We’ve known Carolyn & Jeff for quite some time. I had the honor of photographing their wedding. Their whole family is so much fun! So it’s always a pleasure to photograph this lively bunch. The other day Carolyn’s three sisters, and respective others, all met with me at Folly Beach for an evening photo shoot. Here are some of my favorites.

I’ve really been enjoying teaching my Private Mentor Sessions this summer. I had a killer time with Travis and Adelle of TAG Photography the other day. They are an AWESOME and very creative husband and wife team from Greenville. Check them out if you’re getting married in the up-state! We truly had a great time hanging out and photographing our AMAZING model, Brittany McDougal. Brittany is such a versatile professional and a joy to be around. I highly recommend her to any photographers looking for a great model!

Alhambra Hall is easily one of my favorite venues in Mt. Pleasant. So when Judi & Jason told me about the beautiful, simple, and elegant ceremony they were having there, I was very excited!

Rev. Clarke performed a wonderful ceremony for them on the grand lawn underneath the giant oak tree with a nice breeze and the soft warm glow of the evening sun.  The Carolina String Duet filled the air with romance.  Judi was absolutely stunning in her beautiful gown!!!  All their friends and family were a joy to work with.  And the Joe Clarke Band jazzed up the reception hall.  Here are a few of my favorites from the day. Visit www.chrisandcami.zenfolio.com to see the rest.

CONGRATULATIONS Judi & Jason!!!

Photographing Gloria & Matt’s Engagement Session was extra special for me. I’ve known them since they were just “youth” at Ashley River Baptist, and worshiped together with them as young adults at C3. What a blessing to see them grow into their own, grow together as a couple, and grow in their walk with the Lord!

Since Gloria recently graduated from the College of Charleston, she wanted to do some of their photos at The Cistern. And of course since Matt is a Citadel Man, we had to do a few there. So we planned for an extended session that gave us the best of both worlds. We had so much fun hanging out together and creating these beautiful images that give a small glimpse of how AMAZING they are together!

I always find it interesting how frequently the very first, or the very last frame of a photo shoot turns out to be my favorite! Yesterday I had a really fun portrait session on Kiawah Island with the Zeifang family…an wonderful extended gathering of grandparents, children, and grandchildren. Towards the end of each portrait session, once I’ve got all the different combinations and group shots everyone wants, I try to shoot a few candids.

This shot of one of the grandchildren was the final frame and (you guessed it) my favorite image of the day. Don’t you just wish you could bottle some of that energy?!?   The photo was made with a Nikon D300.  I use that camera instead of one of the D3s when doing beach shoots because the sync speed is 1/320th instead of 1/250th.  So I get an extra 1/3 stop when balancing flash with the existing bright sunlight.  I used my new custom-made “Triple Tree” lighting bracket on a Bogen Manfrotto light stand to hold three SB-800 strobes.  Each was triggered with the RadioPopper Px system so that I didn’t have to worry about the bright light defeating Nikon’s CLS system.  I’ve found that ganging three flashes together allows me to use settings in the 1/8 to 1/4 power range, instead of maxing out a single flash at full power.  The benefit is I get much faster recycling time.  I placed the lights to my right, oposite the angle of the sun.  My lights became the main light, and the sun became the rim light.  To accentuate the height of her jump, I kneeled down as low as I dared in the surf.  ISO 125, 1/320, f11, 24mm on the 24-70 f2.8 lens.

One of my favorite family’s to photograph this year was the Kostreva clan. Dan and I had emailed back and forth so many times planning all the details of their session, that when we finally met, I felt like I KNEW him already.  :-) We all had a great time together and came away with some really cool images.

Since I’m a huge fan of Black-and-White…probably stemming back to my younger days making magic in a darkroom with Tri-X film and the fumes of Dektol in the air…I love shooting a few B/W images on my photo shoots. So I thought I’d share some of my favorite monochrome images from their session. Enjoy!

I had a BLAST photographing the Jenison family on Kiawah Island. As you can guess by the crazy O-H-I-O shot, they’re from Ohio, which is where Cami and I moved from a zillion years ago.

Every now and then, a really special couple comes along! Hope and Jason were such a pair. I had the honor of photographing their wedding at The Sanctuary on Kiawah Island last week. They were just so full of love and joy that it was an absolute pleasure to be around them and photograph all these wonderful images of their day!!! As always, Doug Farmer did a fabulous job with the nuptials.  And the lighting was just perfect that day. 

To see the rest of their photos, head over to www.chrisandcami.zenfolio.com.

CONGRATULATIONS Hope & Jason!

As part of our Lightbending411educational experiences, I’ve been leading Private Mentor Sessions for photographers who want to kick their skills up a notch or two.  If you’re interested in joining me on one of these customized Private Mentor Sessions, joining our next Lightbending411 Workshop, or traveling with us on one of our exotic Global Photo Adventures, just head over to the Lightbending website.

Last week I had the pleasure of working with Jennifer Jennison, who is a fabulous portrait photograpeher from Ohio. Check out her amazing website at http://www.jenniferjenisonphotography.com/index2.php.  We had a great time talking about everything from best business practices, to workflow, to creative lighting techniques. I had also arranged for a couple of my favorite young clients to model for us so Jennifer could put her new lighting skills into practice. We had a great time and Jenn is already talking about a repeat next year!    Here are a few of her fantastic images from the session!!!

Many thanks to Holly & Clint for letting us play with their gorgeous daughter, and to Kris & Tucker for letting their witty young lady entertain us…

I just received my copy of Action News Magazine. An image I shot of Olympic Champion, Elena Dementieva, was used to illustrate an excellent article by Kelly McClain called “Marketing Made Easy”.

I took this photo of the talented Russian while covering the Family Circle Cup. A WTA Tour Premier Event, the Family Circle Cup is the longest running tournament in professional women’s tennis with the same title sponsor. It boasts a roster of past champions that include some of the biggest names in the history of the game, including Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Tracy Austin, Steffi Graf, Gabriela Sabatini, Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati, Venus Williams, Justine Henin, Serena Williams, and Caroline Wozniacki!