Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?

My good friend and fellow photographer, Liz Duren, asked me to come and speak to her daughter’s 5th grade class about my experience growing up in Africa.  I love that show “Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader?”…which I surely am NOT!!!  So I was a little nervous.  J  But Daphne was so sweet and gave me a big fun hug when I arrived at James B. Edwards Elementary School.  I felt better after that!  Daphne introduced me to everyone to put me at ease.  The kids really seemed interested and had LOTS of questions.  I had a BLAST!  In between giggles I taught them a couple words in Kituba.  Plus they got a kick out of my authentic chief’s sword.  Here’s a few pics Liz took for me… 

 

NEW Family Circle Cup Banner Announced

Only two more months until the Family Circle Cup!  As most of you know, I’ve been one of the Official Photographers of this amazing Professional Women’s Tennis event for many years now.  Each year, the best photo of the returning champion is selected for display on a 47-foot x 40-foot banner that hangs from the top of the stadium.  It’s been an honor to have had one of my images selected for the last few years in a row.  And this year…drum roll please…WE DID IT AGAIN!!!!  🙂   Mike Saia, the Communications Director at the FCC just emailed me a few minutes ago with the news and the final image they’ll be using.  I’m SO EXCITED!!!

On top of all the great women’s tennis action, this is also the Ten Year Anniversary of the FCC being located here in Charleston.  One of the longest running tournaments in WTA history, its former home was on Hilton Head Island.  To celebrate the milestone year, there will be guest apprearances from the likes of John McEnroe, Andy Roddick, and Anna Kournikova, plus many other special events and attractions.  So come on out…and make sure you say “Hi” to me while you’re there…04 Sabine Lisicki (Final)A

Extraordinary Makeup Artist

Every now and then I get the chance to work with someone truly gifted in their talent.  Pamela Lesch of www.makeupartistcharleston.com is just such a person.  Most recently I had the privilege of working with her at my Wireless Lighting Workshop.  She did an amazing job giving our model, Brittany McDougal, that special “look”.  THEN, she was kind enough to feature us on her very popular Blog.  Check it out:  http://charlestonmakeupartist.blogspot.com/2010/02/let-there-be-wireless-light.html.  If you need an extraordinary Makeup Artist, I highly recommend Pamela!!!100125-0058

Visit the US Virgin Islands!

After being on assignment for several long days, Cami & I spent some time enjoying ourselves.  I mean if you’re going to fly all the way there, why not, right?  🙂  We’ve done quite a bit of international traveling.  But I have to say, visiting the US Virgin Islands is one of the least-stressful places to go if you’re not akin to international travel.  As our taxi driver so kindly reminded us, the US Virgin Islands ARE part of the US afterall!  So things like language bariers and exchange rates are a non-issue.  I would have included driving on that list, except even though the islanders sit on the left to drive their vehicles, they do drive on the left side of the road like the British!  In spite of its few quirks, we highly recommend the lively St. Thomas, the remote St. John, and the largest island of St. Croix for your Destination Wedding or Caribbean vacation! 

Many thanks to Erik & Julia Loesch for introducing us to these islands when they hired us to photograph their gorgeous wedding at Bolongo Bay Resort last year…

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High-Flying Camera

While we were shooting for Bolongo Bay Resort in St. Thomas last month, one of our tasks was to get some updated images of the “Heavenly Days”. This sleek catamaran sets sail for evening sunset cruises and other chartered trips by resort guests. Well, I got the usual shots from shore…then rode along side the sleek vessel in a speedboat to photograph it skipping across the turquoise Caribbean water. But that wasn’t enough! For a truly unique image, I had a crew member hoist up the mast and clamp my beloved Nikon D3 plus 14-24mm f2.8 super wide angle lens to a cross beam with my Bogen Super Clamp. I used a pair of PocketWizards to wirelessly trigger the camera. Not only did it make for a cool shot, but I actually got to be IN the final image. Can you tell which one is me?!? 🙂 100102-0304100102-0307100102-0312100102-0325

Brand New Blog

Welcome to our cooler, better, bigger, BRAND NEW BLOG!  I’ve been photo-blogging for years.  I love passing on information, sharing my passion, and highlighting favorite images I’ve created throughout this journey called LIFE.  But we sort of outgrew the limitations of our old blogging system along the way.  Here then, is our totally customized new blog!  Danella, a wonderfully gifted designer and photographer, built it for us…to be totally and uniquely “US”.  Bookmark it.  Visit often.  We hope you enjoy this new window into our world as we continue along this journey with you!


Wireless Lighting Workshop

My good friend and fellow photographer, Matt Daniel, shared these scenes from the Wireless Lighting Workshop earlier this week. Yes, the nice policeman really did ask us to move the vintage limo off the historic brick street. J

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Panoramic Stitching

From time to time I get asked how in the world I create my panoramic images.  Our home is full of these pano’s, stretching as big as 6-feet wide…the rolling green hills of western Ireland…the Grand Canyon at sunrise!  To get the resolution needed for such enlargements, I simply take several images and then use a software program to merge them together.  There are many ways to do this.  I find Panorama Maker by Arcsoft is strait forward, easy to use, and yields great results.  Give it a try sometime!

 Here’s my Sunrise in St. Thomas…

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Wireless Lighting Workshop

My heart was beating, my head was spinning, everything was happening so fast! Before I knew it, Virgil was introducing me and I was ON!

I’m scared to death of public speaking. But I LOVE what I do and love sharing my passion with others! So after the initial jitters wore off, everything went great. My Wireless Lighting Workshop was held at Virgil’s gorgeous studio at CVI Photography. It was hosted by the Professional Photographer of South Carolina. And it was sponsored by folks like Nikon, RadioPopper, Zenfolio, MPIX, and Canvas On Demand. We had a fantastic turnout with about 40 photographers from around the state, some as far away as Greenville! I did a short presentation about the principles of wireless lighting. Then we went out into the historic alley behind the studio and did a LIVE photo shoot…no pressure there!!! J That was followed by dinner, fellowship, and networking. Finally we reconvened to review the images and have more discussion on tools and techniques. It really was a BLAST!

We couldn’t have pulled it off without the generous contributions of many talented folks. I have to thank Virgil, Eddie of ProWedding Entertainment, Frankie of Flowers by Frankie, Juliet of Juliet Elizabeth Photography, Molly of D’Lish Desserts, Dwight of Royal Limousine, Pamela of Makeup Artist Charleston, and my lovely model and favorite client, Brittany McDougal. The best part about the workshop is we raised a ton of donations, including lots of dog food, to donate to the Charleston Animal Society. Many thanks to everyone who participated and everyone who attended!!!

Posted via email from Chris & Cami Photography