Kim Crenshaw Photography, Apex

In Kim Crenshaw Photography’s onsite garden, a swing hangs from a jasmine-wreathed arbor, frog-inhabited lily pads carpet a pond, and a 1946 Chevrolet Stylemaster waits for models to lean against its fenders. The garden abuts the old farmhouse that houses Crenshaw’s equally scenic studio, with a wall of antique stained-glass panels and a design that captures streams of sunlight throughout the day. Crenshaw devoted her first decade behind the camera to natural-light photography, and custom renovated her current studio-garden complex to ensure she could still practice her specialty.

Now a 25-year veteran of the photography scene, Crenshaw continues to draw on the fundamentals she learned when earning her BFA in graphic design and photography. This fine-arts background deters her from trendy shots of subjects spelling out the day's headlines in semaphore signals; instead, she strives to capture timeless beauty in her portraits of families, kids, and bridal parties. Subjects can discuss options and expectations with Crenshaw during free preshoot consultations, and select their favorite shots during postshoot slideshow viewings. The studio’s frame shop can border prints—or painted portraits modeled after prints—in a diverse array of frames.