The stories we live become the ones we keep.
Photographer, designer + storyteller based in Richmond, Virginia.
meet faith helmlinger
Photographer, designer + storyteller based in Richmond, Virginia.
I think I’ve always been a storyteller.
Just not always with a camera.
Long before photography, I found my love for storytelling through graphic design and dance. Design taught me to notice the little details and create with intention. Dance taught me that sometimes the things we feel most deeply don’t need words at all.
Photography somehow brought the two together.
It gave me a way to create something beautiful while preserving something real. A laugh that only happens around a certain person. The way someone reaches for your hand without thinking. The people you love all together in one place.
The little pieces of a story that are so easy to overlook while you’re living it.
And those are usually the ones worth keeping.
Your story, made to be kept.
then came sincerely, faith.
then came sincerely, faith.
The more I photographed people, the more I started thinking about the stories behind the photos.
Who they were in this season of life. The places that meant something to them. The way they loved each other, laughed together, and all the little things that made their story theirs.
That’s what I wanted Sincerely, Faith to be about.
Not just creating beautiful photographs, but documenting your story in a way that feels personal to you. Photos that tell you something about who you were and what life looked like at that moment in time.
Because eventually, these photos become more than something from a session. They become the ones you frame in your home, tuck into albums, pull out years later, and share alongside the stories behind them.
That’s what I want to give you.
I don't believe your photos should look like anyone else's.
Before your session, we'll spend time getting to know your story and dreaming up something that actually feels like you. Maybe that's dressing up and grabbing drinks at your favorite bar. Maybe we're running around your backyard, driving somewhere meaningful, or turning an ordinary date night into something worth documenting.
And when the camera comes out, you don't need to know what to do.
I'll guide you when you need it, fix the stray hair, give you something to do when you're feeling awkward, and then leave enough room for the real moments to happen.
I want you to be present with the person you love instead of worrying about whether you're doing the photos "right."
Because you don't need to perform your story for me.
You just need to live it.
MY APPROACH
MY APPROACH
I've always wanted this experience to feel personal.
Not like you're showing up, smiling for an hour, receiving a gallery, and that's the end of it.
Sincerely, Faith felt like the perfect way to describe what I wanted to create: something thoughtfully made and passed from me to you.
Like signing the end of a letter.
My hope is that the photographs we create together become little pieces of your history. That years from now, you'll look through them and remember more than what you looked like.
You'll remember how it felt.
The laugh. The nerves. The people. The season you were in. The person you were beside.
And maybe one day, someone you love will hold those same photographs and hear the stories behind them.
That's what makes them worth keeping.