It was awesome working with Dorchester County PIO, Michelle, again this week!
We photographed updated photos of Ashley River Park, the new Ladson Fire Station, and the soon-to-open North Charleston Library. Everything was captured with Nikon Z9 camera, Nikkor Z 14-24 f4, 24-120 f4, 70-200 f2.8 lenses, and DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone.
Photographing Sarah & Cody’s maternity shoot last year was so much fun! So imagine my excitement when they called to ask if I could photograph family portraits with their beautiful new daughter, Emory?!?
To make it even more special, they also brought Sarah’s dad, Billy, for a 3-gerneration photo. And to top it all off, her dad brought his beautiful 14-year old dog, Fred!!! We had a wonderful time capturing a nice variety of lovely portraits in Summerville’s picturesque Azalea Park.
I owe a HUGE Thank You to our mutual friend, Andrea, for recommending us to Sarah & Cody. It’s been such a pleasure getting to know them. And I can’t wait to watch their amazing family grow! 🙂
I’ve never been to a “swearing in” ceremony before. So when Michelle asked me to stay a few minutes at the end of our photo shoot to capture a few action shots of new Council Members taking their oath of office, I was absolutely delighted!
We had just wrapped up photographing a variety of drone shots, group photos, and headshots for various departments at the Dorchester County office building in Summerville. We had also photographed headshots, group photos, and some interior marketing shots of the Council Chambers. So to be able to stick around and see the government in action was pretty neat!
Many thanks to PIO Michelle for her hard work organizing and scheduling these photo shoots. I always enjoy working with her, and appreciate all the fun challenges she throws at me!
I had another fun photo shoot for Sheally Insurance this morning. This time I got to photograph the team at the brand new Summerville Office!
(Nikon D5, Nikkor 70-200 f2.8, 5 Flashpoint Speedlights, Lenovo Yoga laptop, Manfrotto stands, and Westcott umbrellas)
Michelle at Dorchester County has been an absolute pleasure to work with the last couple of weeks.
We’ve been photographing lots of department photos, team group shots, and various properties around the county for use in their marketing and promotional material. Yesterday we photographed headshots for a number of key staff members, as well as group shots of their board of directors.
Wanting the photos to have a cheerful “outdoorsy” feel, we elected to set up at The Pavilion inside the new Ashley River Park. It’s a GEORGEOUS park with tons to offer. And The Pavilion is definitely an architectural highlight! Everyone was so much fun to work with and we had a great time!
(Nikon D5, Sony XQD Cards, Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 VRII, 3 Speedlights in a Westcott Apollo 50″ softbox for main light, 1 bare bulb Speedlight as a kicker, Manfrotto tripod and stands, BoaBags to hold everything in place during wind gusts.)
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! 🙂
I truly enjoy working with the fabulous team at the Weeks & Irvine Law Firm! Not only do I shoot for them, I use them for my personal real estate transactions. If you’re looking for an excellent firm to handle your closing, look no further than www.weekslawfirm.net.
My relationship with them began over a decade ago when I had the pleasure of photographing Robbie’s wedding. I also photograph a number of events for the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors (CTAR), which are sponsored by Weeks & Irvine. And of course I get to meet and photograph all their attorney’s headshots for the website.
Last week I got to travel to Greenville to photograph their newest office, which is in a really neat restored brick building. Carson was great to work with and we captured a variety of different expressions for him to choose from. Many thanks to Nicole for all her hard work organizing these photo shoots.
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!!! 🙂
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I’ve been extremely happy with my “Holy Trinity” of Nikon cameras…the D5, D850, and D500. In my opinion, these are 3 of the most formidable DSLR cameras on the market. They have similar menus, focusing systems, and ergonomics…allowing me to seamlessly switch from one to another. Yet they each have their unique strengths! D5 = fast and durable with extreme high-iso performance. D850 = high resolution with fantastic dynamic range. D500 = light and nimble with extra reach from the crop sensor.
Until recently, mirrorless cameras have been lacking. But with new strides in mirrorless technology, I thought I should get out and play with one! So I called my friend David Archer, who recently purchased a Nikon Z6II. And I called my friend Gary Coleman, who is also considering adding a Z6II to his lineup as well. My friend Valerie Weeks brought her beautiful daughter, Bethany. And my friend Sarah Hairell brought Brian, an exchange student from Tanzania who is staying with them. Bethany and Brian were fantastic models and we had so much fun working with them! Gary was hilarious to work with, as usual! And David was so kind and generous to let us play with his camera and answer questions for us.
So what do I think of the Z6II after about an hour of real-world experience? It’s a pretty cool little camera!!! It doesn’t seem to have the same “robustness” as my DSLR bodies. But it is smaller and lighter. It doesn’t have the same speed and responsiveness that I’m used to. But it certainly is quieter. It will take a little getting used to the EVF. But being able to “see” the exposure through the electronic viewfinder is pretty cool. There will be a small learning curve to get acquainted with the new menu items. But ergonomically it still feels as “at home” as any other Nikon in my hands. There are definitely a couple things I truly wish Nikon had included, such as the 10-pin terminal for use with their wireless flash transmitter. But there are certain things that I absolutely loved, such as the eye-detect autofocus system!
The Z6II is a beautiful little camera! I’m sure one will find it’s way into my bag soon. In the meantime, I can’t wait to see what the next generation of mirrorless cameras will bring!!!
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It was a pleasure photographing the new team members at Weeks & Irvine Law this morning! This is such a great firm. And they always seem to hire the nicest people!!!
I set up our wireless portrait studio in their “children’s play room”. It’s pretty tight in there! But somehow, between all the bean-bag chairs, xylophones, picture books, and puzzles, I squeezed in a 5’x7′ backdrop, 3 Manfrotto light-stands, 4 SB-5000 flashes, a 60″ Westcott umbrella, a tripod, a D5 with 70-200 f2.8 zoom, and a Lenovo laptop! 🙂
Here are a few favorites and fun out-takes…
I’ve known Rosanna for many years now. I met her while photographing headshots for the company she used to work for. She is such a great person, always smiling, and always so much fun to be around!
When she started with Highgarden Real Estate, I knew Rosanna was going to be a HUGE success!!! Check out her website at www.RosannaFindsHomes.com and give her a call if you’re looking to buy or sell your home. I can’t recommend her enough!
I had such a blast catching up with Rosanna, and creating some new portraits for her to use. It was a beautiful spring day with gorgeous late-afternoon light streaming through the trees. Here are a few of my favorites…
Charleston Business Photographer, Charleston Headshot Photographer, Charleston Head-shot Photographer, Charleston Portrait Photographer, Charleston Real Estate Photographer, Chris & Cami Photography, D5, Nikkor, Nikon, Nikon Pro, Nikon USA, OCF, Off-Camera Flash, SB-5000, Sbeedlight, Summerville Business Photographer, Summerville Headshot Photographer, Summerville Head-shot Photographer, Summerville Portrait Photographer, Summerville Real Estate Photographer
Last night I had the pleasure of photographing portraits for my good friend, and amazing photographer, Frank!
We created a natureal portrait studio in his back yard with the beautiful woods as the backdrop and an elegant earth-tone chair for posing. I used the Nikon D5 with the Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 on a Manfrotto Carbon Fiber tripod. For lighting, one SB-5000 was fired through a 24″ Lastolite EZY Box on camera left, and a bare SB-5000 with 1/2 CTO gel on it was fired from behind the chair to camera right. Since it was such an overcast day, this gave a little character and warmth to mimic a setting sun. Both were triggered with the new Nikon AWL system using the WR-10 transmitter.
Thanks for a great evening, Frank!
