Melissa Golden

Melissa Golden

Melissa Golden

Atlanta, GA

Melissa Golden is a commercial and editorial photographer based in Atlanta, Ga. known for narrative imagery. Through her embrace of color, gesture and ability to capture genuine emotion, her pictures have a way of inviting viewers to stop and spend time with them. 

Over the course of her nearly 20-year career, she has toured with rock stars, covered presidential elections, stood in the middle of a raging forest fire, and has met and photographed some of the world’s most interesting people. Her commercial clients include Amazon, PepsiCo, WM, Wells Fargo, Spotify, DoorDash, Alfred A. Knopf, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, Viacom, Synchrony Financial, and Walker & Dunlop.   

Melissa’s photography, noted for both its humor and humanity, has been published, awarded, and exhibited internationally.

Instagram Website Stock Images Story: Alabama Abortion Doctors Story: Policing in America
Bradenton, Florida on Wednesday, May 6, 2015.
Elizabeth Schmitt is photographed at her business where she creates and sells “charcuterie” boards filled with colorful gummy candies.
Actor Chris O’Dowd, star of the new Apple TV+ show “The Big Door Prize” is photographed in Atlanta, Ga. on Friday, March 17, 2023.
Chemical engineering major Amira Swoope makes her way to the procession line outside the chapel before the start of Tuskegee University's summer commencement ceremony in Tuskegee, AL on Friday, July 29, 2016.
Mario Lundes at Homeboy Industries
Texas Senator Ted Cruz in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, April 1, 2014.
Donald Trump rally in Mobile, AL on Friday, August 21, 2015.
Donald Trump rally in Mobile, AL on Friday, August 21, 2015.
Bernice King, youngest child of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King is photographed at the King Center in Atlanta, Ga. on Friday, July 8, 2016.
House minority leader Nancy Pelosi is photographed in her office in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, October 5, 2017.
LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright (front L-R) are the co-founders of Black Voters Matter, seen here with others in the organization outside Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga.
Richard Branson is photographed in Washington, DC on Wednesday, October 9, 2013.
CEO of Delta Air Lines, Ed Bastian
Philanthropist and Babson alumnus Arthur Blank is photographed at the Arthur M. Blank Family Office in Atlanta, Ga.
Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey is photographed at the company's headquarters in Atlanta, Ga. on Friday, November 17, 2017.
Pierre Laguerre, founder and CEO of Fleeting, is photographed with his friend and employee Terrell Hall, a formerly incarcerated individual who is not only getting his commercial drivers license, but will be leading a program to help others like him get licensed and ready to work in the trucking industry.
Realtor Robby Caban is photographed in the Oakland City neighborhood in southwest Atlanta
Nadine Ngouabe Dlodlo of Women's Home Preservation at one of her company’s recently purchased buildings in Baltimore, MD.
Giada De Laurentiis is photographed at her first restaurant, Giada in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday, June 6, 2014.
Faith Pescatore trains at the West Gwinnett Park Aquatic Center in Norcross, Ga. on Tuesday, March 6, 2018.
Author Anne Tyler is photographed in her home in Baltimore, MD on Monday, February 2, 2015.
Joe Jonas
International jewel thief Doris Payne is photographed in her lawyer's office in Atlanta, Ga. on Sunday, January 17, 2016.
Bruce Carter in Atlanta, Ga. on Monday, April 23, 2018.
Dr. David Hu is Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Biology at Georgia Tech where he researches the biomechanics of animal locomotion like the slithering of snakes and the motion of frog tongues.
Dina Parise at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga. on Monday, February 25, 2019.
Maggie Moore holds her two year old daughter Margaux at their home in Birmingham, AL.
Cousins Doralinda Lopez, 17, and Lesli Gonzalez, 22, are photographed at their family home in Georgia. Gonzalez is a DACA recipient and Lopez crossed into the U.S. alone this August after fleeing the danger of her rapist who had threatened to kill her and her family.
Peggy Wallace Kennedy is photographed at her home in Montgomery, AL on Friday, November 22, 2019.
Chris Buckley is photographed at the Chickamauga National Military Park in Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. on Monday, October 4, 2021.
Maine Avenue Fish Market in Washington, D.C. on Monday, May 11, 2015.
David Seriff of Blacksburg, VA looks out over the right of way down Brush Mountain where the Mountain Valley Pipeline is slated to be installed.
Hailing from Canada, Chef Hugh Acheson, photographed here at his Athens, Ga.
Clark Roundtree shells a peanut he just dug up in the field.
Baker Cheryl Day of beloved Savannah institution Back in the Day Bakery says she has a lifelong commitment to activism which began in childhood.
Elizabeth Schmitt is photographed at her business where she creates and sells “charcuterie” boards filled with colorful gummy candies.
at Ballou High School in Washington, D.C. on Monday, January 26, 2015.
Spanx founder Sara Blakely and her husband Jesse Itzler enjoy taco night at home with their four children.
A group with Wounded Warriors dives in the Ocean Voyager tank at the Georgia Aquarium as their family members look on in an observation area.
Bo looks around his new home at Project Chimps. Six male chimpanzees from the New Iberia Research Center at the University of Louisiana were relocated to the sanctuary.
Elephants with the Carson & Barnes Circus are bathed before a show at a stop in Princeton, MN on Tuesday, June 12, 2018.
Celebrity Impersonator Convention Las Vegas, NV
Denyse Gordon and Gladys Hughes Ms. Veteran America - Ritz Carlton Hotel - Arlington, VA. October, 7, 2012.
Private Donovan waits with alpha company before commencing the blue cord ceremony.
Junior Ayriel Ayers braids her Delta Sigma Theta sister Ricarnicea Johnson's hair during a sound check and performance run-through prior to the start of the Second Annual Chattanooga Black Greek Weekend Stepshow in Chattanooga, TN.
Nate Greer takes a smoke break outside Sickside Tattoo Studio in Horn Lake, MS before getting a cover-up tattoo over the swastika on his chest.
Backflip
President and Chief Executive Officer of Marriott International Arne Sorenson is photographed in the underground Innovation Lab at Marriott's headquarters in Bethesda, MD on Tuesday, February 17, 2015.
Writing
Young Iberian pigs eat a special feed that supplements their foraged diets at White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Ga.
In Spain, they would roam and eat acorns, but these Iberian pigs explore and forage the pecan orchards at White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Ga.
Chamique Holdsclaw is photographed in Atlanta, Ga. on Monday, August 28, 2017.
The Ray Executive Director Allie Kelly is photographed under a solar panel installation at the Georgia Welcome Center in West Point, Ga. on Wednesday, March 8, 2017.
Imported cars sit at port in Los Angeles, CA.
Rice Yard is a major CSX hump yard in Waycross, Ga.
Yard Master Alan Bennett works from the tower at Rice Yard, a major CSX hump yard in Waycross, Ga.
Patrons sit in their cars and watch the start of “Do The Right Thing” at the Plaza Theater’s Saturday night pop-up drive-in.
Celebrity Impersonator Convention Las Vegas, NV.
Maggie Moore holds her two year old daughter Margaux at their home in Birmingham, AL.
Cruise Ship
Nuam San, a freshman at Agnes Scott College, walks to her first class of the day, in Decatur, GA, November 28, 2018.
Song Lin shows the end result of plastic recycling at his facility in central Georgia- pellets that serve as raw material for new goods.
Welding
Marriott employees grab lunch in The Hub at Marriott headquarters in Bethesda, MD on Tuesday, February 17, 2015.
Best Buy employees walk through the Georgia World Congress Center during a company conference in Atlanta, Ga. on Tuesday, October 13, 2015.
Construction workers build a house in Shirley Estates, the Toll Brothers luxury home development in Alpharetta, Ga. on Tuesday, January 12, 2021.
German national Christian Ziel is seen at the home he shares with his wife Tania Marina Brocks in the Los Angeles, California neighborhood of Bel Air near UCLA where Tania works as a stem cell researcher.
Owner and Creative Director of Grow Interactive Drew Ungvarsky is photographed at The Plot in Norfolk, VA on Saturday, December 15, 2012.
Fairholme Capital Management founder Bruce Berkowitz is photographed in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Atlantic Media Company owner David G. Bradley is photographed in his office in Washington, D.C. on Friday, October 3, 2014.
Dr. Jim Yong Kim is photographed at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Monday, August 4, 2014.
Portrait
Hailing from Canada, Chef Hugh Acheson, photographed here at his Athens, Ga.
Chef Duane Nutter in Atlanta, Ga. on Monday, November 21, 2016.
Hog production manager Aaron Lorenz poses with young Iberian pigs at White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Ga.
Production line leader Bill Phillips, seen here at the Southeast Mahindra tractor assembly plant, has been with Mahindra for 16 years. assembling tractors, in Chattanooga, TN, July 26, 2017.
Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange is photographed in Lower Dexter Park, a pocket park adjacent to the Kress on Dexter project which features new residential and retail space downtown.
Home Depot EVP and CIO Matt Carey is photographed at the company's Store Support Center in Atlanta, Ga. on Monday, May 15, 2017.
Philanthropist and Babson alumnus Arthur Blank is photographed at the Arthur M. Blank Family Office in Atlanta, Ga.
Baker Cheryl Day of beloved Savannah institution Back in the Day Bakery is photographed outside the bakery, in Savannah, GA, July 9 2020.
Howard County Executive Calvin Ball.
John Hope Bryant is photographed at his home in Fayetteville, Ga. on Tuesday, July 14, 2020.
Farmer Monica Ponce is photographed at the Love is Love Cooperative Farm, in Mansfield, GA, July 1, 2021
Maria came to the United States from Colombia and is five months into her pregnancy.
Willis and Lillie Collins at their home in Atlanta, Ga. on Monday, December 14, 2015.
Spanx founder Sara Blakely and her husband Jesse Itzler go on one of their regular pre-dinner walks around the neighborhood with their four children.
Atlanta Dream guard Carla Cortijo is photographed at the team's practice court in Austell, Ga. on Tuesday, May 31, 2016.
Victoria Dean, a student at Georgia Tech's Scheller College of Business talks to other students, (clockwise) Jasmine Howard, Thea Dietrick, Ben Crom, Yash Lakhotia, and Osama Mikawi on campus in Atlanta, Ga.
Michael Matthews is Synchrony’s Chief Diversity, Inclusion and Corporate Responsibility Officer. Photographed at Synchrony offices in Alpharetta, Ga.
CallRail Culture Manager Mia Vasser is photographed near the company’s offices in Atlanta, Ga.
Portrait
Kelley Moore, a General Manager at Delta Air Lines is photographed at the Delta Flight Museum in Atlanta, Ga. on Monday, September 23, 2019.
Fort Washington, Maryland, USA on November 2, 2019.
Elijah Oshibanjo, Tenor Drum at Talladega College in Talladega, AL on Tuesday, January 17, 2017.
Melina Moersdorf Miquel Gonzalez