Mary Quincy is a 25-year-old living the dream. As a photographer she has amassed a following of more than 120,000 on Instagram, and works with tourism boards around the world to tell the story of their destinations. Hailing from a little village in Normandy but currently residing in Paris, Quincy is self-taught but undoubtedly influenced by her upbringing surrounded by some of the most instantly recognizable, not to mention universally beloved, architecture in the world. After all, she lives in France.
Naturally it was the City of Light which first inspired her to pick up the camera, as she admits to AdoramaTV: “One morning I was walking around my neighborhood, Montmartre in Paris, and found myself amazed by a gorgeous sunrise. I only had my phone at that time and I realized then that I wanted to catch such an incredible scene on a real camera.” Her workhorse now is a Canon 6D with a 24-105mm f/4L lens, and her edits are primarily done in Adobe Lightroom, with “presets that I can apply and modify according to the picture.”
It’s the details of historic European city centers, primarily the timbered framing, frosted domes and spires, and streets gnarled with worn cobblestones, that draw her eye. Her images portray buildings and street life as central elements in a grand folk tale; these are the idyllic scenes painted and sketched and committed to memory by artists and travelers for centuries, and now, posted to Instagram.
Quincy’s drive comes from more than just photography; she is also a consummate traveler, and dedicated to her goal of visiting a new country or city each month. In 2017 alone, she’s checked off much of South West England, Russia, Italy’s South Tyrol, Scandinavia, Gdansk, Berlin, and numerous villages in France. Somehow she has also found the time to drive from San Francisco to Seattle, including Yosemite National Park. But of all her travels, she counts Indonesia as the most surprising, confessing to AdoramaTV how it inspired her to explore her range: “I am used to photographing landscapes and cities, and it was absolutely perfect there for these kind of images. But I’ve found myself liking even more taking portraits of Indonesians. I don’t usually take portraits when I travel but I fell in love with Indonesia’s people and felt the need to capture them.”
As far as advice for budding photographers, Quincy stresses the importance of finding and sticking to a personal style, and capturing scenes at locations left out of guidebooks. For travelers to her home city of Paris, for example, she recommends a visit to the Musée de la Vie Romantique, a walk down the Rue des Thermopyles, and a rest on the rooftop of the Printemps department store, with the city at your feet, a coffee on the table, and your camera in hand. Then be patient. Because, as she says, “when inspiration happens, it will be even better than what you had hoped it would be.”
