Stand with Mary: Overcome the Setback

I’m Mikala and Mary Smith is my sister. She is the owner of Mary Mason Photography which has been a staple of many families for the last 14 years for all of their photography needs. It’s a business that she has built from the ground up to support her little family as a single mom. Her strength, determination and focus is more than admirable. She loves what she does and has so much talent.

One the morning of May 5th, 2025 Mary woke up to a major blow to her business. Someone had gone through her neighborhood vandalizing and stealing anything of value from any cars that they could get into. This included Mary’s vehicle and the one time that she was so exhausted from working to support her family, she had left her camera bag with her equipment in her car and the person took the whole bag with all of her camera equipment that it held. This included her main camera, my camera (I am an associate photographer with her because I learned from the best…..Mary!!), her lenses, the flashes that she uses, SD cards, batteries, her backup cameras, etc.

Mary filed a report with the authorities and her insurance companies (homeowners and business). Both insurance companies are giving her the run around and it’s creating a major problem for her business and livelihood. She relies on this to pay her bills and to take care of everything she needs as a single mom of her three beautiful girls, my nieces.

She is beating herself up for making the mistake of leaving her equipment in her car. My hope is that anyone who sees this will show Mary the love that she puts into her photo sessions and any donation will show her how much her talent and hard work does not go unnoticed.

I’m hoping that this will help her replace her stolen equipment so that she can continue to bless the families of Sevier County and beyond with more memories for years to come. Thank you so much for your support!