Chris Sharber Photography

Yesterday, on Facebook, a friend from college asked me a question. He asked, “Do you ever take pictures of ugly people?” “All the pictures I see you post are of very good looking people.” I honestly did not quite know how to respond. I had to ask myself if I ever really did photograph ugly people. I thought about it for a while. All of my clients live in America, live in nice homes and many of their photographs center around joyous events–marriage, new baby, growing family, the pivotal high school senior year–my clients (and myself) enjoy a pretty awesome life and I get to participate with them by capturing those good times. The joy and the laughter and the enthusiasm for life are the kind of things I want to bring out in a client’s photograph.

So, do we ever photograph ugly people? No we don’t but…we photograph beautiful people in ugly situations. Some of you know that we shot our first wedding in 2004. The real spark for photography actually began prior to that wedding. It was on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic with Healing Waters, a nonprofit that brings water purification systems to third world and impoverished countries. Chris and our daughter, Mallory, will be going to Haiti next month to video and photograph another project for Healing Waters. There are plans for a second trip to Haiti later this year as well as a trip to Nigeria for a different water project. It is such a privilege to document these beautiful people living in such challenging conditions. When you toss that next half used water bottle or leave the faucet running, remember these folks, these beautiful folks that live in ugly conditions.

Julie