At only fifteen years old Charles began shooting and processing black and white skateboarding imagery. Inspired by Mann Ray he moved into shooting nudes which led to his gaining a scholarship and embarked on a 4 year degree at Elam School of Fine Arts, during which he took a year to travel through Europe, USA and Japan.

In his last year at Elam Charles worked at Photocom, a large digital photography and processing facility, and continued there for 2 years after graduation. He worked in all departments, starting in the lab printing murals, and then splitting his time between running their digital department and shooting still life.

In 1998 he was headhunted by a photographer to run his studios, in which he was instrumental in making digital. When Charles started the studio was a small facility unsure of its future; when he left 3 years later the studio had become a highly respected organization with 11 staff, 4 studios and some of the largest accounts in the country. During his time there he shot approximately 4-6 days a week for 10-15hrs a day, as well as overseeing staff and training digital operators and retouches

In 2002 Charles left for NYC where he worked for Markus Klinko and Indrani. He was Studio Manager & First Assistant and managed all the staffing, shoot prep, lighting and retouching, working 70-90+ hrs per week. Shoots Charles worked on during his time there included musicians Britney Spears, Beyonce, Jay Z, Kelis, Outcast, Pharrell Williams, Black Eyed Peas, and advertisers LOreal, Woolford, Debeers (Iman), AnnaSui and Pepsi.

Upon his return to NZ in 2005 Charles started shooting in his own right and has firmly established himself as one of the top fashion and beauty photographers in the country, in addition to having worked on many international advertising brands shooting in New Zealand, New York, Detroit, LA and Sydney.

White Studios Charles own studio complex, was opened in 2007 and is now the busiest and most popular studio facility in the country.