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Bethany Ellen hoists her camera gear, protected in a clear plastic box, below the surface of a saltwater pool.
Her focus today is on an expecting mother treading water on the other side of the pool, fighting to look comfortable and natural in a purple flowing dress against a dark background.
“It’s the ultimate experience of trust for my clients and for me,” Ellen said. “It is something that is so out of the ordinary, so out of the norm … and it creates this very otherworldly experience for them.”
Under the surface is where the magic happens. Ellen, a lifelong photographer, loves capturing the seasons of love in people’s lives.
Eventually, her client appears to be floating against a dark background.
The only noise Ellen can hear is the clicking of the camera. Ellen is at peace, focused in a way her ADHD won’t allow her to be without being surrounded by water.
After several clicks, the mother is floating, beautifully posed. The dress is reflecting upward in the water. This is not just a photograph. It’s art, and the baby bump is the star.
Bethany Ellen Artistic Imagery won the Best of Cincinnati award in the Services photography category.
Bethany Ellen Artistic Imagery is more than just Ellen’s career. It’s been trial and error, filled with education, networking and finding her passion.
Her journey into photography, as she tells it, is lame.
“I worked at Best Buy to pay for college,” Ellen said.
Among the many aisles of tech in the store, the camera aisle called out to her the most.
“Everybody thought iPhones were going to take over, and that it was just going to be an iPhone world forever,” she said. “Honestly, I really just wanted this camera that was on clearance.
“I was like, ‘You know what?’ I’ll start a photography business, and that’ll definitely justify the cost of this.”
For the next three years, she took shots of people, justifying her purchase. Then, one day, she realized not one photo was good enough for her.
“I was looking for these pictures; there’s no growth,” she said. “There’s no skill set to these. These are just pictures that I’ve taken, and they’re not special because I haven’t put any effort into them.”
She began working to better her craft. She took classes, went to conferences and met fellow photographers.
Ellen’s mentor, Sal Cincotta, said the two met at ShutterFest, a photography conference. He said he enjoyed that she was interested not only in taking her craft to the next level but also in taking the business to the next level.
Cincotta, a professional photographer for the past 19 years, owns Salvatore Cincotta Photography and several other camera-based business ventures.
“Artists are historically broke, hence the term starving artist,” Cincotta said. “There are those of us who want to actually make a living at it, not treat it as a hobby. And that’s what Bethany showed.”
Cincotta added that one of the biggest differences between his mentee and people who take photos with cameras on their phones is her ability to create “must-have moments.”
“Anybody can go out there and take a picture, but can you create an image, a moment that takes me aback as a customer — where I’m thinking this is the best I’ve ever looked,” he said. “This is not a picture. It’s art. There’s no price tag on what people are willing to pay for that because it really is one-of-a-kind and unique to that client. That’s really how I think she has created a niche for herself.”
Over time, Ellen began developing a passion for maternity photography, capturing moments that made mothers feel beautiful.
She took a course at a conference and fell in love with the idea of capturing such intimate moments.
She remembers adding a maternity conference class to her agenda because she didn’t want to miss it.
“My husband and I are child-free by choice,” she said, acknowledging the irony. “That whole class changed the entire spectrum of my career. I love anything that challenges norms. I love anything that kind of breaks the mold. For me, maternity portraiture will always be that.”
On Ellen’s website, she calls herself a maternity specialist, though she also takes wedding, newborn, boudoir, underwater, family and senior year photographs.
Ellen said her photography captures the many stages of love.
“Milestones often happen when love happens, and I think love itself is part of that milestone,” Ellen said. “Watching the way that love changes people over time. It changes their opinions, their viewpoints, their worldviews. Watching all of that happen and then getting to make them also fall in love with themselves is the greatest honor.”
Eventually, she was asked to participate in a reality YouTube show for photographers, “The Creator Series,” produced by Canon.
Ellen said the series was tough because she had about 10 minutes to complete challenges with a model, but her hard work paid off. She won the show’s first season.
Cincotta, who helped create the series with his wife, said it was a joy to watch her beat out not just the 10 contestants but also the 50 to 70 photographers who didn’t make it onto the show.
“That was a big, definitely proud moment for me, of course,” Cincotta said of Ellen’s photographer coming-out party. “She really had to rise above many, many talented photographers on that series.”
Ellen calls this the coolest thing she’s ever done.
“That was probably the craziest experience I’ve ever had. I always tell people I cried every episode,” she said. “All of us ended up becoming best friends. All 10 of us still talk to this day. To be crowned the winner of that was crazy.”
Now, Ellen is giving back to her community, teaching at conferences around the country.
Cincotta said this is a real full-circle moment for her career, helping new photographers develop as she had done not long ago.
“She goes from this just being some side hobby to now it’s a successful business, and she’s teaching other people,” Cincotta said. “That story is pretty powerful for anybody who thinks, ‘I can’t do this.’ Well, yeah, you can.”
Ellen teaches regularly at a few conferences a year. She holds workshops for maternity, portraiture and wedding photography.
One photographer, Matt Maenpaa, met Ellen at a festival. He said she has improved his confidence when working with others, thanks to Ellen’s encouragement.
“You can tell Bethany is having a good moment in her class because across this echoing hallway, you’ll just hear this, ‘Hell yeah, brother,'” Maenpaa said.
At the time he first met Ellen, Maenpaa said he was new to capturing moments with a camera. Now, after working in the industry, he said he’s been able to have confidence without thinking about it.
“I’d only really just started photography,” said Maenpaa, who has now owned Foolish Endeavors Photography for three years. “I’m fortunate to work with a lot of talented photographers who I have convinced to mentor me in one way or another. And so, I think having access to someone like Bethany helps internalize it, so it’s not a conscious thing.”
He added that he speaks with Ellen often via a Facebook group page and at conferences they both attend.
Ellen’s journey may have had a “lame” beginning, but now, as a mentor, teacher and a top maternal photographer, she is able to make a difference for the right people — capturing milestone moments one mother at a time.
This article appears in Best of Cincinnati 2026.
