biography

Missy McLamb is a photographer based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In the mid 1990’s after working in New York City as a photojournalist for NEWSDAY and for TIME MAGAZINE, she was hired to photograph the nuptials of the children of famous authors, politicians and actors.

In 2011 she collaborated on a coffee table book of photography with race car driver Jimmie Johnson. ON THE ROAD WITH JIMMIE JOHNSON, a beautiful and unexpected blend of fine-art imagery from NASCAR racetracks throughout America, became the highest selling self-published book of photography of the year.

Missy has also served as a photography instructor at The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and The University of North Carolina’s Journalism School.

Today Missy photographs editorial, commercial and portrait assignments for a variety of media outlets and she is regularly commissioned to photograph professional headshots inside her Chapel Hill studio. While she continues to enjoy documenting weddings, she limits them to a handful each year.

When she is not working, Missy enjoys flying cross-country to Los Angeles to visit her daughter, singer/songwriter Eliza McLamb, who grew up in Chapel Hill. 

ARTIST STATEMENT

As a photographer I bear witness to the traditions, rituals, and rites of passage of my friends, family and clients. As an anthropologist, I leave behind an archive of images from my life’s work; and in turn, reveal a tableaux of how a population in our culture celebrates marriage and family. As a woman, I understand and reveal the perfectly flawed form of the female body and capture a partner’s unfettered love for it. As a craftsman, I escape to worlds filled with papers, books, leathers, cloths and wonderful characters to unearth raw materials for the objects I produce. As a mother, I know children will behave, smile, and please us only when they choose. As a person I have discovered my love for humanity and the ways in which we celebrate life. — MISSY MCLAMB

ACHIEVEMENTS

2013 FLANDERS GALLERY, SOLO SHOW, DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA

2012 ON THE ROAD WITH JIMMIE JOHNSON

2012 HEITZ WEITZEN GALLERY, solo show, Charlotte, North Carolina

2007 NBC TODAY SHOW appearance

2006 MYSELF TOGETHER AGAIN, photography project Endowed by a Susan G. Komen Grant

1996 EDDIE ADAMS WORKSHOP X PARTICIPANT

1995 VISUAL ART EXCHANGE, group show, Raleigh, North Carolina

1995 HEARST FOUNDATION, award in photojournalism

1995 INDIANA STATE UNIVERSITY PRIZE, team reporting 1995 ELECTRONIC PHOTOJOURNALISM WORKSHOP, fellow

1994 SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM GRANT 

EDITORIAL CLIENTS : MARTHA STEWART LIVING, PEOPLE MAGAZINE, RANDOM HOUSE, FOOD & WINE MAGAZINE, ABC GOOD MORNING AMERICA, THE WASHINGTON POST, MSNBC, WALTER MAGAZINE

CORPORATE CLIENTS: IBM, AMERICAN EXPRESS, NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE, JIMMIE JOHNSON RACING

PRIVATE CLIENTS: Tim & Nina Belk, Crandall & Erskine Bowles, Judy & Jamie Dimon, Mia Farrow, Chandra & Jimmie Johnson, Libby Johnson, Tabitha and Stephen King