Rising Stars: Meet Chelsea Morse

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chelsea Morse.

Hi Chelsea, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I have always been enamored with all the different forms of art. One of my earliest memories as a child was sitting with my grandfather in his painter’s studio with him patiently teaching me how to paint in vivid detail and color. The subject: my grandmother’s prized hydrangeas which hung from the ceiling drying above us.

I was an avid reader from an early age, especially adoring novels set in eras and magical places we can only reach through words on pages, curves in a statue and the brush strokes on a canvas. I loved how a well-done piece of art could pluck you right out of space and time and seem to drop you in another moment in history if your imagination could take you.

Well, spoiler alert, I didn’t get my grandfather’s gift with the paintbrush or my grandmother’s green thumb, but when I picked up a camera for the first time, I felt that spark of excitement that you get when something just feels right. There was a place for me in the world of art, after all.

I wanted to run before I could walk. I took hundreds of photos just learning my camera. I started taking classes, but they oftentimes felt… stale, creatively lacking, and they repeatedly imposed photographic “rules” that the instructors emphasized were never to be broken. I don’t feel that rules and creativity commonly go hand in hand, so I decided to throw that rigid rule book out. I searched out alternative forms of education in addition to the traditional college classes. I took online courses, signed up for all the good free tutorial courses I could find, used everyone and anyone for a model, tried new things, and perhaps most importantly – I worked my butt off.

My goal every time I photograph someone is to have them leave the experience feeling even better than when they started. I try to build a relationship and rapport with each person who chooses me to document a moment in their life. I particularly love the relationship I get to build with my boudoir clients. As a society, I find women universally feel so much pressure to be that unattainable “perfect” version of themselves that they decided at some point was imperative to reach in order to find a sense of happiness, self-confidence & completion. The reality is (and I know this is often a hard pill to swallow in this social media pressure cooker we live in) we need to be celebrating everyone for who they are right now, today! Uniqueness is what makes us more beautiful than ever, what makes us an individual, and I want to capture every single moment of it.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Previous to moving to Downtown Durham, I lived in the PNW and while the beautiful mountains, seaside and nature that the Pacific Northwest has to offer is a photographer’s dream, the furious competition (and the near-constant rain) was not. Starting out in a place where your industry is oversaturated makes achieving your business dreams and goals that much harder. However, to fully explain the challenges I faced, let’s back up to the very beginning when I hadn’t taken my business full-time yet…

Let me tell you a story about a girl who was afraid of stepping out of her box, didn’t really like taking big chances and was terrified of losing her regular paycheck along with all the benefits that come with it. She absolutely hated her day job. The girl would sit in her car before the beginning of the workday, dreading it and sometimes she’d cry knowing what was to come. She worked for a small company and her boss, who also owned the company, had an eruptive temper. She experienced verbal abuse there on a daily basis.

Well, if you haven’t guessed it by now, that girl was me. I was absolutely terrified of my boss, who would fly off the handle at the smallest thing. Standing over me, his fists clenched, whites of his eyes popping, tomato red face coming closer and closer, spittle flying as he screamed at me about things I had absolutely no control over. I was hired for one job but apparently, he’d omitted from the job description that, in actuality, the main role in that position was his verbal punching bag. I kept fervently hoping I wouldn’t become his actual physical punching bag one day. However, I was almost equally as terrified of not having that steady paycheck to rely upon. Good pay that is enough to live on in the PNW is really quite hard to come by.

It was only through an incredible amount of encouragement and reassurance from Alex (my fiancé at the time, we’re now married) to finally ditch the job I hated and pursue a career I love full-time. Alex assured me he believed in me, in my abilities and that I needed to put my fear aside. I suppose I must’ve borrowed some of Alex’s daring spirit and penchant for jumping into something feet first because after I made that decision to quit my day job and actually followed through with it there was no stopping me.

Through my love of working with couples and the unique, delightful, spontaneous, organic moments I get to document (each couple’s unique mannerisms and personalities). I decided that learning to photograph weddings would be a natural next step. Unfortunately, it was rather like a lot of the job market can be these days. I felt like a teenager trying to get my first job. You learn the ebb and flow of weddings by being hired as a 2nd or 3rd shooter or, the very beginning, a photo assistant. I applied to as many job postings for those positions as possible but nobody wanted to hire anyone who hadn’t shot or assisted a wedding yet! I’m sure I echo the masses when I say how are you supposed to gain the experience if nobody is willing to take a chance on you?

So I decided I was going to do a Styled Wedding Shoot. I reached out to wedding vendors and gave them all samples of my work. In exchange for those interested and chosen to participate each vendor receives the finished gallery to use for their own promotional purposes. I procured wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses suits, floral, makeup, hair, cake, models and some real couples too. We hiked out in January in the snow to the middle of the forest by a lake overlooking the mountains and got amazing shots. After that, I started getting responses to my job applications.

In the very beginning, if I wanted to work with someone badly enough, I worked for little to nothing but the knowledge I gained is worth a fortune to me. Once I was comfortable and had all the specialized equipment I needed, I started booking weddings in addition to engagements, couples, boudoir and maternity, as well as some portrait and fashion work. I had gone from working all seven days of the week and barely sleeping to sometimes letting myself take a day off here and there but I still worked long days. If I was really lucky, I got 6 hours of sleep but usually much less & I was pulling a lot of all-nighters, I still do.

Many people tend to think that being a photographer is just showing up to take the photo, maybe throwing a preset on and delivering it. This is most definitely not the case. In fact, while the job can be physically taxing, it’s after the session or wedding is over that the real work starts. I think of each photo, each moment as a memory that might be passed down from generation to generation. I take pride in my editing so I spend a good amount of time on it, oftentimes spending even more time than is technically needed so that I can get it perfect. The client’s I’ve come to attract have told me over and over that they really love my editing, the colors in my photos and the emotion that comes through, so I know it’s time well spent but I can tell you it’s not always great on relationships when your up editing at 3AM on a Saturday. I worked, I honed my craft and my editing skills and through word of mouth, reviews and Instagram, I built myself a great business I was proud of. Then my husband announced he wanted to move us across the country for a job opportunity.

All that work and all those connections in the wedding industry I’d made! I was going to have to basically rebuild my business. Let me tell you it was a daunting thing. However, the people have been so incredibly lovely here and my work has been so well received not just by clients but other wedding vendors as well. I noticed when I first moved here boudoir didn’t seem as common as it is in the PNW or the other States/Countries I’ve had the privilege of photographing in but as time goes on more and more women seem to be opening up to the idea of celebrating their bodies through photography. I’m so excited for all the new places we’re scheduled to photograph at and all the new people we’re meeting.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a photographer who specializes in Boudoir, Weddings, Couples Photography, Maternity and Portraiture. I’m the photographer for those who want to make true memories with their photos. Who forge their own path and aren’t afraid to let their hair down & step out of their comfort zone when the moment calls for it. Dance in the rain, run into a gust of wind that might toss your skirt and put wind in your hair, jump in a lake for an impromptu swim, hike up a mountain or wade into a river. I’m up for all of it and adore capturing the memories!

A few things that I think set me apart in my field is the following… When I started trying to hone in on my editing style, it was hard at first because I was inundated on social media by photographers who went the ‘light and airy’ route or ‘dark and moody’ or that one style where it seems like everything is just… different shades of brown. I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to blend in with the crown I wanted to stand out of the crowd! So over the years, I’ve been carefully been curating my editing style. I want vibrant colors such as a gorgeous candy colored sunset or a fire engine red dress to come through strong in my photos. I also prefer to photograph with natural light when I can and I pay special attention to the light to give the best lighting possible but I spend extra time in post making sure that important details or features stand out. Quite often my clients comment that this is one of the things they love about my work and I really appreciate that my hard work is paying off.

Body positivity has become an extremely important part of not just my business but my life in general. I have had my own struggles throughout my life with how I think about my looks and believe it or not boudoir has really helped that. So when I started photographing boudoir I didn’t want to place that genre of photography under strict traditional guidelines when it came to my business, Here is my philosophy on it: traditionally people have previously thought boudoir photos were a one time occurrence, a gift for your partner.

I wanted to make Boudoir Photo Sessions with me something you think to do to celebrate for many different reasons, celebrate yourself, maybe it’s something you and your girlfriends do just because you’re feeling great about yourselves, or conversely maybe you all have had a hard time and you want something to lift your spirits, you survived something and you want to have the session to celebrate making it – to celebrate your life, you made a goal and you accomplished it, you want to show more love to your body and you need a little help, you and your partner want to document your closeness and your bodies in some sexy lingerie, you’re being bullied and you need to see yourself and how gorgeous you are through someone else’s eyes. I could go on and on but the point is I want to celebrate all bodies in every shape, color and size and I want to use my art to advocate for a change, to help other’s see what I see.

My Photo Sessions are fun with games! You will never get true emotions in your photos if you just stand there quietly and hope your clients will figure it out, you also won’t if you pose them like dolls throughout the entire session. I always try to remember that if I’m lucky generations down the line could be looking at some of the photos I’m taking and if that’s the case, I want them to feel something looking at that moment frozen in time. With my wedding pricing I give my clients a free engagement session. This is because the dynamic between all of us after I’ve already photographed you is so relaxed and I get so many more fun candid moment shots that the couple maybe wouldn’t have been comfortable doing in front of me on their wedding day otherwise. At the very beginning of each photo session we start by playing games. No, I don’t mean a board game that would be weird. I mean posing prompt games. Over the years, I’ve come up with different prompts and they are on the back of cards, I ask someone to pick a card (they can’t see the prompt yet) then once they’ve picked I read them the card and they do whatever is on the card. For instance something like “Hold hands in the middle and touch hips together and keep them together, now walk towards me with your hips glued together like that and try to not let your hands or hips come unglued!”. We all have a blast and some really good laughs and it’s a really great way to almost right away get more comfortable, get genuine emotions, and real laughs, sometimes happy tears (depending on the card).

I love my work and truly care about my clients. I love what I do and deeply care that each client has a great experience from start to finish. One of the best compliments is when clients book multiple times as new life events come their way. I love seeing them grow and change. I did a fourth photo session recently for a woman whose maternity session I did right after moving to Durham. She recently wrote me a review and said the most wonderful thing in it: ” I wish we would of found her to shoot our wedding” that really touched my heart. A bride of mine has said to me after her wedding in a thank you card she sent me “you really went above and beyond for us during our wedding planning process and words can’t express how much it meant to us. You were like the non-biased bridesmaid that isn’t in the photos but made so many things possible.” I will be the person that helps you find the perfect spot for your photo session, someone you can talk to when wedding planning is stressing you out, I’ll help you figure out an outfit or the best color or even recommend other wedding vendors. I just want my clients to be as stress-free and happy with their experience as possible.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Eventually, I found through my work that my previous background as a counselor has been greatly beneficial not only to me but my clients as well. Not in the way that I sit my clients down on a couch and ask them deep soul-bearing questions of course, but more subtly. Different character traits need different things, so it has helped me adjust quickly to what each of my individual clients prefers and needs when it comes to working with them. It also has made me very comfortable with meeting new people and breaking the ice.

I’m pretty good at not being awkward around new people and making people feel comfortable around me. When people are being photographed, it becomes very uncomfortable if the photographer is generally silent. When it’s appropriate (not in the middle of a wedding ceremony) I talk a lot to clients, I take time to tell them about me, about my husband who second shoots for me, to joke around with them and occasionally act silly. I told client’s once I remind myself a little of Cam from Modern Family when he really loves something and he can’t hold back his squeal of joy. Well I don’t look like Cam but when the light is just right and a couple is in the zone and the photos are just on fire I will certainly be letting you know and I might let out a happy squeal or a little happy dance of approval.

You can talk to me. After every session, I ask is there something we didn’t do? A pose or a photo in a specific background that you really wanted? If it’s an engagement session for a wedding I will later be photographing I also make it clear to them please take some time to think about it after the session and tell me if there is anything you would like me to change, anything you would like more of (a lot of the men will say they want to play even more games next time if possible) or less of. I make sure they know they absolutely won’t hurt my feelings. It is their wedding day, their photos, their experience and I want to tailor that to the clients as much as possible.

Pricing:

• Boudoir starting at $350 w/full print rights
• Local Couples Session $350 w/full print rights
• Local Maternity starts at $350 w/full print rights

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.hourglassphotographyco.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hourglassphotographyco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hourglassphotographyco/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/hourglass-photography-co-durham?osq=Hourglass+Photography+Co

    Image Credits
Hourglass Photography Co.