Brothers have that effect on sisters. I know her well, and I would say she is likely both; but no one sees or knows of the toughness and discipline which hides beneath a soft, pretty, sunshine blonde exterior.

I met Mary when she first began surfing and came to work at one of my shops. She was the girlfriend of one of the team guys. I was just starting to submit work to the surf magazines at the time and beginning to do travel documentary work. One day we grabbed a team guy’s board and headed down to the beach. It was a shortboard, a 5’10” I think. Mary was 15. It was the first time we shot together and proved to be the starting point for what has become one of the closest friendships I have had in my life.

Over a period of almost ten years I have gone from building her surfboards, to being her photographer, confidant and mentor. I have watched her go through finishing school and her “coming out,” even helped her escape from Saint Bonaventure parochial school during swells by writing her notes so we could shoot surfing. I’ve traveled the world with her and have watched her conquer innumerable challenges.

When Mary and I started shooting together, there really was no avenue for surf images with women doing the surfing. No female oriented magazines existed. The ladies were in a perfunctory women’s pro tour, but not a part of mainstream surf culture. Having been a professional surfer, I could see what was coming though. As my career as an image maker began to develop, Mary was a constant ally and subject, always willing to go through all manner of hair and makeup and me yelling at her to go on waves she would have preferred to possibly wait out. Her images began to go into submissions globally as the sport morphed and women became a regular part of a growing awareness of California beach culture.

The paramount thing about Mary, which makes her images stand out, is this absolute childlike glee that appears in her countenance when she surfs. Her face lights up with the biggest smile, exuding what has often been described as an All-American wholesomeness. It happens every time. I don’t think she can help it. In building high-end imagery, it is every artist’s goal to convey and image emotion. When your principal subject knows how to do this in every possible situation, your work is going to rock. Mary rocks. Combine that natural talent with lots of water time, acting and voice lessons, a near miss college degree in Communications, years of ALWAYS showing up to shoot, an uncanny athletic ability, and you come up with a career.

Mary was never given to surfing the pro tour, nor did she have the chops as a short boarder. But in spite of being a petite 5’4” and 112 pounds, she has been able to consistently pull off the difficult double duty of modeling as well as surfing. She has worked in front of the camera acting, hosting, surfing, and doing stunt work in a huge variety of projects. I don’t think there is really much I have ever seen her fail at. She is a remarkably astute observer. She is smart. Smarter than most, and I have worked with the best. She is definitely not a stereotypical, blonde surfer girl.

One of the classic stories defining her approach in life occurred during the filming of MTV’s Surf Girls. I would get e-mails and the occasional call from Mary detailing daily misery as the producers fanned drama amongst the girls. Mary would say she was praying to get eliminated each week. “Voted off,” as she called the process. But over the course of production I saw her attitude morph and her notes became decidedly more upbeat. I saw her steely resolve to remain nice, surf better and stronger, and essentially evolve. It was a textbook study in overcoming adversity and succeeding. It never surprised me when she won.

These days I don’t get to spend much time with Mary. She has been off doing modeling shoots for a huge variety of clients and magazines, from Penthouse to Patagonia, where she works with the Malloy brothers in developing concepts for the large corporation’s forays into the surf industry. I just received an e-mail from her. She is in Japan today, doing who knows what. But the one thing about Mary that I doubt will change soon, is that smile and her ability to engage an audience, no matter what the medium