Ben Chrisman is a Charleston wedding and portrait photographer who has consistently been named one of the industry’s best since 2005.
A former news photographer turned wedding photographer, Ben has photographed weddings, portraits, and world events in over 30 countries. He has also taught fellow photographers at workshops and conferences internationally, and has been a staff instructor at Foundation Workshops for 15 years.
Ben is one of the most awarded wedding photographers in the US, which include Photographer of the Year by the Wedding Photojournalist Association, “Top 10 Wedding Photographers in the World” by American Photo Magazine and Fearless Photographers, and “Best of the Best” by Junebug Weddings.
He lives in downtown Charleston with his wife Erin, daughter Roxy, and dog Theo. He carries a camera with him everywhere he goes, and loves every part of being a photographer. If you’re getting married, or looking for a new portrait, he can’t wait to hear from you.
CONTACT BEN HERE for pricing and availability.
Check out all of Chrisman Studios’ photography below:
MORE ABOUT BEN:
“My goal is to always photograph someone from the inside out, not the outside in.”
I was born in Paris. But not that Paris.
Paris, Tennessee. Home to the “World’s Biggest Fish Fry.”
I was raised across the border in Murray, Kentucky, where my mother was a school teacher and my father was a land surveyor. There, I explored the woods, built forts and played with my dog, Rascal. But my dad had a desire to try something new, so when I was 11, we moved to Sarasota, Florida. And for a few years it was ideal. We went to the beach every weekend (and every Christmas Day). We never were cold. And I still had plenty of woods to build forts in. Even at 15 years old. I was not cool. Not even close.
But then my parents needed a more arid climate, so we moved to New Mexico. At first, I hated the dry heat, the lonely desert, and the difficult language everyone seemed to speak. But then I went to college at New Mexico State University, where I studied photojournalism, and everything changed. I found the beauty in different cultures. Different languages. Different ways of life. I fell in love with people in general, which led me to work for newspapers around the state.
In the next few years as a photojournalist, I took over a million photos and met thousands and thousands of people in the process. I began to learn the art of photography and the confidence to care about complete strangers. But I needed something more than the newsroom could give.
So at 27, I left my home in Santa Fe and traveled to Asia on my own to document the devastation of the tsunami that ravaged Indonesia and Sri Lanka. I spent two months with people who had lost their entire families but still were able to smile at the end of the day. This energy to be alive changed me. I came home from that trip a different person and decided that documenting weddings would be a career I could be proud of. I was still documenting real life but was no longer standing in mass graves. I got to be involved in a cultural celebration integral to every community around the globe. It became my life’s work.
Following Santa Fe, I moved to San Francisco. In the process, I met Erin, a photographer who lived in Atlanta. The two of us became close and then inseparable, so she moved to San Francisco, too. We moved into the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, famous as the staging ground for the countercultural revolution of the 1960s. We lived in a small two-bedroom apartment, where we built Ben Chrisman Photography into Chrisman Studios.
After two years in the city, we moved across the Bay Bridge to the Oakland hills where our home was a sort-of Andy Warhol Factory for photographers. There were portrait shoots, commercial shoots, meetings, parties and sleepovers. Every photographer passing through the area stopped by. Well-known musicians, DJs and other artists could be found in the mix as well. Some stayed for a few days. Some didn’t leave for years. It was a magical five years where everyone changed and everything blossomed.
In that period, we got married, twice. The first time, our legal wedding in Las Vegas, took place the day after our bachelor and bachelorette parties. The second time was two weeks later in Campeche, Mexico. Of our 60 guests, 20 were friends and family; 20 were fellow photographers; and 20 were former brides and grooms who had become so much more than just clients. There isn’t a day I don’t think about that weekend and how amazing it was that all those people came to one tiny spot in the jungle just for us.
People seem to know me and Erin as being from California, but really we are two Southern kids who have gotten to experience much more of the world than we ever expected. In 2015, we decided to return to where we started. That summer, we packed up all our clothes, computers and cameras into one big moving truck and drove east across the country to our new home in Charleston, SC, where Erin grew up.
And in 2016, our daughter Roxy was born, bringing a new meaning to our adventure together. So now more than ever, we feel like we belong somewhere, and we are so excited about being involved in the community, eating lots of boiled peanuts, and getting to the beach as often as possible. Sometimes even on Christmas Day.
Charleston is now one of the top wedding destinations in the country. But that’s not why we moved here. We found a home we love downtown, where we can walk to restaurants, swing on our front porch and visit Erin’s parents all the time. If you’re in the area, drop us a line. If we aren’t traveling for a wedding, we are usually working in our studio and love having guests! And if you’re getting married, we’ll take good care of you. Just like our polite Southern parents taught us.
Ben is proud to be a Fujifilm Creator, Profoto ambassador, a staff instructor at Foundation Workshops, and a Gittings Global contributor.
We can’t wait to hear from you.
Contact us below or call/text us directly at (843) 410-3076