Cheriss May
Women Photograph
Washington, DC, United States
I can still remember the little girl from the MidWest who loved to draw, color, paint, and take pictures. I knew I wanted to do something creative when I grew up. I continued to create, my parents signed me up for 4-H, my first camera was a little Kodak film camera. My parents upgraded my camera each Christmas. I remember making a shoebox camera in high school, and for the first time learning to develop film. I majored in Advertising, with a minor in Electronic Studio (Graphic Design) at Howard University. I took Photography as an elective. I started my career in graphic design for newspapers, Gannett, Stars & Stripes, The Washington Post...I was still taking pictures, I discovered that visual storytelling is my passion.
Cheriss May is a photographer, and an adjunct professor at Howard University, her alma mater, in Washington D.C. She is passionate about visual storytelling, and is an advocate for diversity and inclusion in the media industry.
Cheriss is the president of Women Photojournalists of Washington (WPOW), and co-chair of the photography committee at The National Press Club. She has been published in O Magazine, Time, The White House Historical Association, Essence, and The New York Times. Her work is featured in a permanent exhibit: “In Conversation: Visual Meditations on Black Masculinity”, at the African American Museum in Philadelphia.
Originally from Kansas City, Mo., Cheriss is an independent photographer based in the Washington, D.C. area, and available for commissions, assignments, and portraits anywhere.
2016 - 2016 Outstanding Community Service Award, 2016 - Howard University Chair's Award, 2007 - Keynote Speaker Tuskegee University, 2002 - SND Award of Design Excellence, 2001 - SND Award of Design Excellence
- Advertising
- Architecture
- Arts
- Breaking news
- Corporate
- Editorial
- Entertainment
- Events
- Fashion
- Interior
- Interview
- Portrait
- Sports
