Whitmer Family at Shem Creek Park

Photographing the Whitmer Family over the years has been such a blessing. They are the nicest, kindest, neatest humans you could ever hope to meet! Plus of course it’s so cool watching all the little ones grow from tiny tots into beautiful young people.

The morning of our shoot all our weather apps were threatening 30% chance of rain. But we decided to go for it…and it worked out BEAUTIFULLY!!! The sun was out, with soft diffusion from a layer of clouds. As a bonus, we even got to stop and watch some manatees swimming in the creek!!! Then right as we got back to our cars, it started to rain…what perfect timing. 🙂

We had so much fun exploring Shem Creek Park together and coming up with these beautiful images to commemorate their annual vacation together!

Morris Family on Kiawah Island

I had so much fun last evening photographing the Morris Family at The Sanctuary on Kiawah Island! Noah and Luke were absolutely ADORABLE!!! And we had some of the most beautiful “golden hour” light to work with. 🙂

Majernik Family at Rainbow Row

Vacationing in Charleston from Bloomington, IL, is a smart thing to do in the middle of January! Although it was only 55-degrees when I met up with Matt & Liz and their kids, they said it was only 25-degrees back home!!! 🙂

We had so much fun laughing and playing as we strolled along Rainbow Row and that historic downtown area of Charleston. We discovered lots of colorful backdrops. The kids were absolutely adorable. And we came away with some beautiful images of their family to commemorate this trip to Charleston!

Many thanks to Matt & Liz for allowing me to be a part of their family for the day…

Beavers Family at The Biltmore

About 6 or 7 years ago I had several delightful beach photo sessions with The Beavers Family during their vacations to Charleston.

Even though it’s been a few years, I was ecstatic when I saw Christi’s email asking if I was available to photograph their family again this year. Knowing how much fun they were, I jumped at the chance. The icing on the cake was, they wanted to do it at a gorgeous location in Asheville! How cool is that?!?

Their family had season passes and arrived early to tour the mansion, which had recently been decorated for the holidays. After their tour, I met up with them at Guest Services, where we began exploring the grounds together. It was so cool to see how grown up Christi’s kids had gotten. Plus it was a pleasure meeting her sister, Tammi, who brought her adorable daughter. To round out the ensemble, the grandparents joined in as well!

We had an absolute BLAST, and came away with a huge variety of wonderful images to commemorate this time in their lives! THANK YOU, Christi for all your hard work coordinating this amazing experience!!!

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Holmes Family at Timbers Kiawah

It’s been a whole year since I saw the Holmes Family. I’m always AMAZED at how fast kids grow up!!!  🙂

It was so much fun catching up with them at their home-away-from home. The Timbers on Kiawah Island is an absolutely breathtaking location. It has so many great backdrops and photo opportunities. Plus when you add three adorable kids, two proud parents, and two doting grandparents…it’s a recipe for beautiful family portraits!!!

Join me in wishing this wonderful family a Happy Thanksgiving as they spend this special time together…

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Benton Family Christmas Photos

I love the holidays!!! This time of year is all about family, fun, and togetherness!

When Brittany, my beautiful friend and AMAZING model, asked if I could photograph her family Christmas photos this year, I jumped at the chance! Brittany is super creative and always comes up with such amazing photo ideas. Plus she has a delightful family that is so much fun to be around!

We had a BLAST working together at Hampton Park to capture this special time in their lives. 🙂

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Scott Family at Hampton Park

I got to know the Scott Family last year during our Mt. Pleasant photo shoot. We had so much fun that I was super thrilled when they called to schedule this year’s family session!

This time we chose to meet at the scenic and historic Hampton Park. A cold front had just moved through, giving us a beautiful afternoon with cool weather. The light that day was fantastic. And their girls were as ADORABLE as ever!!!

I just love it when families are as fun to work with as The Scotts! Beth had some excellent suggestions for backgrounds. And the girls even invented some of their own poses!!! 🙂 Many thanks to all of them for another awesome photo session together!

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Fisher Family at Hampton Park

It’s been a few years since I photographed the Fisher Family. But we go WAAAY back together!!! So I was super excited when they called to schedule a new family session together. 🙂

Meeting at Hampton Park turned out to be the perfect location. With “grandma” Belle being 14 years old, it was hard for their Yellow Lab to get around. This park has nice level walking trails that were perfect for her red wagon.  Plus their little Yorkie, Freckles, could keep up in spite of her short little legs.  However, my favorite part about this historic park is the wonderful cornucopia of beautiful backdrops to choose from!

Holly is an award winning marketing expert and genius copywriter. She’s AMAZING!!! Check her out at https://fisher-creative.com/. As a fellow creative, we work well together, bouncing ideas and inspiration off one another. Clint is the dashing rugged outdoorsman of the family who keeps everyone focused and on track. Kate is the sweetest soul and the glue that binds their world together.

I loved all their creative input and and we came away with a ton of gorgeous images of their family! But more importantly, we had a BLAST hanging out and catching up!!! I can’t wait to see what’s on the horizon for this amazing team of beautiful human beings.  🙂

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McCue Family at Palmetto Island County Park

I had so much fun photographing the McCue Family at Palmetto Island County Park this weekend!

We couldn’t have picked a better day. The temperatures were nice and cool. And the sun was beautiful and bright. The location Aimee selected was fantastic as well. With oak trees draped in Spanish moss, stately palmetto pines, woodland walking trails, and an awesome boardwalk leading into the marsh, we had tons of picturesque scenes to choose from.

Many thanks to Aimee & Chad and their adorable kids for being such a pleasure to work with!!!

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Moore Family Sunrise Shoot on Kiawah Island

As you all know, Cami and I love dogs!

So when the Moore Family asked us to photograph their family reunion on Kiawah Island, including all three of their family dogs, how could we say “no”?!? Izzy, the Havanese puppy, Otis, the Yorkie/Silkie rescue, and Milo, the Golden Doodle, were an absolute BLAST!!! 🙂

Of course the entire family was fabulous as well. Diane did an amazing job of coordinating and organizing everyone.  But the real star of the show was Julian! This adorable 9 year old is the latest addition to the family, and has clearly stolen the hearts of everyone who catches a glimpse of that adorable smile!!!

We met at Sunrise near The Sanctuary on Kiawah Island. With clear skies, a few clouds for the rising sun to light up, and a balmy 70-degrees, it was an absolutely perfect morning. I can’t thank the Moore Family enough for being such a kind, generous, and fun group to work with!!!

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Chapman Family on Kiawah Island

Is this not the most adorable family ever?!?

I had so much fun with the Chapman Family during their stay on Kiawah Island this week. We met at The Sanctuary on the most perfect evening imaginable. Calm winds, beautiful sunlight, low humidity, and 75-degrees…who could ask for anything more?

Well to top off the perfect conditions, I had the perfect family to work with. Shannon and Josh were the nicest couple in the world. And their girls were absolutely delightful!!!

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Colored Powder Photography

One of my good friends and artistic inspirations is Reid Strauss. She is an absolute visionary, always full of the coolest and most creative ideas!!!

A couple days ago we gathered her adorable daughters together (or did we drag them kicking and screaming…I can’t remember which?). In any event, they somehow got volunteered to be our victims as we headed out to Folly Beach for a super fun photo shoot!

Reid had ordered some organic biodegradable colored powder for us to play with.  Made out of corn starch and natural dies, it was completely water soluble and wouldn’t harm the environment. When we started, the girls had no problem pelting each other with the fine grains…but when it was their turn, not so much! Just kidding!!!  They were in fact quite enthusiastic and so much fun to work with, which I appreciated. Once they saw how cool the shots were coming out, the competition was ON!!!

It was an overcast gray day. But this was supposed to be all about COLOR!!!  Gray just wouldn’t do. So I switched my Nikon D5 to tungsten white balance, which of course added an electric blue tone to the sky. Then I covered two of my Nikon SB-5000 Speedlights with orange CTO gels, which are thin colored filters for flashes.  For protection, each flash was placed in a zip-loc bag. Using one flash as my main light, and the other as a rim light, I was able to give the skin tones a nice “sunset glow” to them, which contrasted beautifully with the electric blue sky.  I used the compact and lightweight Nikkor 24-120 f4 VR lens so that I could keep my distance and move quickly. From that point on, it was just a matter of getting everyone’s timing down as they hurled fists full of colored powder at each other!!!

Many thanks to Reid, Sydney, Jacqueline, and Trinity for such a fun evening!!!

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