Civil Engineering by Seamon Whiteside

Seamon Whiteside is one of my favorite clients! They specialize in Civil Engineering and Landscape Architecture…making commercial and living spaces functional, ergonomic, and safe.

Here are a few photos from 3 projects I photographed for SW this week. All images were captured with DJI Mavic 2 Pro, Nikkor Z9, Nikkor 14-30 S, and Nikkor 24-120 S.

Berkeley County Marketing Photos

Last week I had the pleasure of working with Jenna at the Berkeley County offices in Goose Creek to capture some new marketing and promotional material. It was an absolute pleasure working with her and her team! Everyone we photographed was so kind and accommodating. I’m already looking forward to our next session!!!

Nikon Z9 + Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 S + SB5000 Speedlight (as needed)

Marketing Photos for Premier Physical Therapy

I love working with the awesome team at Premier Physical Therapy!!! Not only am I their photographer, but I’m also a former patient. So I know first-hand how much Jill and her team care about the people they serve.
 
Here are a few new marketing photos I captured for them this week…

Headshots for Weeks & Irvine

It was a dull and dreary morning outside, but a bright and cheerful one inside. I had so much fun photographing headshots for two new attorneys at Weeks & Irvine law firm!

The only place I could set up was in the “children’s room”, where kids get to color with crayons and play with doll-houses while the adults sign paperwork and do all that boring legal stuff. Pushing a few things to the side, I angled my background so that I could shoot diagonally, giving me the greatest working distance possible. I set up an SB-5000 background light 3 feed in front of the background. I fired two SB-5000 flashes through a 60″ Westcott umbrella for a main light. And I bounced another SB-5000 off the adjoining wall as a fill light.

All images were captured with the Nikon D5 + Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 VRII at ISO 400, f5.6, 1/200 sec, tethered to a Lenovo Yoga laptop. After each individual’s session, they got to review the images to make sure they were happy with them, and to pick out their favorite for the website. Naturally, I also shot a few silly ones for the fun of it! 🙂

Early Morning Headshots for East Cooper Medical Center

After a wet and dreary couple days, it sure was great to have beautiful early morning sunlight for my photo session this Friday!

Tenet Physician Resources coordinated with me to set up at the Dodds Durst House to photograph a new team member for the East Cooper Medical Center. Rachel was a lot of fun to work with! She’s from Tennessee and joins the team as a nurse practitioner. She loves the doctor she’s working for.  And the staff has made her feel right at home.

Using the warm early morning rays as a hair light, I augmented the natural sunlight with 4 speedlights. I attached a CTO gel on one Flashpoint, and placed it behind Rachel as a rim light to help even out the sun. The other three were mounted inside a Neewer octobox and placed on the opposite side from the sun to act as fill light and create a nice catch-light in the eyes. All images were shot on the new Nikon Z9 with 70-200 f2.8 VRII lens (using the FTZII adapter). Camera and lighting supports were provided by Manfrotto.  ISO 250, f4.0, 1/160 sec.

CONGRATULATIONS to Rachel on joining a fantastic team!!!

High-Key Headshots

I had a great time this morning photographing headshots for some new team members at Bridge Commercial!

I fired an SB-5000 flash onto the white backdrop to create a super-clean high-key look. The main light consisted of 2 SB-5000 flashes firing into a 60″ Westcott umbrella. The fill light was another 60″ Westcott umbrella with 1 SB-5000 in it. I used Manfrotto supports for the camera and speedlights. The camera of choice was a D5 with 70-200 f2.8 VRII, shooting tethered to my Lenovo laptop, set at ISO 400, f5.6,  and 1/200 sec.

Retirement Reception at William Aiken House

Sweeping ballrooms, lush private grounds, and open-air piazzas make this historic 1807 mansion one of Charleston’s most sought-after venues for weddings and events. Tucked behind it’s ornate black iron gates on King Street, the William Aiken House is a peaceful retreat that carries guests back in time to the 19th century. The formal dining rooms, museum caliber artwork, and giant 200 year old magnolia tree are highlights of the many wonders of this beautiful property!

I always enjoy working events and weddings at this venue. And this recent corporate event in honor of the retirement of one of it’s esteemed members was no exception! The evening actually started down the block with cocktails on the rooftop bar at Stars. As dusk fell, we enjoyed a leisurely stroll down King Street to enter those beautiful gates for the main event. Everyone paused on the lawn for a few shots of the whole group which I captured from the 2nd floor piazza. Drinks and hors-d’oeuvres continued as historians shared interesting anecdotes about Charleston and details about the William Aiken House. Dinner was upstairs in the main dining hall. Finally wonderful words were shared, and a fine gift was unveiled for the guest of honor!

It was a beautiful evening and a delightful celebration I was delighted to be a part of.

First Event with the Nikon Z9

Prior to the deliver of my Z9 from NPS, I had a chance to borrow my friend Gary’s for an event. It was a chilly evening, with extremely low-light conditions. So I figured it would be the PERFECT test for this new flagship camera from Nikon!

The event was held at the beautiful yet rustic Hart Meadows Ranch on John’s Island. I arrived early to get a couple shots with the drone as the sun set over the horizon. I had about 30 minutes of twilight after that to get some establishing shots during “blue hour” before guests arrived. It was a new moon. So after that it was completely dark except for the string lights, up-lighting, and bonfires dotted around the property.

I slung my tried-and-true D5 on one hip, and Gary’s Z9 on the other. That way I could do a real-world comparison between the two models, switching back and forth as needed. I carried the 14-24 f2.8, 24-70 f2.8, and 105 f2.8 Micro.  These were all Nikkor F-mount lenses to keep things consistent, using the FTZ adapter to mount them on the Z9.

It was a fantastic evening! The Z9 was AMAZING. For example, the shots of Tiera Kennedy, who is an incredibly talented up-and-coming country artist from Nashville, were shot at ISO 8000!!!  Yet the files look incredibly sharp and noise-free.  When there was enough light, the new Eye-detect Auto Focus was pretty awesome.  However, it did struggle to acquire focus in pitch black conditions where I had to use flash. I don’t know why mirrorless cameras don’t “see” the Infrared Auto Focus Assist beam from our flashes! Can anyone answer this? That is my ONLY wish for the Z9 is that it could see that AF Assist beam when things are pitch black.  Maybe I needed to switch to a different auto-focus mode.  But I usually ended up just pulling out the trusty D5 for those conditions.

Other than that, the Z9 performed flawlessly! I didn’t want to give it back to Gary that night on my way home. HA!!! And I’m excited to finally have received mine from NPS last week. 🙂

Awards Ceremony at The Ocean Course

Kiawah Island is such an amazing paradise! Whenever I have an assignment out there, I can feel my blood pressure dropping as I drive the scenic road out to the island. Then once I’m on the island, I love slowing down and looking for alligators, egrets, and osprey, which hang out in the many ponds and marshes.

A few weeks ago I had a fantastic time photographing a very special awards banquet at The Ocean Course. Cocktails took place on the back porch, overlooking the historic 18th hole where so many Ryder Cup and PGA moments have taken place. As the beautiful sunset faded into blue hour, everyone moved inside for dinner. Heartfelt speeches were made about each incredibly deserving award recipient. The room was truly filled with warmth and appreciation for their dedication and service!

For smaller events like this, I choose to wield my Nikon D5 + 24-70 f2.8, Nikon D500 + 105 f2.8, and Nikon SB-5000 Speedlights.  Of course the DJI Mavic Pro 2 comes in handy for those hard-to-reach angles!

McMillan Pazden Smith Architects

McMillan Pazdan Smith is a regional, studio-based architecture, planning, and interior design firm whose mission is to help clients create environments that embody their vision, enrich their brand, and enhance the quality of their communities: https://mcmillanpazdansmith.com/.

I previously had the pleasure of photographing headshots and team portraits for the Charleston office, which you can find here:  https://chrisandcami.com/environmental-portraits-for-mcmillan-pazden-smith-architecture/.  A couple weeks ago, I was honored to be asked to also photograph the team in their Columbia office!

Many thanks to Kathryn and Abbie for all their hard work coordinating schedules and working out the details for this photo shoot. It was an absolute BLAST and I really enjoyed getting to know this incredible group of human beings!

Kempton Senior Living Facility for Trident Construction

It was a pleasure photographing the Kempton Senior Living Facility for Trident Construction last week!

This was a massive project, right in the middle of a very busy intersection along the cross-town. So I was VERY impressed with how they were able to accomplish the task and make it such a beautiful oasis in the heart of downtown Charleston.

Many thanks to Elizabeth and Nic for all their hard work coordinating schedules and organizing everything for the shoot!

US Grains Council 19th International Marketing Conference – Day 3

The 3rd and final day of the 19th International Marketing Conference and 62nd Annual Membership Meeting at the Hyatt Regency in Greenville was a time to celebrate!

All the Advisory Team Leaders shared the progress reports and final results from their intense break-out meetings. Recognition Awards for exemplary service were handed out to deserving recipients. And final words of inspiration were shared before the conference was finally adjourned.

It was an absolute pleasure being back in person, photographing another fabulous event for the US Grains Council!