Kahran and Regis Bethencourt are makers of dreams. The day we sit down to chat, they’ve been discussing the logistics of turning a little girl into a snow leopard ballerina queen. ‘I’m sure we’ll figure it out,’ laughs Kahran, and I believe her. Since 2014, this husband-and-wife team has been creating high-concept photoshoots allowing children to become the hero of their own stories. ‘A lot of the time, especially in the black community, our stories are either rewritten or never told,’ says Kahran. ‘As artists, I feel it’s up to us to point a mirror at these kids and let them tell their own stories. Whether they want to be a ballerina or a superhero, we photograph them the way they want to be photographed.’
Cupid’s arrow
Back in 2004, Kahran and Regis were members of an online graphic designer forum, when cupid’s arrow hit. ‘We became a long-distance couple,’ smiles Kahran. ‘We would go back and forth between Oregon and Maryland.’ Each time they met, they would take pictures of each other. ‘I had one arm that was very muscular because I was holding a heavy camera all the time,’ laughs Regis. Less than two years later, Regis joined Kahran in Oregon before the pair finally settled in Atlanta. At this point Regis decided to go back to college to study photography. It was a move that changed the course of their lives. ‘I just learned along with him,’ smiles Kahran. ‘We kinda got a two-for-one deal with his schooling!’
Separate lanes
Kahran has a background in computer science, marketing and graphic design, so when the pair decided to launch CreativeSoul Photography in 2009 she took charge of the business-side of things. ‘We both have different skills, but they merge together beautifully,’ she says. ‘Over time we have figured out a way to come together, but also have our own lanes. Regis doesn’t like the client-facing stuff, so unless he’s really needed, I usually handle all that.’ Thanks to her marketing background, Kahran is perfectly placed to tackle social media and other ‘web stuff’. Regis, on the other hand, enjoys the technical (and practical) side of photoshoots. ‘He creates some of the props and wardrobe pieces and handles the lighting and the technical set up,’ explains Kahran.
Finding a niche
During the week, Kahran and Regis stay in their own lanes, but at weekends they combine their skills to create stunning portraits that have appeared in the likes of Teen Vogue and Glamour, as well as featuring on CNN and BBC News. Their style is upbeat, colourful and energising, but it took them a while to find their niche. ‘In the beginning, we went to photo conferences and watched videos and trainings, but it felt like there was something more in us that we wanted to do; something that we weren’t seeing out there,’ says Kahran. At the time, the pair was shooting everything from weddings and babies to families and flowers. ‘Basically, anything people would pay us for,’ laughs Regis. After a few years, they began to grow weary. ‘We were like, oh my gosh, I don’t want to do another wedding,’ remembers Kahran.
Facing their fears
Looking back, the decision to concentrate on children’s portraiture seems obvious. ‘Even when we were shooting weddings, we would spend hours photographing the ring bearers without realising we were doing it,’ admits Regis. But it still took a leap of faith to abandon income streams they’d come to rely on. ‘To be honest, I was kind of scared,’ says Kahran. ‘We ended up creating a separate website and separate marketing to try and grow our kids business. I was frightened to move away from the things that were making us money.’ But thankfully, the Bethencourt’s faced their fears and, having acknowledged they were on the right path, they started photographing children exclusively.
Hitting the road
When your life and business are intertwined, it’s important to regularly evaluate what’s working, and pivot when needed. ‘We were trying to figure out how to make our studio photography more interesting,’ says Kahran, ‘so we started playing around with different styling elements and themes.’ With a renewed sense of energy and playfulness, they took to the road, offering themed photoshoots across the US. ‘We let people know which city we were going to, parents would sign up and we would style all the kids in that city with one particular theme,’ she explains. It was a wonderful experience, but after a year or so they felt ready for a change.
AfroArt series
Around this time a natural hair movement began to gather pace in the US (and overseas) and a blogger reached out to the couple, hoping to share their series. ‘We thought, well, it’s not really a series, but okay, sure,’ says Kahran. The couple pulled out some images from their road trips and sent them over, not thinking too much about it. ‘It was two days before Thanksgiving and we were literally talking about what to do next when our phones started to blow up,’ remembers Regis. After appearing on multiple blogs, the ‘series’ was featured on Yahoo, CNN and BBC News. ‘It was insane,’ laughs Kahran. Encouraged by the support, they officially began their AfroArt series.
Helping hand
The AfroArt series celebrates black beauty, while also providing a platform for children to tell their stories. ‘One of the girls we photographed was eight years old and understood college-level neuroscience,’ recalls Regis. ‘These are not the stories you hear in mainstream media,’ adds Kahran. Having seen the AfroArt project, a publisher reached out. ‘She said, “Look, I don’t have kids, but my future kids, my nieces and nephews need this book in the world,”’ recalls Kahran. The publisher then proceeded to walk the duo through the entire process, from finding an agent to making the book. Alongside the pictures, GLORY: Magical Visions of Black Beauty (which became a New York Times bestseller) contains essays about some of the children involved in the project – an addition that felt important for Kahran. ‘I wanted a kid in Atlanta to see a kid in London or Ghana and understand what they’re going through,’ she says.
Princess project
Their next project was a collaboration with hairstylist LaChanda Gatson called The Princess Project. While classic fairy tales often feature girls as damsels in distress, the Bethencourt’s subjects appear confident, self-possessed and commanding. It was a twist that appealed to the public. ‘The project went viral,’ smiles Kahran. In fact, their modern-day princesses were so popular toy company Hasbro (in partnership with Disney) asked if they would consider working with them on a series of dolls. ‘We were like, of course!’ laughs Kahran. In the end, the couple photographed four girls for the collection. ‘We did Cinderella, Snow White, Tiana and Rapunzel,’ says Kahran. ‘Then we worked closely with Disney to figure out hair textures, skin tones, fabrics and things like that. It was a really cool project to work on.’
New stories
Working on the Disney project lit a creative spark in Regis and Kahran, which led to their second book, Crowned: Magic Fairy and Folktales of the African Diaspora. ‘We wanted to reimagine existing fairy tales, but we also felt that we didn’t hear enough African folklore stories,’ explains Kahran. Naturally, they decided to combine the two, creating new stories and characters of their own. ‘Crowned allows kids of colour to see themselves represented in traditional stories while opening them up to other stories, whether it’s African folklore or totally new characters,’ says Kahran. ‘It can morph into so many things. It has been such a cool journey.’
Creative platform
For Kahran and Regis, high-concept photoshoots offer opportunities for creative expression while also providing a stage for kids to tell their stories. ‘We like to use our platform to give everybody else a platform,’ echoes Regis. And by that he means the hairstylist, the makeup artist, the seamstress, the designers, the children and the stories. ‘We are serving as dream makers,’ says Kahran. ‘The parents are often as excited as the kids because they know what it means. We didn’t have these types of images growing up, so they understand the weight of it and what it means to see their kids photographed in this way.’
Tools and technology
Regis and Kahran are Canon Explorers of Light and usually pair a Canon EOS Mark II with a Canon 24-105mm lens. For lighting, they keep things simple with lights and modifiers from Profoto (Regis is a big fan of clamshell lighting). When it comes to software, AI has become a handy tool in the Bethencourt’s creative kit bag. ‘AI helps us to communicate our ideas to the team,’ says Kahran. ‘I think it actually enhances our creativity.’
Related reading:
- How to Photograph Children Complete Guide
- How to take Atmospheric Child Portraits
- Celebrate the Best of Colour in Photography
