CreativeSoul Photography believes that everyone deserves to truly be seen, so we go beyond just capturing beautiful snapshots. We’re more than just photographers. We are artists and trusted business partners obsessed with unique, visual storytelling and capturing unconventional beauty.
“Around 2017, we started our afro art series, a collection of photographs aimed to showcase the beauty and versatility of afro hair. And so we started photographing kids. We started coming up with different themes and concepts and when we decided to do ‘Glory.’ We wanted to dig a little bit deeper and go behind the scenes and some of the stories of the kids as well,” Kahran Bethencourt said.
“We wanted to showcase, not only these really cool costumes, clothing and fashion, but also the stories behind each of these kids that we were highlighting,” Bethencourt said.
“I really wanted a wide variety of kids so there are scientists, there are musicians, there are activists,” Bethencourt said. “I really wanted for kids to be able to look in this book and see themselves reflected. So we tried to choose a wide variety of kids across the African diaspora that were doing amazing things and had amazing stories. I really wanted to tell a story of the variety in the Black community and do that through kids.”
With stunning images of natural hair and gorgeous, inventive visual storytelling, GLORY puts Black beauty front and center with more than 100 breathtaking photographs and a collection of powerful essays about the children. At its heart, it is a recognition and celebration of the versatility and innate beauty of black hair, and black beauty. The glorious coffee-table book pays homage to the story of our royal past, celebrates the glory of the here and now, and even dares to forecast the future.
It brings to life past, present, and future visions of black culture and showcases the power and beauty of recognizing and celebrating oneself. Beauty as an expression of who you are is power. When we define our own standards of beauty, we take back that power. GLORY encourages children around the world to feel that power and harness it.
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