Not one. There’s the wedding photos where you look like someone else, the work headshot from six years ago you’re still using, and nine thousand phone pictures where you’re half-turned away.
That’s what I fix.
Hi, I’m Zoe.
I believe every woman deserves to be seen exactly as she is, not edited into someone easier to look at. I photograph women building something, whether that’s a business, a brand, or a life that doesn’t look like everyone else’s.
It’s also why, nine years ago, I founded We are Childfree, a platform that changes how the world sees women without children. It’s been featured in The New York Times, Guardian, Vogue and the BBC, and thousands of women have written in to say it made them feel less alone.
Which means I’ve done something most portrait photographers never have. I’ve sat with hundreds of women, camera down, and listened to them talk about the most private parts of their lives before I ever took a frame. That’s the whole job, wherever it happens. The photograph is what’s left over after someone stops performing.
Most people tell me they hate having their photo taken. That’s what happens when nobody has ever given you enough time.
A session with me is two hours, unhurried. We talk, we walk, you forget the camera is there, and somewhere in the middle of that I stop being a stranger pointing a lens at you.
I photograph women exactly as they are, choices and all. I don’t shrink you, smooth you, or turn you into someone else. If I touch anything up it’s a stray hair, nothing that changes who you are. You’ll get images that look like you on a good day, which is a much harder thing to make than images that look like someone else entirely.
I’m a working class lass from Newcastle who went all in on the two things I actually loved: fashion and graphic design. I taught myself Photoshop, then design, then how to build websites. That one weird combination, nerd meets fashion girl, got me headhunted to work with Speedo and Ted Baker, and eventually landed me at Vogue House in London as a digital designer.
Then in 2010 I moved to Berlin, picked up a camera, and something clicked that hadn’t before. So I taught myself all over again. Lighting, retouching, video, the lot. It led to the kind of full circle moment you can’t even plan: my work published in Vogue itself.
In 2023, my partner James and I sold almost everything and moved into a van full-time, so I could travel further for We are Childfree and keep photographing more women, wherever they are. No script, no five-year plan, just us building a life on our own terms.
Commercial commissions: Available for editorial, beauty and campaign work.
A northern lass from England, I now split my time between Berlin and London, with my husband and our French Bulldog. A nerd at heart, I love creating behind the camera, in front of the computer, and dreaming up ways of sharing my experience with the world. I can’t wait to join you on your creative journey and guide you along your way!
As a working class girl from the north of England, I never dreamt I’d make a career out of my creativity. But with passion, determination I truly believe anything is possible. You just need the right tools and guidance to help you achieve your full potential and nothing would fill me with more joy than helping you to do the same. If you’re ready to get started you can subscribe to my newsletter where you’ll get my free guide full of tips, training and much much more. I can’t wait to join you on your creative journey!