Day 3 of 1,000,000. 📸
I was riding through Uptown when I spotted Carter Seate (@carter.seate outside his shop and knew I had to stop.
Carter is the co-owner and buyer at FarReach Vintage (@farreach.vtg ) — one of Charlotte’s most respected vintage boutiques, located at 604 W. Morehead St., walking distance from Bank of America Stadium. He co-founded the shop with his business partner Christian Thropp while still a teenager, building it from a side hustle reselling Pokémon cards outside Target into a full brick-and-mortar store that has become a destination for Charlotte’s streetwear and vintage community.
FarReach isn’t just a store — it’s a curation. Carter and Christian source everything themselves: true vintage from the 50s and 60s, military and workwear, 90s sportswear, band tees, jerseys, and one-of-a-kind pieces you genuinely cannot find anywhere else. Every item in the store is a story. It felt right to upgrade the portrait of someone who spends his days finding stories worth wearing. 🧥
He looked at the back of the camera and said “Ooh, that’s clean. I f*** with that.”
That’s the reaction I’m chasing every time.
Go check out FarReach — open Tuesday through Sunday, 12–7. And follow along for Day 4. We’ve got 999,997 stories left to tell.
#1MillionStories #FarReachVintage #CharlotteNC #VintageClothing #StreetPortrait CLT
Day 5
Episode 5 of 1,000,000. 📸🔴
I was riding through NoDa when I spotted a firefighter standing outside the bay doors of @charlotte_engine07 Charlotte Fire Station No. 7 on North Davidson Street. I pulled over, walked up, and asked if I could upgrade his portrait.
Meet Izaiah Turner — Senior Firefighter at Station 7. He’s not on Instagram, but his station has been on North Davidson Street since 1935. That’s 90 years of showing up.
Here’s what most people don’t know about Station 7: it is one of only three pre-World War II firehouses in Charlotte still operating as an active firehouse today. It was designed by Charles Christian Hook, the same architect behind some of Charlotte’s most iconic civic buildings. When it opened, this neighborhood was a working-class mill village — Highland Park Mill, Johnston Mill, Mecklenburg Mill — and the firefighters at Station 7 were the first line of protection for thousands of families whose entire lives were built around those mills.
The mills closed. The neighborhood changed. Station 7 never left.
Through the economic decline of the 1970s, through the slow rebirth of NoDa in the 1990s, through every fire, every EMS call, every accident on a narrow street in an arts district that didn’t exist when this building was built — Station 7 has been there. The building even had a jail cell in its original design, used to hold rowdy mill workers until police arrived. That’s how essential this place was to the community.
As Charlotte Fire Chief Johnson said just last year: “It’s not just about a building surviving for 90 years. It’s about the people inside — past and present — who have committed themselves to serving this city with pride.”
Izaiah is one of those people. And oh — if you bring your dog by the station, they give out treats. 🐾
This one’s for every civil servant who shows up every day and never asks for recognition. @charlottefire@nodaclt@charlottenc@visitcharlotte@nodaarts@charlottemag@qcitymetro We see you. 🙏
Follow along for Ep 6. We’ve got 999,995 stories left to tell. Tag a first responder in the comments who deserves to be seen. ⬇️@cltgov
#1millionstories #streetportrait #charlottefiredepartment #noda #clt
Congratulations to the newlyweds, Renny & La Shonda Harvey! 💍✨
Yesterday was truly an unforgettable experience at Sky Retreat in Western NC — surrounded by love, family, friends, mountain views, and the kind of energy you only get when two people are genuinely celebrated by everyone in the room.
This one was extra special because I had the honor of being part of the wedding and capturing pieces of the story through my lens. Moments like these remind me why I love what I do — the laughter, the emotion, the details, the people, and the memories that will live forever.
Wishing Renny and La Shonda a lifetime of love, joy, peace, partnership, and beautiful new beginnings. 🥂
Need your next wedding or event captured with care, creativity, and intention?
Book your next wedding or event with me. Let’s make sure your memories look as amazing as they felt.
#WeddingPhotography #NorthCarolinaWedding #SkyRetreat #CharlottePhotographer #BookFodee
A Night on the Nile? No, this was an absolute MOVIE! 🎬✨ Hough High School did not play around for Prom 2026. Over 1,000 people at the @ritzcarltoncharlotte Urban Garden, flame dancers, aerial performers, and a dance floor that was literally a river cascading down the steps. The students were out here strutting on water—now that’s biblical! 🌊🔥
Huge thank you to Hough High School and @twestthesongbird of Dream Big Events for bringing this incredible vision to life and trusting me to capture it. This makes my 4th capture at Hough (2 proms and 2 homecomings!), and the energy just keeps getting better. 📸🥂
Want your next event to look this legendary? My books are open! Hit the link in my bio to book your date, and don’t forget to tag your friends and send referrals my way! Let’s make some magic. 📆🚀
Tags:
#HoughHighSchool #NightOnTheNile #Prom2026 #BankOfAmericaUrbanGarden EpicProm #eventphotography BookNow
If you were really outside at Red @ 28th, PROVE IT. 🩸 We’re bringing Red back, but before we open to the public, we’re inviting our realest day-one supporters to a private Friends & Family Grand Opening.
This invite can’t be bought. It has to be EARNED.
Here’s how to secure your spot:
1️⃣ Post an old photo, video, or memory from Red
2️⃣ Tag @redat28th
3️⃣ Tag the crew you used to be there with
I know I’m coming. They know I’m coming. Will you be there? Let’s see those receipts. 🧾🔥
#RedAt28th #RedIsBack #CharlotteNightlife #Throwback #ExclusiveEvent ProveIt
Still feeling the afterglow from Charlotte SHOUT! ✨🪄♾️
@cltshout
And grateful to @fodee for catching these magical moments in motion and stopping me on the street later to take my portrait ⭐️
The magic continues with the debut of my full-length solo show at @studio_1212 on Friday, May 15.
Come on out to one of the funkiest corners of the Queen City and see what I’ve been working so hard on this past year 👑
#performance #festival #circus #soloshow #debut
Day 3 of 1,000,000. 📸
Y’all nominated this man in the comments after Day 1 — so I had to track him down. Meet Larry Taylor (@mrlarrytaylor nominated by @smokingrepeats .
Larry is a U.S. military veteran, devoted father, entrepreneur, and piano enthusiast — and that’s just the beginning of his story. Together with his wife Kelly, he runs Smok’n Repeats (@smokingrepeats a Charlotte-based brand that repurposes empty cigar boxes into one-of-a-kind luxury purses and wearable art. What started a
s a pandemic project cleaning out the garage turned into a brand that has walked the runways at New York Fashion Week and Columbia SC Fashion Week in 2021 and 2023. Their pieces are carried in the gift shop at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture right here in Charlotte. Every box is different. Every piece tells a story.
I caught Larry inside an herb and wellness shop @musamoon , dressed clean in all black with a silver chain and his North Carolina cap, and the energy was immediately right. When I showed him the portraits, he leaned in, smiled, and said: “Yeah, that’s dope man, I like that.”
That’s the job. 📸
The community chose him. The portraits delivered. Follow along for Day 4 — drop a comment and let me know who I should upgrade next. We’ve got 999,997 stories left to tell.
Hashtags:
#1MillionStories #CharlotteNC #StreetPortrait #SmoknRepeats #CLT
Harold’s was a MOVIE! 🎬 The Content Creator Meetup was a massive success and Charlotte creators really showed out! Such a great time networking, connecting, and building with the community. Huge thank you to Holly for organizing such an awesome event and bringing everyone together! 👏🏾🥂
Photos are officially live! 📸 Hit the link in the description to see the full recap, enjoy, tag yourselves, and don’t forget to share my shit! Let’s keep the momentum going! 🗣️🚀✨
@haroldschicken_charlotte@realestatedoru@holly_rockin #content #charlotte #contentcreators #clt #fame. Dm me for the link
Day 2 of 1,000,000. 📸
For Day 2, I ran into Spiral (@vivianspiral ) during the FOMOblock Party at the @cltshout festival right here in Charlotte — and I had no idea I was standing in front of a living legend.
Vivian Spiral is widely regarded as a pioneer of the modern hoop dance and flow arts movements. She has been performing and teaching across the globe for over 15 years, moving audiences of 20 to 20,000 — from catwalks in Hong Kong, to galleries in New York, to nightclubs in Vienna, to sold-out Varieté theater runs across Germany. She is a multi-disciplinary circus artist who blends contemporary hoop dance, acrobatic sphere performance, aerial hoop, fire dance, and LED light shows into something that feels less like a performance and more like a spell being cast in real time. 🌀
She traveled all the way from Berlin, Germany to perform here in Charlotte, and when she told me where she was from, I had to pull out the “Wie heißt du?” My 11th grade German teacher Frau Harril would be so proud of me right now. 😂🇩🇪
She said the images were gorgeous and she loved the colors. Coming from someone who has performed for audiences on multiple continents, that meant everything.
It was an honor to upgrade the portrait of someone who has spent her entire career upgrading every room she walks into. ✨
Follow along for Day 3 — y’all already nominated the next subject in the comments. We’ve got 999,998 stories left to tell.
Hashtags:
#1millionstories #charlotteshout #streetportrait #FlowArts #clt
Day 1 of 1,000,000. 📸
I’m starting a journey to photograph 1 million interesting people, and I couldn’t have asked for a better first story.
I stopped this guy on the street, asked if he’d ever had his portrait taken like this, and told him I wanted to upgrade it. Turns out, I was photographing Harvey Cummings (@harveycummings )—an award-winning saxophonist, pianist, and “Chief Vibe Curator” right here in Charlotte.
From working with giants like Michael Jordan and President Obama to having his music featured on The Boondocks, Harvey’s sound blends jazz, hip-hop, and soul in a way that makes him a true cornerstone of the NC music scene. He’s usually the one upgrading the vibe in the room, so it was an honor to upgrade his street portrait. 🎷✨
We took a few shots, stacked them up, and his reaction says it all.
Who should I upgrade next? Drop a comment and follow along for Day 2. We’ve got 999,999 stories left to tell.
#1MillionStories #StreetPhotography #PortraitPhotography #jazz #day1
FOMO Charlotte was a beautiful collision of culture, creativity, and nostalgia. Set against the backdrop of the museums and elevated by the Michael Jackson theme, the event felt both iconic and meaningful. These images tell the story better than words can, but one thing is clear: this was a night worth remembering. 📸✨@fodee #fodeedoes #fomo #fomomuseumblockparty #cltphotography #foryou @dammit_wesley@cltiscreative
When Mother Nature out here doing my marketing 🤣, Book your next event with charlotte’s best photographer before the universe has to tell you again. #charlottephotographer #eventphotography #charlottenc #bookNow #photographerlife
