Folk Life Photographer
Zariff Photography
Folk life photographer specializing in heirloom & appalachian gothic photography.Sarah has loved photography since she was young. Her family name, Zariff, Syrian immigrants who settled in New England—were part of the earliest American conversations about photography, printmaking, and the made image. That lineage is in her hands when she works. A two-time NEA photography awardee based in the mountains of far western North Carolina, Sarah specializes in capturing Appalachia: people, places, community, and life. She is deepening her practice through alternative process photography, learning the slow and irreplaceable art of tintype.
portraits, boudoir & folk life
Heirloom portraits
Heirloom portraits are not about looking perfect. They are about being kept. There is a difference between a photograph and an heirloom: one sits in a phone, the other gets passed down. I make the kind of images your family will find in a box someday. I do not smooth your skin, shrink your body, or erase what life has written on your face. I am not interested in making you look like someone else's idea of beautiful. What I do is find the light that was already yours, and make sure it shows up in the image. Your laugh lines, your softness, your realness—those are not problems to fix, they're the whole point.
wildlife, southern gothic, etc.
folk life & prints
Every print that leaves this studio was made here: by hand, on a professional archival printer, in my home. No outside lab, no middleman. When you order a print, I am the one who makes it. That same commitment to the handmade image is carrying me deeper into film development and alternative process work including tintypes and darkroom prints. Images made slowly and kept forever. This is not a volume business, it is a craft.
every image is a story worth telling
stories of lives lived
These are not just photographs: they are records of real people, real land, and real life made slowly and kept carefully. Browse some samplings of my work below. Check out my instagram @zariffphotography for more samples.
family sessions
solo sessions
wildlife prints
branding sessions
artistic portraits
heirloom portraits
book a portrait session today!
the vision of you
Every session starts with a conversation. Tell me who you are, what you love, what you want remembered. I'll handle the rest. Bookings are open—reach out and let's begin.
meet the photographer
creepy girl with a camera
Sarah is a single mom who has been taking photos for 20+ years. She is a community organizer, theologian, and self-deemed professional cicada shell collector. Sarah enjoys all things vintage, murder ballads, and horror, which all come across in her work. She has a profound love for her little mountain community, the land she dwells on, and all of its inhabitants. You can find her thrift shopping, snacking, or exploring the mountains.