Fun in the Sun at the Family Circle Cup

This morning is pretty “yucky” out. Play is suspended. But yesterday was full of fun in the sun at the Family Circle Cup! Here are a few shots from the day. Enjoy!

(Murphy Jensen)

(Vania King)

(Family Circle Sponsor Tent)

(Vera Dushevina)

(Jelena Jankovic)

(Nadia Petrova)

(Caroline Wozniacki being interviewed during the All Access Media Hour)

(Signatures of the top eight seeds)

(Local favorite, Shelby Rodgers, lost a tough match to fellow American Jill Craybas)

(Sania Mirza)

(Alison Riske)

(Chanelle Scheepers)

(Chanelle Scheepers has a “moment”)

(Patty Schnyder)

(Chanelle Scheepers)

(Bethany Mattek-Sands is always a colorful character)

(Dr. J’s daughter, Alexandra Stevenson)

(Bethany Matteck-Sands plays with an explosive energy that I love)

Candids at the Family Circle Cup Player Party

Here are some candids from the party after everyone arrived. This was the first year at NV’s Lounge, which was REALLY cool! See how many players you can pick out and leave me a comment!  🙂  I’ll try to find time to caption the players you don’t find later if I get a chance. Enjoy!

RadioPoppers Rock the Family Circle Cup Player Party

After shooting the action all day, I headed down to NV’s Lounge where this year’s Family Circle Cup Player Party was held. Here’s how I normally set up to photograph the arrival of players and VIPs.

I set up two Bogen/Manfrotto lightstands with Boa Bagsto secure them. They each had one of my customized 3-way umbrella adapters, so I can easily attach 1,2, or 3 flashes, depending on power desired. Tonight I just needed one Nikon SB-800 per side. Each stand is also customized with an SD-8a bolted to it, which I plugged into each flash for faster recycling. I shot with one of the Nikon D3s using the Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 and an SB-900. All the flashes were triggered by my trusty RadioPoppers using the Nikon CLS system to make adjustments from the camera on the fly.

World Number 1, Caroline Wozniacke, arrived in style.

Mission Fest was a HUGE SUCCESS!

In spite of getting rained on half-way through the event, Mission Fest was a HUGE SUCCESS! And Pastor Randy’s Dunking Booth was a hit!

Thank you to everyone who came out to support this awesome cause. If you want to learn more about our C3 Mission Trip to Tanzania, watch a little video about the project, or give a donation…head over to http://www.c3charleston.com/mission-fest

Ugly Days make for Great Portraits!

Remember how UGLY Monday was?!? I had the pleasure of going out in that cold, drizzly, gray day to photograph the fabulous Komerska Family! And you know what? It was easily my favorite family session this year. I mean I had a BLAST with these folks! What a great family!!! 

The Komerskas were down visiting Kiawah Island from Chicago. So they were used to this weather! They’ve been coming down on vacation for 10 years together.  When I called to see if they still wanted to do the shoot, they said ABSOLUTELY! The funny thing is, I love the high-key look of the foggy background. It really makes the family stand out! So I’m taking away a lesson from all this…ugly days make for GREAT portraits!!! 

Family Circle Moments of the Past

While I was at the Family Circle Cup tennis center yesterday, I enjoyed walking around and seeing some of my photos on display. Obviously these aren’t all mine. Since I’ve only been one of the official photographer for the past 7 or 8 years, I wasn’t shooting when Chris Evert won it, for example. But most of the more recent ones are shots I made. Anyway, it’s quite an honor, and a very humbling experience, to realize I’ve been a part of preserving the rich history of women’s professional tennis. How blessed am I to be a small part of this great tournament?!?

Play it Again Sam!

The Family Circle Cup is ALMOST HERE! Crowd favorite, Patty Schnyder, was out practicing this morning. Last year’s Champion, Samantha Stosur, just arrived into town. The wonderful folks at the tennis center welcomed her with a birthday cake since today is her big day. 🙂 The Daniel Island News ran one of my images of the Aussie on their cover with the heading “Play it Again Sam”. It sure would be a nice birthday present if she could win it for the second year in a row. But there’s some pretty stiff competition this year. So come on out and cheer for your favorite player as the drama unfolds!

Photographing Classic Cars

My good friend and fellow photographer, Gary Coleman, invited me to join him on a big photo shoot last week.  We spent the 12-13 hours a day in chilly New Hampshire photographing this AMAZING collection of Classic Cars.  The hours may have been long, but we had a BLAST!  Gary and I always have fun working together and this week was no different.  Each new vehicle they’d wheel in, our jaws would drop, and we’d look at each other like “we get PAID to do this?!?”.  Anyway, enjoy the fun time-lapse video along with some of the final images at www.chrisandcami.com/blog



C3 Mission Fest!!!

Today’s the BIG DAY!  Our church has been planning for months for our Third Annual Mission Fest.  It’s going to be so much fun!!! 

We’ve got face painting, jumbo slides and jump castles, snow cones, and a dunking booth!  We’ll be serving all-you-can-eat oysters, chicken, hot-dogs, and all the trimmings!  There will be rockin’ tunes as various bands take the stage!  And the live and silent auctions have tons of AMAZING DEALS you don’t want to miss!  All the money raised goes to funding our church’s mission work as we serve others in need. 

This year we head to a village in Tanzania where we’ll be conducting health & hygiene programs, building water purification systems, teaching English, organizing arts & crafts for the children, visiting hospitals and orphanages, and sharing God’s love with everyone we meet. 

For a short informational video, pictures from last year’s fantastic event, where we’re located, and more details…check out http://www.c3charleston.com/mission-fest.  If you can’t attend but would like to support us with your kind donation, click on the “Give” button at the bottom of that page.  Mission Fest is from 4:00-8:00 this afternoon.  So come on out.  We’d love to have you!!!

Here are some of our CRAZY C3 FAMILY you might meet!  🙂

Featured on South Carolina Federal Credit Union

We are honored that South Carolina Federal Credit Union has chosen to feature us this month:

Chris and Cami Smith are current South Carolina Federal Credit Union business members. With approximately 20 years experience in the photography industry they decided to launch their own small business in the Lowcountry. Their creative eye and attention to detail capture life’s moments in a unique and artistic way.

South Carolina Federal is delighted to serve their business’s financial needs, they have found the array of business products and services to fit their needs. “We enjoy the convenience of being able to check our accounts online, our paychecks can be automatically deposited into our personal accounts and we can drop off checks anytime using the night deposit,” Cami said.

To learn more about this business spotlight visit www.chrisandcami.com

Meagan & Alex’s Beautiful Jamaica Wedding

Being invited to Jamaica with Meagan & Alex to photograph their beautiful destination wedding at Beaches Negril Resort & Spa was a real treat. They are such a neat couple. I enjoyed getting to know them through their Engagement and Bridal Portrait sessions.  And both their families are so warm and generous. After a couple days, Cami & I just felt like part of the family. In fact we celebrated my birthday dinner with them the day after the wedding! 🙂

The wedding day was so much fun! I loved the “island style” ceremony theme they had selected…sand-dollars, sea shells, fans woven from sea grass, and other unique beach themes were sprinkled throughout. Plus of course everything happened on “island time”…no stress, just fun!

Even though we worked hard while we were there, it was so nice to get away and enjoy the warm Caribbean sun and crystal clear turquoise water. The place is a photographer’s paradise! The lighting there is just AMAZING…partly due to the natural fill-light reflecting off the 7-miles of white-sand beach. Between the various destination weddings we’ve photographed in the Caribbean…St. Thomas, The Bahamas, Jamaica…Cami & I agreed that Negril was by far our favorite spot!  To see more of their photos, visit www.chrisandcami.zenfolio.com

Could that conclusion have been influenced by how much we LOVED working with Meagan & Alex…mmm…maybe. 😉 Meagan, you were an absolutely STUNNING bride! Alex, I hope I didn’t pick on you too much. You were AWESOME! Congratulations to you both!!!