Heidi Harris’ creative, naturalistic photos have graced the websites and social media pages of Atlanta restaurants for the better part of two decades. She’s cultivated long relationships with some of the area’s best-known restaurant groups, like Concentrics Restaurants and the Castellucci Hospitality Group, while consistently expanding into product, architecture and family photography.
This spring, she stepped into a new realm that many find terrifying: selling her own real-world products. Harris launched her new company, Surrounded by Light, in March, and began selling photography light stands in vivid colors.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Harris said it dawned on her that there “were no fun options” for nearly any kind of photography equipment or accessories.
“There’s really no color, there’s no personality,” Harris said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Everything’s black and it’s always been black and that’s been fine.”
Harris’ photos often have the paradoxical quality of feeling both grounded and whimsical, and that same sensibility is found in Surrounded by Light’s eye-catching light stands, which sell for $111 each on the company’s website.
She imagined the experience of being photographed from the client’s perspective: When they sit for a portrait and face the photographer, what do they see?
“I think it would just be a much more enjoyable experience all around to see a little bit of personality on that set,” Harris said. “I looked into it, and I realized it just hadn’t been touched before. So it made me feel encouraged to try.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Firm foundation allowed risk-taking
Harris fell in love with photography as a child; she remembers her father giving her a film camera bought at a thrift store when she was about 9 years old. She began studying light and the technical aspects of her camera and film, until it “clicked as another language” in her mind.
From that point on, Harris said she felt “destined” to be an artist.
She went to art school where she met friends with whom she started a photography company called Our Labor of Love. They began shooting weddings in an artsy style that was catnip for the aesthetic wedding blogs emerging in the 2010s.
“It was very much right place, right time,” Harris said.
Wedding photography is like boot camp for photographers; it demands shooting a myriad different subjects in a wide range of lighting conditions. Harris would regularly take photos of the food, table settings and atmosphere. The caterers and restaurants that saw her work began to request similar photos for their own use.
Harris has formed deep, lasting relationships with many of her clients. She established herself under her maiden name, Geldhauser, and her clients regularly contributed her photos to coverage in the pages of the AJC and beyond.
Sachi Takahara, the third-generation owner of Nakato, first met Harris when she booked a photo booth through Our Labor of Love for the restaurant’s 40th anniversary. She next hired Harris to take a timeless family photo that would become an heirloom piece of art.
“I wanted an art piece that, regardless of my household or my kids’ or grandkids’ household, it’s a timeless image that I can pass down,” Takahara said, describing her photo assignment for Harris.
Later, Takahara realized Harris also worked as a food photographer. She appreciates Harris’ versatility and the way she creates images with the client’s needs in mind.
Shannon Coppage, an Atlanta-based artist and the owner of the Studio at Candler Park, has worked with Harris on multiple, disparate projects.
“What I love about being around her is her energy,” Coppage said. “She’s carefree, she’s friendly, she’s easygoing — and she’s just really good at what she does.
“You’re hanging out and it doesn’t even feel like work. You’re chatting about all kinds of things and having so much fun … you just know at the end you’re going to get amazing photography,” Coppage added.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Relaxed energy, relentless entrepreneurship
Harris’ chill demeanor belies her persistent entrepreneurial spirit. After she helped found Our Labor of Love, she struck out on her own. Now, her central business is Heidi Harris Photography, and she also runs Silly Goose Photography, a company that specializes in portraits of families and children. Silly Goose is marketed to both schools and families.
Credit: Courtesy of Heidi Harris
Credit: Courtesy of Heidi Harris
Surrounded by Light is her first venture that produces something other than photos. She credited her own clients as inspiration to take on a new and different challenge.
Through photography, “you meet people who have this dream, they have this vision — and they do it,” Harris said. “And it is so inspiring.”
Credit: Credit - Heidi Harris
Credit: Credit - Heidi Harris
When she began to seriously consider making her own light stands, she wondered if it was her turn to pursue a new kind of dream.
“I felt like all my years of experience has brought me to this place — to want to try,” Harris said. “It’s not for me to replace taking photos; I feel weird if I don’t take pictures after a couple of days.”
Harris thinks Surrounded by Light’s colorful light stands could give photographers a new way to think about their services.
“I see the potential, and then beyond the potential, I see the opportunity for photographers to brand themselves as an experience, and I think that’s really fun and exciting for our industry,” she said.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Takahara said she’s excited for what the future might hold for Harris.
“Thinking outside the box is necessary in any business because you’re going to end up doing the same old, same old, and it’s going to get diluted,” said the owner of one of Atlanta’s longest-running restaurants. “At least you’re trying by pushing the envelope, and I think that’s necessary for any business owners or entrepreneurs. So, I wish her so much success.”
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