Helena FULMORE is a photographer based in Washington, D.C. reflecting the essence of the human spirit.
As a nomadic street and portrait photographer interested in reflecting the emotion imbued in the mundane, her point of view is exactly that: a collection of moments encountered by one person, in one place, who is driven to observe and document moments of intense feeling that pepper the human experience often unnoticed and unappreciated.
Photographer | Storyteller | Cultural Archivist
Based in Washington, D.C. with roots in Charleston, South Carolina, Helena Fulmore documents the quiet poetry of everyday life through street and portrait photography. Her work, imbued with the emotional resonance of mundane moments, reflects Black and Brown communities with intimacy and reverence, revealing beauty in unscripted existence.
A self-taught artist, Fulmore’s practice began with a $1 flea-market Minolta and a hunger to translate observation into art. Childhood hours spent in libraries and museums shaped her eye, but it was a trip to New Orleans with a secondhand Pentax that crystallized her purpose: developing film from those streetside portraits, she realized photography could freeze time for overlooked people and their stories.
A homecoming to Charleston deepened this mission. Inspired by Gordon Parks’ A Choice of Weapons and mentored in darkroom development, she adopted a documentary approach that honors her dual heritage as a Black and Hispanic artist. Now, her lens focuses on preserving communities at risk of erasure, starting with Charleston’s Black elders, to build living archives of resistance and memory.
The Journey
