Good morning, my favorite city. 👋 Trista here, and today is my brother’s birthday. Stephan lives in Asheville (where I’m from), and he’s a very talented photographer. So if you like looking at pictures of one of our sister cities (hello, AVLtoday), give him a follow and wish him a happy 32nd birthday. 🎉

I figured today would be a great time to highlight some of Chattanooga’s best photographers. There’s a lot of talent in this city, so it was a difficult task to narrow it down — huge shoutout to intern Brianna for her help on this list. 🙌

Billy Weeks | He’s an award-winning photographer with more than 30 years of experience. The former Chattanooga Times/Chattanooga Times Free Press photographer and director of photography/graphics is also a lecturer for the communication department at UTC. He specializes in documentary-style photos + photojournalism.
Emily Lester | @emilylesterphotography | Voted top three best of the best photographer in Chattanooga 2017 + 2018, Emily is best-known for her wedding + event photos.
J Adams | @jadams_creative, @blakchatt | J Adams is the official photographer for Mayor Andy Berke + the city of Chattanooga government. He also is working on blakchatt, a photography project documenting those participating in the Chattanooga BLM protests.
Kathleen Greeson | @kathleengreesonphoto | After working as a photographer for the Times Free Press and being nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2002, Kathleen has focused on freelance photography for the past 12 years.
Kris Rochelle-Hacker | @kris_hackermedias | This mom of two can shoot anything from weddings, to graduation photos, to business branding, and is proud to be an African-American woman living her dream and showing youth that they can, too.
Marielle Echavez | @mariellejaimedia | Marielle is a recent UTC graduate, where she was head editor of Rising Rock Media, who is willing to travel across the country to shoot weddings, portraits, events, promotional work + more.
Nathalie DuPre | @nd_pics | Nathalie is a commercial and lifestyle photographer whose rock climbing photography has been published in southeastern rock climbing guidebooks, including Chatt Steel.
Tim Cofield | Tim Cofield is a local cinematographer who has worked as the director of photography for various commercials and music videos. You can check out examples of his work on his website.
Tyler Johnston | @ty.inthesky | An FAA certified drone operator, Tyler is known for his incredible drone-shots. Tyler works with photography, cinematic video, and drone aerial photography + videos.
Zachary Cross | @zmacphoto | Also an impressive pogo-stick champ (read more on that here), Zachary is great with a camera and specializes in landscapes, nature, portraits, and time-lapse photography.