THE HOLY CITY BABIES STORY

fine art maternity & newborn photography in Charleston, South carolina

Preserving Family Legacies

– Annie Leibovitz

Hello! I'm Brittany Sisk, WNC native, artist, entrepreneur, adventurer, world traveler, music enthusiast & boy mama!
One of the most interesting facts about me is that I'm a third generation photographer!
I spent the first 15 years of my professional career working as a family photographer in Asheville where I had a portrait studio in Biltmore Village prior to Hurricane Helene.
I've had a long term love affair with Charleston & the low country of South Carolina, having spent all of my summers on it's beautiful coast! In 2024, I relocated to Charleston with my eight year old son, Noah in persuit of our Happily Ever after with my partner, Chris & his son, Sam!
In this season of life, Chris & I are newly engaged, busy with our boys, their sports, our careers and now wedding planning!

how it started:

A third generation photographer, I grew up in a home with beautiful, old black & white portraits lining our walls & filling our drawers. I think I've always loved faces, relationships & artistic storytelling because of it. After graduate school, I moved home, opened my portrait company and never looked back! I've been helping families to tell their love stories professionally for the last 16 years and for you, that means: reliable, consistent, quality work, every time!

“A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people.”

I'm nothing if not resilient.

When I discovered that my liberal arts degree was basically worthless, I went on to grad school and majored in Public Policy. After that, I finally realized that I didn't want to do that at all....I wanted to be an artist and 15 years later, here I am!

holy city babies

THROUGH THE YEARS

1993

RECEIVED MY FIRST CAMERA

A third generation photographer, it feels like photography has just always been part of my life. I was always playing with old cameras as a child and when I was nine, I received my first camera.

2006

GRADUATED FROM ECU

Most of my generation believed a traditional four year college path was the only way to achieve the American Dream. I went to ECU right out of high school, I had no idea what I wanted to become but I had been a US Congressional Page in high school so I majored in Political Science.

2009

STARTED MY BUSINESS IN ASHEVILLE, NC

Being an Artist, being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart! The industry is heavily saturated and it's a hard industry to make it in. Ever resilient and stubborn, I dug in and I simply refused to fail. I found a mentor, attended workshops & conferences, joined professional organizations, got a business coach and did everything I could learn about business and improve my craft. Fifteen years later, here I am, opening a second studio in Charleston!

...........more exciting things to come!

Having a commercial storefront studio space of my own had been a dream of mine for years but it was never the right time. It wasn't the right time when I became surprise pregnant in 2017. And, it wasn't the right time when COVID hit just as I felt comfortable to do so in 2020. But 2022 was the year. I loved the studio so much, it's was my very own creative wonderland! It brought me so much joy! I am looking forward to having that again here in Charleston!

Becoming a single mother was never in my grand life plan. But, God doesn't make mistakes and I honestly feel like my life started here... I had stepped into my destiny. This little boy is my whole entire world. Being his mama is everything to me. He is and always will be the best thing I've ever done and my life's greatest blessing.

2022

2017

Opened avl portrait co studios

BECAME A MOTHER

2025

2024

2023

opened holy city babies portrait studio

relocated to charleston & founded holy city family photogrpahy & holy city newborn photography

found my person

After Hurricane Helene changed my plans overnight, I spent the last quarter of 2024 portfolio building in the low country (my beautiful mountain portfolio didn't translate for Charleston, the lowcountry, the beach and you have to display what you want to shoot!) I spent the first quarter of 2025 building two new websites. HolyCityFamilyPhotography.com is my Family Photography website, it houses everything I shoot outdoors, on-location for Families, Seniors, Couples, etc. And, I also built HolyCityNewbornPhotography.com which houses everything I shoot in the studio - Editorial Maternity Portraits, Fine Art Newborn Portraits, Baby Milestones, Cake Smash Sessions, Heirloom Portraits, Personality Portraits and Seasonal Mini Sessions. I needed a studio so I spent the second quarter of 2025 searching for studio space and opened Holy City Babies Portrait Studio in July of 2025. Anyone who truly knows me will tell you....

When I decided to follow my heart to Charleston, my plan was to maintain my business in Asheville (since it was already very well established), so I brought on an associate photographer to help with the volume in my absence and I planned to commute up to Asheville once or twice per month to shoot families in the mountains & fine art maternity & newborn portraits in my studio there. Hurricane Helene washed away my studio and my business overnight...
I had always planned to eventually portfolio build in Charleston and to open a second studio here but those plans were in future... The hurricane just significantly accelerated those plans & so, I opened Holy City Family Photography & Holy City Newborn Photography in the fall of 2024!

Finally! I waited so long for this man to show up! 😅 I grew up vacationing on the coast of SC and had been staying with my son on Folly every summer for the last 7 years! And then when I least expected it (I hate this cliche because people said to me for years, but it's true!), there he was... and he was everything that I had ever dreamed of in a partner for me and a role model for my son.