Trendy White Box Photography Celebrates Anishinaabe Culture

Marcella Hadden (Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe) is an Anishinaabe artist and business owner in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, specializing in Native American portraits, nature photography, and descriptive imagery. She is a self-taught photographer who owns and operates a photography business Niibing Giizis (Summer Moon), in addition to her full-time job as the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan’s Public Relations Manager.

In her photography studio, she offers specialty services in newborn, boudoir, pets, maternity, seniors, and holiday portraiture.

Marcella is currently raising her granddaughter, who she mentors in photography, and is a 2020 First Peoples Fund Artists in Business Leadership fellow.

Marcella carefully positioned the tiny newborn Connie on her back, getting her in just the right position before snapping a photograph that will last a lifetime. Newborn sessions are often Marcella’s most challenging, but not so with little Connie. The foster baby was perfect in every pose. Connie’s guardian still brings her in for Marcella’s special sessions, from Easter to Christmas.

The challenge in photographing Connie for her second birthday came with Marcella’s newly acquired skill in white box photography. It’s quite a job.

“I had the box made for $500,” she explains. “I shoot different images inside the box, and then put all of them together. It looks like people are interacting, but it’s really just one person in one box. That was a very difficult learning curve! You have to work through all the layers. I bought the templates and forced myself to do it.”

2-year-old Connie was the perfect model for Marcella to exhibit the trendy box photography style.

Most of Marcella’s shoots this year have been outdoors (due to COVID-19), including the porch shoots where she captured families outside their homes for sessions similar to if they had come into her studio. She was also asked by her tribe to document a parade of elders being honored in her community. She has an exhibit at the cultural center on Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) with portraits of 94 local women.

“For so many years, our beautiful culture had to be hidden; now through my art, I celebrate it,”

“For so many years, our beautiful culture had to be hidden; now through my art, I celebrate it,” Marcella says. “I love going to powwows and community events and sharing my photos with the community. I can take a photograph and in an instant, make a legacy that will last for future generations. I have seen my clients cry at the beauty of a loved one during my photo slideshows. If I can provoke emotions such as tears, a smile, or pure delight, I know I have done my job.”