All Content © C&M Photographics

Cliff Harris interest in photography began with his mothers Ansco bellow camera in the mid 60s. Landscapes and images of the farm, close ups of flowers and fruits, butterflies, birds and anything else he viewed as things of beauty.

For the next twenty years, supporting his family with a more than full time job kept the camera out of his hands but he dreamed of the day when photography could become his career. In 1980 the purchase of his first Pentax 35mm brought that dream closer to reality and he started C&M Photographics (btw, that stands for "Cliff & Me" in 1982 shooting weddings, portraits and mostly model portfolios.

In early 1983 he got a call from a lady who asked, "Can you shoot pictures of...?" "I mean can you do pictures where I am...?" "Uh." She finally just took a deep breath and told him exactly what she wanted. The answer, "Well I never did that, but I will give it a try if that's what you want." Both she and her husband were thrilled with the images and within two weeks he had scheduled three of her friends for these same types of shots. Thinking that he was onto something with potential here, he wanted to advertise this type of images but no one knew what to call them. Finally he settled on advertising in what was then the "Spectator", with ads for "Phantasy Photos". When someone in another part of the country came up with the term "Boudoir Portraiture" it finally had a name. Shortly after that a story on "Roy's Folks" on a local TV station set the phone to ringing within minutes of airing.

For more than twenty years C&M remained a part time business and then in 2000 with the retirement from his other job, C&M became the fulfillment of a long time dream.

If you are not bored with this yet, you can click here to read the "rest of the story"