Sarah Marcella is a photographer & graphic artist based bi-coastal in Southern California and Washington DC. After graduating from Shepherd University with a BFA in Photography and Computer Imagery, her business began in 2015 in Washington DC primarily working with small businesses and product photography. Her photography career expanded quickly, gaining larger local, national and international clientele. In 2018 her work shifted and she began specializing in editorial portraiture working with several publications including Modern Luxury and The Scout Guide.
Versed in studio lighting , off-camera flash and natural lighting, Sarah has the ability to adapt to challenging locations and difficult lighting environments. Recently, she traveled the country in her 30’ school bus dubbed “The Boudie Bus” with a goal to empower, liberate and spread self-love to individuals around the country. She’s traveled to 15 states over the past 18 months living part-time on the road. You will see this work toward the end of this portfolio. Please be aware that some of these images include artistic partial nudity.
Specializing in luxury portraiture, headshots and branding sessions
Over 2,500 portrait sessions since 2015
Published nationally & internationally in 50+ publications
LEAD PHOTOGRAPHER FOR ALEXANDRIA SCOUT GUIDE
2018 - PRESENT
Photograph 30 - 50 small business per year in a 2 month time frame
Collaborate with editor and assistant editor to capture imagery for editorial portrait and lifestyle shoots. Implement lighting, set design and model posing in-studio and on-location
Address the challenges of organizing large groups of people to photograph with limiting time-constraints
Provide advanced retouching and edits .
2019 - 2020 PHOTOGRAPHER FOR DC SCOUT GUIDE AND HUNT COUNTRY
CONTRACTED PHOTOGRAPHER WITH MODERN LUXURY
2019 - PRESENT
Collaborate with the marketing team and publisher to assess customer goals and create advertorial portraits based on these goals. Manages location scouting, set design, prepping, shooting and editing photos across multiple projects with a 24 - 78 hour delivery time.
THE BOUDIE BUS
2021 - PRESENT
Traveled over 35,000 miles to empower, liberate and promote self-love to individuals around the US
Promote and support individuals struggling with trama, self-confidence issues and PTSD
Market and promote a business across the country booking shoots in 15 states
CREATIVE DIRECTOR & PHOTOGRAPHER ALEXANDRIA STYLEBOOK
2017 - 2020
Daily email campaign design
Manage and design blog posts for 30+ businesses through WordPress, 3-5 posts per day
Social Media Management, 5 posts per week promoting the online blog
Lead Photographer for all product shoots, street style coverage and business branding sessions
SHEPHERD UNIVERSITY
2008 - 2012
BFA in Photography & Computer Imagery
MULTICULTERAL LEADERSHIP TEAM
2008 - 2012
Competative yearly scholarship based leadership team
100+ applicants per year, 40 - 45 scholarships awarded
Required 2 speechs/leadership events per semester
45+ hours of community service per semester
RESIDENT ASSISTANT
2009 - 2012
CAPTAIN OF THE PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM
2011 - 2012
DELTA ZETA SOROTY PHILANTHROPY CHAIRWOMAN
2010 - 2012
ALEXANDRIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
2019 AWARDEE
The goal of the program is to highlight the significant, personal impact of successful young professionals across a variety of business sectors, who, over the next few years, will have a significant effect on the advancement of our business community.
BEST PHOTOGRAPHER IN ALEXANDRIA
THE ZEBRA 2020 & 2021
DYNAMIC WOMEN & POWER PLAYER
DC MODERN LUXURY 2020 & 2021
THE SCOUT GUIDE
ALEXANDRIA
Lead Photographer
MODERN LUXURY
INTERIOR DESIGN
How Brazilian Furniture Designers
Carved Out Their Distinctly Modern
ADOBE THESIS
Get Creative with Self-Portrait Photography
Tips on How to Take Better Photos
DC REFINED
A High School Injury led this Photographer to find her Passion and Future Career
VIP ALEXANDRIA
The Quarantined Girl with the Camera : Sarah Marcella
WE SHOULD TALK ABOUT THAT
THE TIM HEALE PODCAST
THE NICE GUYS ON BUSINESS
PERPETUAL MOETION WITH DR. MOE
INTRODUCING ME WITH SARAH PORELL
One Person : Headshot or Editorial Feature
Includes up to 1 hour session on-location and 1 fully edited & retouched image. Use of the image is permitted by the publication. Featured client may choose to purchase the image for commercial use.
Includes up to 1 hour session on-location and 1 fully edited & retouched image. Use of the image is permitted by the publication. Featured client may choose to purchase the image for commercial use.
Includes up to 1 hour session on-location and 1 fully edited & retouched image. Use of the image is permitted by the publication. Featured client may choose to purchase the image for commercial use..
Event Coverage $250/hour, 2 hour minimum
Hourly event coverage with edited images in a private downloadable gallery
All editorial sessions include studio lighting, posing expertise, full retouching and 15 - 20 edited images to choose their final selection. Clients have the option to purchase multiple images from their session.
The following featured images on the next six pages have partial nudity.
In 2021 Sarah Marcella purchased a 30’ Freightliner school bus. Over the next few months she, her friends and her family would help build this into a home for Sarah to travel the country and empower individuals through natural, spiritual, self-love photography. The Boudie Bus has visited 25 states and has photographed women in 15 states from California to Maine and almost everywhere in between. This ongoing project focuses on giving individuals a safe space to explore their hesitations, self-doubt and fears through creating intimate personal connections. These photos have not been retouched, the only editing that Sarah performs with her Boudie Bus shoots are minor color correction and exposure, none of the women featured in these photographs have had any retouching. Sarah strives to create artwork that allows each client to view themselves in a positive way without the use of photo manipulation.
INDIANA
The following images are selected from Sarah Marcella’s personal project created during Covid 2020. During this time of significantly diminished client projects, she turned to other avenues to express herself creatively. These images are a modern take on fan favorite paintings and historical artwork. Each image was executed over the course of several hours including set design, hair and makeup and costume design all completed by Sarah Marcella.
The following images are selected from Sarah Marcella’s personal project created during Covid 2020. During this time of significantly diminished client projects, she turned to other avenues to express herself creatively. These images are a modern take on fan favorite paintings and historical artwork. Each image was executed over the course of several hours including set design, hair and makeup and costume design all competed by Sarah Marcella.
