The photographer guide to Charlotte

This guide serves two readers: the person who needs a photographer, and the person who is one. Charlotte has a deep bench of working photographers spread across the metro, and it has a set of locations that every one of them ends up shooting. We’ll cover the people first, sorted by what they shoot, then the places. Facts about each business come from its own listing or site.

Headshots and personal branding

Headshots are Charlotte’s biggest photography business, because Charlotte is a city of bankers, lawyers and consultants who need one every two years. mjwphoto does premium headshots for executives and attorneys in studio or on site, with 48-hour delivery and, per its site, more than 3,000 professionals served and a 5.0 Google rating. Aaron Libby Photography in Huntersville specializes in headshots and runs event headshot booths for conferences. Jane Haas Photography in Cornelius does executive headshots and small-business branding across Lake Norman. EYT Photography is the studio of Edna Takeda Geller, a Brazilian-born portrait photographer doing branding and headshots. Ocaid Photography offers low-cost headshots for small businesses and theater groups, which is the answer for the community-theater cast that needs forty by Friday. Our read: a good headshot is the cheapest marketing a professional in this city buys, and all five above will out-shoot your phone.

Families, seniors, pets and women

Jeannie DeSena in Cornelius does child and family portraits, high-school seniors and dance portraits across Lake Norman. K Marshay Photography does luxury portraiture for women: maternity, newborn, milestone. SnapHappy Photos, the Matthews studio of Ada and Doug Stevens, covers business, events, family, architecture, weddings and product. Michael A. Anderson Photography in downtown Concord is a father-son studio with the motto We Shoot People For A Living. Jan Black Photography in Cornelius does informal business and family content. And Pets Are Really Cool photographs dogs and cats in what it calls stress-free, natural sessions, which anyone who has tried to photograph a dog will recognize as a skill.

Product and e-commerce

Rainey Day Media in Rock Hill does affordable product photography including 360 GIFs, stop motion and product video for online sellers. The Apricots Media in Concord shoots product photography and video for consumer brands as part of a social-media practice. Alan Lux Studios and Corine Olarte Creative Co., whose work has appeared in Axios Charlotte and at the VAPA Center, round out the commercial side.

Drones

Drone photography is a licensed trade; the operator needs an FAA Part 107 certificate. JB Drone Solutions in Kings Mountain is FAA-certified and insured, shooting real estate, cinematic video and 360 tours across the west side. Cool Breeze Aerials in Indian Trail flies licensed pilots for aerial and ground work statewide. If you want to fly yourself, AINautics and Skyview Strategies both train and certify commercial drone pilots. Don’t fly near the airport, the stadium or the speedway on a race day; all three are restricted airspace and the fines are real.

Video, and the studio

CLT Production in Mooresville shoots commercials and broadcast with RED and Sony packages, a grip truck and rentals. Genesis Film & Photography in Huntersville does business branding video. Kim Brattain Media produces documentaries. Tice Studios serves brands and nonprofits across Lake Norman. For photographers who need a room, Our Legacy Studios in Huntersville rents a photography, videography and podcast studio with professional lighting by the hour. And Create A Video in Mint Hill digitizes old photos, film and slides, which is where the family archive goes before it fades.

The image, printed

Photographers need printers and framers, and the directory has a few. Studio Print Shop and South City Print handle print work in Charlotte; Bouley Printing and Madcap Printing and Design cover the ring towns. For the gallery wall, ClearWater Arts Center in Concord and Mooresville Arts both hang member work, and a photographer who wants to show should ask both.

Photo booths, for the party

Aloha Creative runs 360, mirror, AI robot and roaming booths with a host, and calls itself Charlotte’s highest-rated booth with more than 200 five-star reviews. Pose IT Up CLT does 360 and glam booths for weddings and corporate events. A booth is the wedding vendor guests remember, and it’s cheaper than a second shooter.

Where the light is

For the photographers reading: the spots every Charlotte portfolio has. Uptown at blue hour from the Romare Bearden Park side, with the skyline behind. The Rail Trail in South End for murals and brick. NoDa’s walls for color. McLawland Farms for the flower field, by arrangement. Lake Norman from the Cornelius side at sunset, and the Davidson College campus for anything that needs old trees. The Mint Museum on Randolph Road for architecture. The Charlotte Museum of History campus, with the stone Hezekiah Alexander house, for anything that needs to look older than the city. And the sunrise and sunset guide in this series lists the rest. Ask permission at any private venue; most say yes if you ask and no if you don’t.

A word on pricing, since clients ask: a Charlotte headshot session runs from a low-cost group rate to several hundred dollars for an executive session, and the difference is retouching, time and how many looks you get. Family sessions are priced by the hour plus prints or files. Drone work is priced by the job and includes the flight plan. Get the deliverables in writing: how many images, what resolution, and who owns the copyright, which by default is the photographer’s.

Photographers are in the professional services directory and venues and events directory by town. Shoot around Charlotte and not listed? Fix that.