The New Home of Emily Kathryn Photography in Chatham, VA

Emily Kathryn Photography moved to Chatham, Virginia, into a building at 10 North Main Street that started life as the Planters Bank and Trust. The vault is still in there. This post comes from the archive, written about a year after the move, back when the space was brand new to us.

Why Chatham

The business spent three years in Altavista and I loved every bit of that run. Then our family moved to Gretna, and getting the studio closer to home went from a someday idea to a plan with a deadline.

Chatham made the decision for us. It's quaint, it's full of history, and I'd wanted to work there long before I had a reason to.

What is inside 10 North Main Street

We could not have dreamed up a better building. The photo in this post was taken right before we started work on the space, so what you're looking at is the before.

Here is what came with it:

• The vault. Original to the Planters Bank and Trust, still standing inside.
• The floors. Original hardwood, worn in the way only a hundred years of foot traffic does it.
• The ceiling. Decorative, detailed, and worth looking up at.

All it needed was a little care, and it looks better now than it has in years.

Hair, makeup, and photographs under one roof

One thing set the senior experience apart at the time: sessions included professional airbrush makeup and hairstyling, not as an add-on but as part of the day.

The Chatham space made that far simpler, because I shared it with Rachael at Mint on Main, my longtime hair and makeup artist and a friend. A senior could show up once and get all three done in the same building.

It was a good partnership, and it took a real logistics problem off a parent's plate.

A note from now

This post is part of the archive from the Chatham studio years. The address, the makeup partnership, and what a session includes have all changed since it was written.

Sessions still run across Chatham, Danville, Gretna, Altavista, and Evington. If you'd like the current version of how any of it works, ask me directly and I'll walk you through it.