We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chris Henderson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Chris , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Several have had to do with truly dark subjects.. I’ve worked with a young family struggling to say goodbye to their stillborn daughter in the birthing room, a young woman with fresh bruises on her face from when her boyfriend beat her. She wanted me to document the abuse as a reminder to herself never to go back. The biggest one was a series I called the Bare Project, where I worked with women who were claiming their bodies back from trauma (abuse, whether it be physical, emotional, or sexual). One woman who participated felt inspired to turn her father for the abuse he had caused her. It truly was a powerful and meaningful project, one that I want to try and do again soon.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Chris and I am a photographer based in the Atlanta area, but I also travel for work. I’ve always been connected to the power of a photograph, but never took it seriously until the untimely passing of my younger brother. I found a way to channel my grief through the lens. It eventually grew into a wedding, portrait, and boudoir business. I love connecting with people, learning their stories, and finding ways to show who they are through our sessions. One of the things I love the most is working with people who don’t feel that they are camera-worthy and showing them that not only are they camera-worthy, but they truly are worthy in general.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Originally, I began posting my images to Facebook when it was first becoming a big deal. I was working at Starbucks at the time and customers would follow my journey on Facebook. They would hire me on, then word would spread. I added boudoir to my repertoire because I had a client reach out to me because I was the only person she could trust with these kinds of photos. It was a learning journey for us both and helped shape how I approach photography overall. Though I do this part-time, I have thankfully found myself traveling the country and even Europe shooting weddings and elopements simply just by targeting my approach to some of these far-off places.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

It helps keep me grounded in the human condition. For every high-dollar wedding that I’ve photographed, there are dozens of people struggling to make ends meet who would love to be able to have photos of their families done. Or, again, people that wanted to have their trauma documented., It’s an honor to be entrusted to be in a room where you’re forced to say goodbye to someone you’ve loved or to have someone tell you how the person who was supposed to protect you the most betrayed you. Being an artist and being able to tell stories through my lens is something I could never take for granted.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.chrishendersonphoto.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrishendersonphoto

Image Credits
all by Chris Henderson Photo