Last night was another awesome beach session with the Muro Family. I’ve been photographing their portraits on Isle of Palms every summer for 10 years! They have taken me in and made me feel like family. It is always such a pleasure re-connecting this special group of kind, generous, and amazing people!!!
I love photographing all weddings. But it’s always EXTRA special to photograph a close friend’s wedding. Last week I had the pleasure of capturing the amazing wedding celebration of our long-time friend and neighbor, Frank, and his beautiful fiancé, Lea!
I met Frank many years ago at a wedding where he was the videographer and I was the photographer. His background in the TV industry has made him an incredible story-teller. Our shared passion for capturing the love between two people was the start of a wonderful friendship. Finding out he lived just 4 doors down from Cami and I made it even easier for us to grab coffee, go to lunch, or just stop by for a chat. Frank is an AMAZING guy…and we couldn’t be happier for him and Lea!
Although I haven’t known Lea nearly as long, it’s been such a blessing to watch their relationship grow and blossom. Lea has a kindness and gentleness about her that speaks volumes to her character. The way she treats Frank with love and respect, and the way she “gets” his corny jokes, lets me know know they are a match made in heaven. 🙂 Lea is also an amazing mother to her son Josiah!
Lea & Frank planned an intimate celebration on a gorgeous summer evening aboard The Carolina Girl Yacht. Arriving early, they shared a very special First Look in the picturesque park near the dock. After portraits with family and friends, we boarded the yacht for a fantastic cruise around Charleston Harbor. Close family and friends witnessed a touching ceremony…with a few funny movie quotes thrown in for good humor. The couple then shared their First Dance before sunset portraits on the bow. Afterwards, Frank & Lea joined guests in the main cabin for dinner. The delightful evening continued on the top deck with dancing and mingling as we enjoyed the gentle ocean breezes until the captain brought us back to the dock.
Many thanks to Camille, Sarah Beth, and Captain Trent for going above and beyond. And a special thanks to Captain Bob for making a guest-star appearance to make sure all was ship-shape before our departure!
It was an absolute honor to photograph Lea & Frank’s surprise proposal earlier this year: https://chrisandcami.com/lea-frank-are-engaged/. And it was an even deeper honor to be there for them to capture all these special moments of their wedding day!
A gentle breeze and soft lighting gave us the PERFECT evening for a summer family portrait session! I met up with the Silverio Family at the picturesque Hampton Park. They were in town enjoying their bi-annual family reunion. It was especially neat to have grandma Jean with us, celebrating her 83rd trip around the sun!
Many thinks to Cynthia for helping organize everyone. We had a BLAST and came away with some wonderful images!
(Nikon Z9, Nikkor 24-120 f4S, SB-5000 Speedlight, Lexar XQD Cards, Manfrotto supports)
After weeks and weeks of planning every detail for Nick’s secret proposal, we had to call a last-minute audible!!!
Nick and I had worked so hard to come up with the perfect plan for him to ask his beautiful girlfriend, Nicole, to marry him. We had picked a pristine beach at the northern end of Kiawah Island as the backdrop. We had chosen the perfect time of day to catch that “golden hour” light before sunset. But all our plans fell apart minutes before our scheduled time when the skies opened up, pelting buckets of rain down from the sky!!!
Fortunately, Nick and Nicole’s parents had secretly flown in to surprise the couple after the proposal. Since his parents were staying at The Sanctuary, they quickly scouted out a secluded spot indoors and out of the rain. They even placed a trail of rose petals leading Nick to “the spot” where he would do his magic. It worked out PERFECTLY!!!
Arriving right on cue, Nicole said later that she could sense Nick was acting a little strange. But she wasn’t sure why? Then Nick hit his mark, turned to face the love of his life, and dropped to one knee. It was a truly magical moment. Nicole burst into a HUGE grin as she realized what was going on…and she couldn’t stop smiling the rest of the night!
Afterwar she said “Yes”, we were able to incorporate the beautiful hallways, archways, and grand staircase of the famous hotel into a fun authentic engagement shoot. I got some neat candids of Nick & Nicole’s parents surprising them and checking out Nicole’s AMAZING ring. And of course we captured a few nice family portraits to commemorate the occasion.
CONGRATULATIONS Nick & Nicole!!! We wish you all the best as you begin your new journey together!
It was both a pleasure and a challenge photographing the FX Dance Performance at the Queen Street Playhouse!
Capturing explosive movement in extremely low light conditions is probably the most difficult scanario for any camera to handle. But even with pushing the Z9 to 8,000 and 16,000 ISO, I was very impressed.
Many thanks to Allie for inviting us. She did an amazing job leading and choreographing this talented group of dancers!
Joy and Dr. Tim brought their beautiful family to Kiawah Island in celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary! It was a pleasure photographing their family portraits on the amazing grand staircase inside The Sanctuary!!!
It’s been a while since I’ve worked with Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd PA. This morning I was back at their office photographing new headshots for attorneys that have recently joined the team, as well as updated headshots for several attorneys have have been there a while.
(Nikon D5, Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 VRII, 4 SB-5000 flashes, Westcott umbrellas, Manfrotto stands, and Lenovo Yoga laptop)
SHE SAID YES!!!
It was such an honor capturing Richard’s Surprise Proposal to Stephanie on Folly Beach last evening!
This amazing couple met at Southwest College, where Stephanie played hard to get at first. But before long, her and Richard became inseparable. They’ve been best friends ever since. After 5 years together, Richard FINALLY dropped to his knee at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean and asked Stephanie to be his wife. 🙂
While making plans to vacation on Folly Beach together, Stephanie thought it would be fun to schedule a couple’s session. Since Richard had already bought the ring, and was trying to think of the perfect time to pop the question, he thought this could work in his favor. Together, he and I worked out a secret phrase so that half-way through their couple’s session, he would know it was time to do his magic. Richard’s brother had joined us under the ruse of “helping hold your phones and sunglasses”. Unknown to Stephanie, he was also secretly hiding the ring! At our pre-determined time of 8:00 PM, I distracted Stephanie by asking to photograph a couple shots of her by herself…giving Richard time to get the ring from David. Richard then took Stephanie’s hand and led her down the shoreline for a little privacy. Facing her with waves gently lapping at their feet, he opened his heart and asked her to marry him. It was SO AWESOME!!!
CONGRATULATIONS Richard & Stephanie! We wish you all the best as you begin this beautiful new stage in your journey together…
Ever since I photographed her wedding many years ago, it’s been such a pleasure having Dr. Lori in our lives!
Not only did we photograph her wedding, we’ve photographed family portraits for her family, and marketing photos for her practice at Belle Hall Eye Care. She’s such a great person, and so knowledgeable about her profession, that soon we were also clients of HERS!!! Being that my eyes are an integral part of what I do, I don’t trust my eye care to just anyone!
So when she decided to move to Aiken, Cami and I were delighted when she asked if we’d travel to photograph marketing photos for her new practice! And we were even more delighted when she agreed to continue as our eye doctor!!! If you’re anywhere near Aiken, check her out at www.aikeneyecare.com.
We had so much fun catching up with Dr. Lori, photographing images for her website, and marketing material, plus of course getting a “clean bill of health” on our eyes. 🙂
Last week I found myself on an assignment in the dark recesses of a 911 call center. Given extremely limited time to work with, I channeled my inner Joe McNally, placed a single SB5000 with a blue gel on it in the background, and hid a single SB5000 with a CTO gel behind the bank of monitors. Click…click…click…and I was escorted back out so as not to distract them any further from their high-stress jobs!
(Before and after with Nikon Z9, 24-70 f2.8 S, ISO 1600, f2.8, 1/40s, WR-R11 transmitter, 2x SB5000 flashes)
