Headshots for the Wasden Banias Imigration Litigation Team

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

“Todayā€™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!!!

Gadol Family in Leopard Print

Toni and Billy are so fun and creative!!!
With this year’s family portrait session they dug back to the Great Gatsby days for a high-fashion look, complete with leather pants, bow ties, and leopard-print! We had so much fun wandering the charming streets of downtown, discovering historic backdrops to compliment the eclectic theme of their photo shoot. 🙂
Nikon D5, Nikkor 24-120 f4, Nikon SB-5000 off-camera flash, Godox 24″ softbox, Manfrotto supports.

Gehrig Family

I am so blessed to work with some of the neatest families here in Charleston! But every now and then, a family comes along that I just “click” with. The Gehrig’s were absolutely AMAZING!!! Their girls were truly adorable. And we all had so much fun, photographing a variety of great images while we strolled around the beautiful streets and alleys along Rainbow Row.

Haggarty Family at Waterfront Park

Cami’s friend, Christie, is also one of the trainers at her gym. Yesterday afternoon we met up with her and Shaun and their adorable kids for a fun family portrait session!

We started out at the pineapple fountain at Waterfront Park, exploring all the surrounding alleys and backdrops as we went. Then we zipped down to Liberty Square to capture a final shot in front of the “Joy” sign with the glowing pineapple fountain inside.

It was indeed a real joy hanging out with this amazing family and capturing these beautiful photos for them!!!

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.Ā  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.Ā  As soon as I snapped the last frame, everyone scattered like school kids on the last day of class before summer break!Ā  šŸ˜‰

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.Ā  But so far it’s been fun to play with.Ā  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!
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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.
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We had a great time and captured a variety of images for their newsletter.
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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.

Hoover Family at Rainbow Row

Last year I had so much fun photographing Kellie, Nicolas, and their adorable little 1-year old at Azalea Park. So I was super excited when they asked me to photograph their family again this year at Rainbow Row!!! šŸ™‚

We met up at Waterfront Park and had a fun little “walk-about”, strolling up one street and down another, looking for cute little vignettes of Charlston’s charm. But of course the highlight was the colorful homes along E. Bay Street known as Rainbow Row!

Brooks was all grown up into an adorable 2-year old. Her infectious smile, and the gleeful clapping of her tiny hands when she was amused, totally made my day!

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!
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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!
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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! šŸ™‚
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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!!! šŸ™‚

McCue Family on Isle of Palms

I had so much fun with Aimee, Chad, and their adorable kids on last year’s family portrait session! So when Aimee told me her sister’s family was joining us this year, I knew it was going to be a hoot!!! šŸ™‚

It was a beautiful fall evening when we all met up at a beach access on IOP. The summer heat had finally cooled off, and the lighting was magical! The chemistry between the two families was hilarious. We laughed A LOT, goofed off even more, and came away with a ton of beautiful images!!!

Many thanks to Aimee for all her hard work coordinating schedules and outfits. šŸ™‚