Updated January 1, 2026
After operating as Jennifer Horst Photography since 2021, I’m stepping into a new chapter: Redhead Creative Media. This is the evolution of my work in editorial photography, documentary film, and story-driven portrait experiences here in Chapel Hill and across the Triangle of North Carolina. If you’ve worked with me under my former name, here’s the full story behind why everything is shifting and what this rebrand really means.
The Question That Changed Everything
My mentor asked me to answer a question before our recent check-in: “What’s one behavior or belief you know you’re done with but haven’t shifted yet?”
I wrote: “I’m still hiding. I’m still making myself small, and I’m allowing fear and limiting beliefs to hold me back.”
During our conversation, she looked at me and said: “Jennifer, you ARE impressive. Stop giving weight to the past and start owning the future.”
That hit hard.
Because I’d finally realized what I’d been doing: building a business based on what other people told me to do. Creating what I thought others wanted me to create.
Not what I actually wanted to build.
And you know what? I had to be honest with myself about how frustrated I’ve been with my business for the last couple of years. I just couldn’t figure out why.
Now I know: I’ve been trying to stuff myself into a box I’ve outgrown.
It’s such a relief to finally understand.
And honestly? It’s freeing.
When Cancer Forces You to Ask Better Questions
The reason I got to that realization? 2025 has been one hell of a year.
In February, I got the call nobody wants: I had cancer.
Surgery was my only option. Because of genetic testing I did after my mom passed in 2020, I’m not eligible for radiation or chemo. Doing those would cause secondary cancers (yes, really, confirmed by two oncologists in different states).
Between the cancer surgeries and an unrelated hernia repair, I’ve been unable to work for six months this year.
But that six months of forced stillness gave me clarity.
When you’re faced with your own mortality and then gratefully relieved in recovery, you can’t help but reconsider everything.
I took time to really think through some important questions: Am I building what I actually want? Or what I think I’m supposed to be building?
The Journey: Finding My Lane
If I’ve been limiting myself and building to others’ expectations, I’ve been trying to merge onto a freeway in heavy traffic.
At the start of 2025, I couldn’t even get into a lane.
After my first surgery, I finally merged, but into the slow right lane.
That’s when I realized I needed to launch The Postpartum Project. That June launch moved me into the middle lane. It recalibrated everything and brought video back into the studio.
And I realized something crucial: I don’t have to choose between photography and film.
That conversation with my mentor? It moved me into the left lane.
She asked me directly: “Does Jennifer Horst Photography really fit where you’re taking your business? Does it fit where you want to go?”
I had to answer honestly: No. No, it does not.
Because she made me see that for the goals I have and the things I want to do, the container of “Jennifer Horst Photography” is just too small.
When Community Pushes You Forward
Originally, I planned to delay the rebrand until 2026. Holidays are busy, life happens, all of that.
But during a call with Startup Women North Carolina, I was venting about timing and direction. Rachel cut through my overthinking:
“Why wait? Just do it now. Rip that Band-Aid off.”
My mentor agreed. There was no reason to delay.
So I started immediately.
Because I’m done waiting for permission (even from myself). It’s time to stop playing by everybody else’s rules and create my own.
The Industry “Shoulds” I’m Breaking
You know the ones:
- “Pick a niche and stay in your lane.”
- “Photographers do photos, filmmakers do film – never both.”
- “Keep your passion projects separate from your business.”
- “You can’t be editorial AND documentary.”
Screw that.
I’m a storyteller with two film degrees (one specifically in documentary production) and 15 years of corporate production experience. My camera doesn’t care about silos, and neither do I.
What I’m Saying YES To
I’m integrating video and photography into complete storytelling packages.
I’m integrating video and photography into complete storytelling packages.
I’m bringing my documentary roots to editorial brand work.
I’m showing up with my full self, not the segmented, “pick a lane” version others expected.
I’m building toward a commercial studio that’s also a creative community hub.
Introducing Redhead Creative Media
There’s a story to the name.
I came up with “Redhead Creative Media” in a graduate school class in 2008.
When I finally formed the LLC in 2014 for video work, I always knew photography would be part of it, but I was so segmented in my thinking that I didn’t know how to put them together.
So when I launched the photography side of my business in 2021, I created “Jennifer Horst Photography” and let Redhead Creative Media sink into the background. I was playing into what I thought other people would think, who I thought other people would buy portrait photography from.
Redhead Creative Media isn’t just a business name. I’m a redhead, I’m creative, and I create media. It’s who I’ve always been.
And now it’s me finally owning all of who I am in one container: The documentary filmmaker. The editorial photographer. The visual strategist. The storyteller who refuses to pick just one.
Then the Postpartum Project launched this year, and everything shifted.
Bringing video back in reignited my love of documentary. It reignited my creative spark. It created this dynamic energy shift in myself and with the people I work with.
Suddenly, I could see how to make it work.
What This Rebrand Means
Redhead Creative Media (formerly Jennifer Horst Photography) is now the home for all of my work – editorial photography, documentary film, and story-led portrait experiences.
Nothing is being lost; the container is just expanding.
The studio continues to serve Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh, and the broader Triangle, with even more focus on identity-driven storytelling and integrated photo + film work.
If you’ve worked with me before, everything you loved is still here – just with a wider creative range.
The Transition
If you visit the website now, you’ll see changes already happening.
The redesign continues through December, with the official switch in January 2026.
This blog post? It’s the full story I promised my newsletter subscribers last week.
If you’re reading this, you’re getting the complete context for what kind of year I’ve had and where this rebrand is taking me.
What Redhead Creative Media Offers
Visual Identity Audit
- Stop guessing what your imagery says about you. Get aligned.
- Now available to clients across Chapel Hill, Durham, and the Triangle.
Editorial Brand Photography
- Strategic imagery that positions you where you’re actually headed: the successful version of you that others need to see.
Editorial Brand Film
- Your authority in motion.
- Photo + Film Identity Package
- A complete visual presence that works together – not random content scattered across platforms.
Portrait Interview Experience
- A hybrid editorial portrait and documentary interview session designed to capture your story with emotional depth, honesty, and intention.
Fine Art Portrait Experience
- Celebrate yourself. Stop playing small. You deserve to see yourself the way your loved ones see you: as a beautiful, powerful, magnetic piece of art.
Raw Portrait Experience
- Authentic, unretouched black-and-white imagery that captures who you are in the moment.
The Postpartum Project
- Still here. Still expanding. Creating space for mothers to tell the stories society tells us to keep quiet.
The Vision: Building Something Bigger
I’m not in a commercial space yet, but I will be.
Redhead Creative Media will be a creative studio serving Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh, and the greater Triangle – a gathering place:
Where thought leaders get their visual strategy dialed in
Where moms can share their stories without judgment
Where local creatives connect, collaborate, and mentor each other
A space that gives back to the community that’s held me through this year.
Because this isn’t just about building a bigger business. It’s about creating something that outlasts me.
You Don’t Need a Diagnosis to Make the Change
Here’s what I want you to know: You don’t need to wait for a cancer diagnosis to shift your lane.
Just sit with that question my mentor asked me:
“What’s one behavior or belief you know you’re done with but haven’t shifted yet?”
That question will help you identify what lane you’re actually supposed to be in.
Are you on the wrong freeway altogether?
Or are you on the right freeway, just in the wrong lane?
I invite you to join me in building this next chapter.
Because your story evolution matters just as much as my own.
Gratitude
Thank you for being part of this journey.
This wouldn’t be possible without my community, my friends, my family. My husband, my children, my mother-in-law, my siblings – they’ve been absolutely amazing throughout this year.
I’m looking forward to 2026 and the opportunities that come with Redhead Creative Media (formerly Jennifer Horst Photography) and what we’re bringing to the creative space.
I’ll see you soon.
Jennifer
Founder, Creative Director, Redhead Creative Media