Today we’d like to introduce you to Crystal Marsh.
Hi Crystal, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Photography has been in my life since my dad let me borrow his brand-new Canon AE-1 for our family vacation to the Grand Canyon. I joined the yearbook staff in high school in Virginia and photography quickly became a passion, so I decided to pursue it as a career. I was accepted at Rochester Institute of Technology where I earned a BS in Photographic Arts and Sciences. As a junior at RIT, I was part of a team of four lucky students selected to design, fabricate, and fly a reduced-gravity experiment at NASA in Houston. We flew on the vomit comet and had a BLAST! I also met a great network of fellow RIT graduates at NASA at that time. Upon graduation, I applied to work at NASA, and started my 20-year career as a photographer, imaging specialist and finally quality control specialist.
After 20 years at NASA, I felt like it was time for a change in my life. I retired to come home, spend time with my children and help my husband run our fundraising business. Once covid hit, we could no longer run fundraisers inside the schools, so I decided it was the perfect time to open my own business in photography. I have dreamt of going out on my own for many years, but never felt like the timing was right.
Today I am enjoying celebrating milestones in people’s lives by creating artwork for them to enjoy for generations, personal branding for other women to grow their businesses, dog photography and food photography.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Absolutely not! Life is messy and complicated and joyful all wrapped up together. I have been through some significant challenges in life, but I have had faith that God will see me through it all.
I have dealt with the death of my sister at a young age, several miscarriages in my first marriage, the joy of childbirth, the pain of divorce, the joy of remarriage, and the challenges of blending a new family in a loving way. No matter what happens in life, I live by these words… “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I love to celebrate people and help them see the beauty that others see in them. I take the stress out of having photos taken with a pre-consultation, wardrobe consultation, fully guided posing, and photo reveal.
There is no greater honor than when someone trusts me to create their family heirlooms or take their personal branding photos for work or make them a model for a day for senior pictures or glamour style portraits. I want to take photos of your family or you and your mother or daughter or sister or best friend. I am grateful every day that I get to do this for people.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
My dad was in the Air Force and saved up all his vacation time, so every summer we would travel to his childhood home in Virginia and stay for 3-4 weeks. Those summers were amazing! My dad has a big family that would come into town at various times. My sister and I had the freedom to just be kids with all summer with our cousins. Our days were filled with helping my grandma with breakfast, making homemade bread, shucking corn on the cob for dinner or just sitting on the large, screened porch listening to my aunts laugh about their childhood antics. The evenings were filled with going into town for Carl’s famous frozen custard, chasing fireflies, crawfish boils or eating dinner on porch. My dad’s large family was loud, fun, and always welcoming. They live by the motto, the more the merrier.
Contact Info:
- Email: crystal@CrystalMarshPhotography.com
- Website: www.CrystalMarshPhotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crystalmarshphoto/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrystalMarshPhotography
Image Credits:
Crystal Marsh
