Regan & Thomas at Rainbow Row

Everyone please help me congratulate Regan!!!
Regan works for 3rd largest insurance firm in the world. She joined the team this summer and they are featuring her in their National Business Journal as an outstanding new-hire highlight. How cool is that?!?
I had the privilege’s of photographing some beautiful portraits of her for the article. Plus, since her and Thomas just moved to Charleston, we dragged him along for a few couples portraits as well! Because Regan can work from anywhere, they moved to Charleston when Thomas landed his dream job at The Citadel.
Regan and Thomas are the coolest couple you could ever hope to meet! We had so much fun exploring the historic alleys and beautiful backdrops around Rainbow Row.

CONGRATULATIONS

Regan…your firm is lucky to have you!!!

Marketing Photos for Truist Wealth

As a small business owner, word-of-mouth referrals from friends and colleagues is the HIGHEST compliment we receive! I’d like to say a huge Thank You to my friend Andy Stroer for recommending us to the awesome team at Truist Wealth Management!!!

Wealth accumulates. Goals shift. New needs arise. And your financial solutions should evolve accordingly. Early on, your planning needs may be simple. But as your assets, family, and passions grow, more complexities emerge. As your wealth grows, considerations like tax planning, philanthropy, and family legacy may begin to take center stage. This is where the advisors at Truist Wealth Management can help. Check them out at www.truist.com!

We started the session at their office in Mt. Pleasant, where I set up my portable studio in their lobby. All images were shot with Nikon D5, Nikkor 70-200 f2.8, Godox flashes, Westcott umbrellas, Manfrotto supports, and a Savage background. I was shooting tethered to a Lenovo Yoga laptop, allowing everyone to review their headshots and make sure they were happy with them!

Next we headed over to an overlook on the Cooper River that gave us a great view of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in the background. This is such an iconic landmark, and worked out great for some environmental portraits of one of the teams within the wealth management group. These images were captured on a Nikon Z6II with a Nikkor S 24-70 and Godox flashes.

The sun was JUST starting to touch the horizon as a finished packing up. So I couldn’t help getting the Mavic 2 Pro out for a couple shots of the bridge after everyone had left!!! 🙂

Headshots for Seamon Whiteside

I love working with the awesome team at Seamon Whiteside!

We’ve gone through a variety of different “looks” for their company headshots over the years. But I really like the casual environmental style portraits they’ve been requesting for their most recent branding. They are a great team and everyone is always so fun and friendly to work with!

Many thanks to Lia and Anne for coordinating everything. 🙂

Headshots for the Wasden Banias Imigration Litigation Team

It was a pleasure to photograph the Wasden Banias Imigration Litigation team last week!

“Today’s world requires new strategies to overcome visa delays and denials. Whether it be a visa for your spouse, employee, or the PERM process, an attorney with experience in federal court litigation is necessary to gain certainty in your unique immigration process. Wasden Banias is an administrative law litigation firm, designed to guide you through the litigation or petition process.”

We met at Hampton Park on a beautiful unseasonably warm winter day. It was so much fun meeting everyone and capturing these fresh new images for their markating team. Many thanks to Carolina for organizing everything!!!

Headshots for State Farm

We had another fun photo session with the Kevin Sevier State Farm agency in Bluffton this week! We’ve known Kevin for a long time and have appreciated his support over the years. He’s got a fantastic team working for him. And we ALWAYS have a blast hanging out with them, photographing their headshots, and capturing their team photos!!!

WP Chrysler Club Conference

It was great to be back at Belmond Charleston Place this week, photographing the WP Chrysler Club sales meeting.

The program started off with a welcome reception for all the sales leaders and their significant others. My friend Gary and I partnered up to provide couples portraits, which Gary printed and delivered on-site for the guests to take home as a memento of the evening. We also photographed head-shots for the various dealership owners. Then everyone enjoyed a beautiful cocktail hour, followed by a fabulous dinner!

The next morning I photographed the business meeting, including all the networking opportunities, the keynote speakers, and of course the award presentations to the top sales leaders.  CONGRATULATIONS to Chris & Joel for their achievements!

At the end of the day, everyone gathered for a big group photo on the famous Grand Staircase. That was the last “official” duty before everyone dispersed to partake in their various free-time activities, including golf, shopping, carriage tours, etc.  As soon as I snapped the last frame, everyone scattered like school kids on the last day of class before summer break!  😉

I’ve been slowly incorporating the new Nikon Z system into some of my shooting. Although most of these images were photographed with my trusty Nikon D5, many were captured with the Z6II, which I’m very impressed with. However, there are still a few things that have left me wondering “why did they do that?!?”. The jury is still out as to whether I will fully switch over to mirrorless.  But so far it’s been fun to play with.  So stay tuned…

Headshots for First Citizens Bank

Yesterday morning it was time for another round of headshots for First Citizens Bank!

I’ve enjoyed working with the amazing team at First Citizens Bank for many years. They are always so much fun to work with!!! Several times a year I setup our portable head-shot studio at one of their offices to photograph updated portraits for those who want it, as well as to catch all the new members who have joined the team!

Nikon D5, Nikkor 70-200 f2.8, Sony XQD cards, Lenovo Yoga laptop, Manfrotto supports, Flashpoint speedlights, Westcott umbrellas, and Savage background.

Environmental Portraits for McMillan Pazden Smith Architecture

McMillan Pazden Smith has been struggling to get good environmental headshots of their team in Charleston. They’ve gone through two rounds with other photographers and just haven’t been happy with them.

Part of the reason is because they want a clean, bright, environmental style that reflects the “look” of their Charlotte office. While the Charlotte office has lots of bright colors, glass, and more modern architecture…the Charleston office is in an old historic building with lots of red brick and dark wood. But I made a site-visit to discuss their goals. And I accepted the challenge!

Arriving on location the day of the shoot, I re-arranged the lobby area to gain access to an acute angle that would give me the background I wanted. I overexposed the window a little bit to give the images a high-key style. I lit the inside walls of the conference room with two Flashpoint speedlights bouncing off the ceiling. I placed a white orchid from the lobby area into the corner for a bit of texture. I positioned the team members outside the conference room to catch a bit of the glass, and to separate them from the background. The portraits were lit with 4 more Flashpoint speedlights, using two Westcott shoot-through umbrellas. Everything was photographed with a Nikon D5 and a Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 set to ISO 400, f4, and 1/250 sec. I shot tethered to a Lenovo Yoga laptop so individuals could instantly look through their photos, make sure they were happy with their shots, and pick out their favorites right there on the spot.

We had a fantastic morning and everyone was super happy with how it all turned out! Many thanks to Kathryn and Carol for all their hard work setting this up and working with everyone’s schedules.

New CEO at South Carolina Community Loan Fund

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of photographing Nate, the new CEO at the South Carolina Community Loan Fund!
 
I met up with him outside their new office in Columbia. He is such a kind and gracious human being…full of fascinating stories from all of his world travels. I particularly loved his tales of climbing Huayna Picchu, the steep mountain peak overlooking Machu Picchu.
 
We had a great time and captured a variety of images for their newsletter.
 
Nikon D5, Nikkor 70-200 f2.8, Manfrotto tripod and light-stand, SB5000 off-camera speedlight, Godox softbox, Sony XQD card, ISO 400, f4, 1/160 sec.

The Magic of a Retouching Artist

Some of our clients, like Caldwell Commercial, use our talented retouching artists to keep their headshots and team photos updated!
 
As a company grows and expands, some employees move on, and new ones join the team. When this happens, most companies have me come out to photograph new headshots and re-do the team photo. However, deciding on a location, and gathering everyone back together periodically can be difficult with their hectic schedules. Bob Caldwell was a talented photographer in his day. So we worked together to come up with a “digital” backdrop that he liked for his company’s headshots as well as their group shot!
 
When a new member (or an adorable new mascot) joins the team, I come out and photograph them against clean wall in their office, send the images off to our our trusted and talented Retouching Lab, the artists do their magic, and PRESTO…we have a new headshot that matches everyone else, and a new team photo with the right faces in it! 🙂
 
Please help me welcome Aleah and Cooper to a fantastic team!!!

New Headshot at Weeks & Irvine Law

Katie is the newest member Weeks & Irvine. She’s from our sister city of Savannah, and has joined a wonderful team of attorneys here in Charleston! I had the pleasure of photographing her this morning at their Mt. Pleasant office. We had a BLAST!!! 🙂

Palmetto Community Care Headshots

I always love working with the fun, friendly, and beautiful team at Palmetto Community Care!
 
Like many businesses in America, Covid-19 had a substantial impact on the organization. Many employees had to start working from home. Much of the operation had to be restructured. As has happened a lot these days, some staff have moved on, opening opportunities for new team members to come on board. So we scheduled a fun photo-day to update everyone’s head-shots!
 
Many thanks to Brad, Kim, and Richard for all their hard work organizing everyone’s schedules. It was great to catch up with old friends…and meet so many new ones!