What’s your deal?

I’m Mary Katherine Leslie (many call me MK) and I’m a New Orleans-based artist. People have been paying me to take their picture since 2011 (damn, I was so fresh and cute back then) and I’ve been shooting boudoir photography since 2015.

My curiosity for creating images that exude sensuality is the product of growing up in The Church at the height of purity culture. Boudoir photography has become my vessel for working with women to unlearn shame and find ownership of their body and sexuality. I also think women are one million things at the same time (read: not just beautiful) and not enough photography reveals that. 

I draw inspiration from favorite authors (like my girl Sylvia Plath), film, and the dark beauty I find on evening walks near my home in the French Quarter. 

I’m a huge fan of my cat Rory, running, connecting, and laughing with others, and the Oxford comma. When I’m not shooting naked ladies—or other projects found at Mary Katherine Creative—I work as a marketing leader for the clean beauty brand Aveda by way of Neill.