Charleston photographers, working worldwide.
We’ve always been photographers. But we never planned to be wedding, family and headshot photographers. We (Ben and Erin Chrisman) worked at newspapers right out of college, and loved journalism. We still do. But after several years of working in newsrooms, we both felt a pull to explore other types of photography. We didn’t know each other at the time, but our paths were identical. We had both started our own photography businesses (Ben was in Santa Fe, NM and Erin was in Atlanta, GA), and at the time, most wedding photography felt uninspiring and disconnected. So after leaving journalism, we both became wedding photographers. And when we met (at a wedding) in Mexico, we quickly realized our fates were to be together. That meant leaving Santa Fe and Atlanta, and moving to San Francisco. That’s where it all began. And we knew what we wanted to do. We wanted to show the world that wedding photography could be edgy, sexy, funny, honest and full of life. Also, we wanted to create photographs that could stand alone as works of art. So we brought our journalism work ethic, and our desire for creativity, and slowly built Chrisman Studios together over the last 15 years. We bring that same mindset to our portrait work – families and headshots – as well.
Today, we’re a collective of six award-winning artists, with five photographers (Ben Chrisman, Erin Chrisman, Mauricio Arias, Ryan Zhang and Matt LeGault) and one extraordinarily talented videographer (Vlad Chaloupka). Between the six of us, we speak seven languages (English, Spanish, Italian, Czech, Japanese, Cantonese, and Mandarin). We have photographed in 30+ countries. However, there are always more people to meet and more to learn and experience. That’s what we love about our jobs (for behind-the-scenes shenanigans, click here).
Whether photographing your wedding in Charleston, your destination wedding on your favorite beach, your family vacation on Kiawah, or an amazing new headshot for your business, our team always has three main goals for your photographs. We want to celebrate your life, inspire your friends and make your parents proud. We’re always available to talk, so please don’t hesitate to call, text, email or chat with us. There’s a link below in the right part of the screen that makes it easy to connect. It will really be us on the other end, and we’d truly love to hear from you.
Want to know more about us? Read our bios below!
