Charlotte Branding Photographer

Natalie H. | Rock Hill, SC Branding Session

June 5, 2017

Natalie H. | Rock Hill, SC Branding Session

I recently had the pleasure of working with Natalie of Freely Nat, an up and coming blogger based out of Columbia, SC. She found me online (the power of the internet is a wonderful thing!) and we instantly hit it off. I knew she was going to bring it for her session the moment she messaged me her wardrobe ideas and that we’d have a great time working together.

Her session took place in downtown Rock Hill, SC and we had so much fun during our time together. Her sweet and genuine personality was evident the moment she introduced herself to me. Since that day I have followed along on her journey via Instagram and her website, which I urge you to check out! She’s full of life, inspiration and being a positive force in what can sometimes be a very negative world.

natalie h branding session

freely nat

Per her website bio she “developed her brand to motivate and encourage those who are also on this journey of mastering self care. It’s important to know you’re NOT alone.” Her brand is all about celebrating her life journey, the ups, downs and in betweens. And she encourages her readers to come along on this journey with her and to discover who you are along the way. I’m excited to see where her blogging career takes her and I know that this is just the first of many collaborations between the two of us. I’m a huge advocate for women building their own brands and doing it their own way and Natalie is definitely living up to her brand. If you’re a blogger, entrepreneur or just someone wanting updated, fresh photos I’d love to hear from you! Meeting inspiring people doing great things motivates me to keep doing what I love.

natalie h branding session

Meet The Artist | Denise Benson Photography

May 29, 2017

Meet The Artist | Denise Benson Photography

So I have this little corner of the web that I use to share my work and the occasional bits and pieces of my life with my audience. For those of you that have been here since the beginning you probably feel like you know me fairly well at this point. But there are parts of me that you won’t know unless you’re a part of my inner circle or at least connected to me on my various social media platforms (sometimes I overshare there).

Recently I came across a Meet The Artist rendering on a Facebook group that I’m a part of known as The Rising Tide Society. Every couple of days or so I would see a new one pop up by a creative entrepreneur and I absolutely LOVED the idea of it. In a nutshell a MTA drawing is an illustration of an artist (photographer, designer, baker, etc) and it tells the details of their life. This can include what they wear on a regular basis, how they creatively express themselves and things they do/do not like. The illustrations come in all forms ranging from doodles to anime to fashion sketches. I decided I wanted one for myself. It would be a fun way to share a piece of myself with my audience without having to share an actual photograph of myself. This is where Rabbit Rabbit Studio came into play.

I’ve always loved fashion, even doing a little sketching myself WAY back in the day. I come from a fashion background with attending the University of South Carolina’s fashion merchandising/retail program and interning with Essence Magazine in their fashion department. Even though I’ve strayed from that lifestyle, it’s still a huge part of who I am. Emily of Rabbit Rabbit Studio was also interested in creating MTA renderings and so she posted on The Rising Tide Society’s Facebook group and that’s where we connected. I love her fashion sketches and I felt like her style just meshed with my own. She asked me to send in a couple of photographs of myself along with my likes, dislikes and what I’d like to include in my illustration and the rest is history! I absolutely LOVE the outcome. I even had it printed and framed for my office which is where it currently hangs. It’s also my office computer screensaver as well as my phone’s current screensaver. Yeah, I’m a bit obsessed, lol. If you think you’d might be interested in your very own Meet The Artist drawing then definitely reach out to her and if you’re not I still encourage you to Google it. Going through and seeing all of the talented works of art is definitely a fun way to spend some time.

Stop Thinking Too Much: How To Get Out Of Your Head + Trust Your Photographer

May 22, 2017

Stop Thinking Too Much: How To Get Out Of Your Head + Trust Your Photographer

This month’s guest blogger is artist, photo-journalist and fellow photograpHER, Demetria Mosley of Studio Mosley. She is a self-taught multimedia artist who uses her work to explore themes of womanhood, body image and self love. Demetria and I met via the Queen Photographer organization and when I put out the request for guest bloggers she reached out to me with a topic that not only hits close to home for me as a photographer, but also as someone that has to step in front of the lens myself occasionally. It’s a great pep talk about how we need to get out of our own heads and rock each photoshoot like we were meant to!

Click, Click!

Your photo session is off to a great start, but the voice inside of your head keeps screaming at you about your flaws.
Do my arms look too big? Is she getting my bad side? Oh no, I probably look BAD!
STOP! Silence that noise clanking around inside of your head. All it is doing is distracting you from allowing your photographer to capture your best self. I completely understand that getting your picture taken can be frightening, especially if you’re not used to a camera being in your face. Your photographer will do all they can to relax you but if the negativity floating inside your head is louder than your photographer’s encouraging comments, it can be hard for them to really capture the essence of you.

And guess what? YOU are perfect and YOU are beautiful.
Poet Nayyirah Waheed wrote in her book Salt, “you see your face. you see a flaw. how. if you are the only one who has this face”.
Again, let me remind you, YOU ARE PERFECT!
To help silence that voice inside your head , you could try 3 things:
1. Owning your shoot, pretend you’re Beyonce. Be bootylicious!
2. For every negative thought, say a positive one. “I probably look BAD! And by bad I mean DAMN GOOD!”
3. Get ready for you photo session while listening to your favorite music. Really get into it! Dance while zipping up your dress and/or sing along while combing your hair. Your mood will be 100% going into your session. Your photographer just wants to capture the best version of you. Stop letting the voice in you head distract you.

All illustrations courtesy of Demetria Mosley. You can follow Demetria on Instagram and on her website.

Jailyn F. | Cap and Gown Session

May 15, 2017

Jailyn F. | Cap + Gown Session

It was so much fun catching up with one of my Senior Reps from this past year for her cap and gown session at Glencairn Garden in Rock Hill, SC a few weeks ago. Jailyn truly has one of the sweetest spirits and is just a real pleasure to be around. I’m so proud of all that she’s accomplished this last year of high school and she represented my brand so well. She’s absolutely stunning and the camera just loves her. I’ve already told her and her mom that I will have to reach out to her in the future, in between her studies and once she has her career in nursing, as a model for my styled shoots. So don’t be surprised if you see her in future blog posts and sessions.

We had a lot of fun traipsing through the park early on a Sunday morning just before she got ready to jet away to Europe for her senior class trip where it looked like she had an absolutely AMAZING time! The weather was beautiful and we couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful backdrop as all of the flowers began to bloom and fill the park with wonderful colors.

I look forward to seeing where the road leads for this ‘educated black queen’. I know that whatever she puts her mind to she will succeed at. Here’s to her and all of the other Class of 2017 graduates! This marks an end to one part of your story, but your life is just now beginning. And remember these wise words from author J.K. Rowling “We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.” Here’s to becoming the best version of yourselves possible!

Be Her Tribe | Charleston, SC Session

May 8, 2017

Be Her Tribe | Charleston, SC Session

If you follow any of my social media channels you’ve likely seen photos floating around with the words Be Her Tribe on them. It’s a campaign that was started between myself and Avis of Bliss & Roses Events. My success doesn’t come from just myself. Sure I put in a lot of hard work and dedication, but there was (and still is) an entire team of cheerleaders that without them I know I wouldn’t be living out this dream. Those people include my family and close friends that stood by me and listened to me as I went on and on about this new passion of mine that I’d found in photography. It included line sisters that hired me to shoot sessions when only a few people knew that I was even trying to break into photography. And most recently they include a tribe of fellow photographers that inspire me to better, help me work through ideas that I have (no matter how crazy they may sound to someone NOT in the industry) and cheer me on when I celebrate small successes.

A couple of weeks ago I celebrated DBP’s 6 year anniversary and I wanted to commemorate the occasion. Avis, who is not only my cousin or eGroup leader, but has become a very close friend to me over the last couple of years. She is most certainly a part of my ever growing tribe. So it was only natural that I went to her with this idea I had. I wanted to do a giveaway to celebrate my anniversary, but not just any giveaway. I wanted it to mean something. I wanted it to go beyond what DBP is and to shoutout all those women that support one another. I wanted to create a movement. And together we came up with Be Her Tribe. It encourages women to uplift, encourage and support one another. In a world where we’re sometimes seen as competitors this movement counteracts that notion. The giveaway is now over, but the movement is just beginning. Bliss & Roses now has Be Her Tribe items for sale (tees, mugs, etc) and you can be a part of this by contacting her and ordering an item of your very own. Let’s show the world what it truly means to be a tribe!

Natalie H. | Rock Hill, SC Branding Session

Meet The Artist | Denise Benson Photography

Stop Thinking Too Much: How To Get Out Of Your Head + Trust Your Photographer

Jailyn F. | Cap and Gown Session

Be Her Tribe | Charleston, SC Session

CATEGORIES

Based In

CONNECT