taking up two entire closets, and ranging in size and style to fit any body type. Growing this collection was no easy feat. “I got a couple pieces from Yandy when I first started. SHEIN wasn’t a thing yet, and they were the biggest lingerie specific store with various sizes and pricing. Every time I booked a session, in their questionnaire they filled out what their sizes were. I would shop specifically for that client, and hope that it fit them when they came in for their session. If it did, it did. If it didn’t, it didn’t; and I would just keep it. In the beginning I couldn’t buy a lot, so I would send them a website and tell them ‘here is where I would shop, bring three or four pieces that you love and if there’s anything in my closet (that fits) we can mix and match’. I tried to get them to bring their own because I didn’t have a lot, so I kind of made them shop for themselves first and then used my client closet as a crutch. Now I’m like ‘girl you can come over, I’ll have 3, 4, 7, 8, 10 outfits for you to choose from’. That was my ultimate goal, to be full service and tell them to just come over. We do the hair and makeup, I do the posing and the photos, I have all the outfits. As long as you can follow directions, we got this.”
Learning how to work with natural light indoors verses outdoors was a huge turning point when switching from general photography to find her boudoir style. “It’s never going to look like there’s an Instagram filter on my photos”, Karla says, “I want you to still feel like it’s you and looks like you. Just a magazine style finish to you… I wanted to find a style that still looked very straight out of camera, but with a little punch.” While fine-tuning her boudoir style, she looked to other artists, such as Matt Matthews whom she met on Periscope, for inspiration. The two quickly became best friends, as Matt helped Karla by critiquing her work and helping her enter the world of boudoir. She also looked to photography groups like AIBP, and Do More for their diverse photographers and images. Scrolling Pinterest, she would find images that caught her eye. Whether it was the lighting or the pose, she would try it for herself and add her own personal touch to it. Today, she shoots a consistent style with intentional posing that not only brings her joy as an artist, but makes her clients happy too.
“I run my business, I don’t let my business run me.”
As rewarding as the boudoir industry is, it can be equally tiring. Photographer burn-out is becoming more and more common in the community, which is what made Karla’s no-sweat, casual approach so intriguing during our discussion. Today’s fast-paced world can easily become overwhelming, and in an industry as creative as this one, I believe we must protect our mental health first and foremost. If our mind isn’t at its best, our work won’t be at its best either. “I feel like I have a well-oiled machine right now and I’m just kind of chugging along”, explained Karla. When asked about her future goals, she says “my goal is to make it through every single day”.
This attitude is poured into her clients as well. Every woman Karla works with is reassured and made comfortable from the initial phone consultation, to their image reveal, and even long after their session is over. “A lot of times the confidence comes afterward. Everyone is nervous and scared to come in, nobody comes in confident and ready to rip their clothes off... Being vulnerable with somebody else in a situation that’s really scary, that’s something that builds confidence later.” She goes on to say, “A lot of times people aren’t naturally born with confidence. It’s something that you get from the experiences you go through, and the people that you surround yourself with that either make you very confident or not confident at all.” Needless to say, spending time in Karla’s studio definitely gives her clients the boost they need.
For the full interview, click the button below.
