about emily-melissa

Emily-Melissa is a Chicago-based photographer and cultural documentarian whose work captures the beauty, complexity, and joy of life. With an eye for bold color, deep emotion, and honest storytelling, she creates images that honor legacy, celebrate connection, and preserve the sacredness of everyday moments.

A self-taught artist with over a decade of professional experience, Emily’s lens is both personal and political—shaped by her own journey as a mother, creative, and witness to the rhythms of community life. Her photography spans weddings, portraits, and events, but it is grounded in something deeper: a commitment to storytelling as resistance, as care, and as record.

Emily’s work has been featured in Essence, Brides, and Munaluchi Bride, and she has served clients ranging from families to universities and nonprofits. In all of her work, she creates space for people to be seen in their fullness—with tenderness, vibrancy, and truth.

Currently, Emily is expanding her practice to include exhibitions, community programming, and cultural archiving. She is the founder of Emily-Melissa Photo, and her recent projects include an upcoming Chicago exhibit on joy and connection, a public portrait event in Garfield Park celebrating Black families, and a growing body of work that reframes wedding photography as cultural preservation.

Emily's art asks: What does it mean to remember with love? To frame the present as future history? With every frame, she answers gently: This is what we keep. This is how we shine.