Credit One Charleston Open – Drone Photos

Every spring, it’s an absolute honor to be invited back as the official photographer of the Credit One Charleston Open!

Since 1973, the Charleston Open has been a pioneer in women’s professional sports, creating milestones that have directly influenced the popularity of women’s professional tennis. It was the first women’s tennis event to offer $100,000 in prize money. The tournament was the first women’s event to be broadcast on network television. More recently, the Credit One Charleston Open was named WTA 500 Tournament of the Year. Kicking off the clay season, it’s grown to be the largest women’s professional tennis tournament in North America.

During one of the tournament’s night sessions, we had a great crowd and nice colors in the sky. So I was tasked with getting some stadium shots with my drone. Obtaining proper authorization first, I launched the DJI Mavic 3 Pro just before sunset. Aside from this drone’s amazing image quality, I love how long the battery lasts! I was able to circle the stadium several times, capturing a variety of different angles, as well as the changing light throughout the evening. While the sun set behind the horizon and the skies transitioned to the deep blue colors of twilight, the players battled on!

Credit One Charleston Open – Day 3

Every spring, it’s an absolute honor to be invited back as the official photographer of the Credit One Charleston Open!

Since 1973, the Charleston Open has been a pioneer in women’s professional sports, creating milestones that have directly influenced the popularity of women’s professional tennis. It was the first women’s tennis event to offer $100,000 in prize money. The tournament was the first women’s event to be broadcast on network television. More recently, the Credit One Charleston Open was named WTA 500 Tournament of the Year. Kicking off the clay season, it’s grown to be the largest women’s professional tennis tournament in North America.

Day 3 of the tournament saw the action ramp up to full speed! We had tons of great matches, autograph sessions, social media influencers, and TV appearances. The highlight for me was covering my favorite player, Shelby Rogers, winning her first match as she begins her big comeback from injury. I had the absolute pleasure of photographing her proposal, engagement, and wedding last year!

Credit One Charleston Open – Media Hour

Every spring, it’s an absolute honor to be invited back as the official photographer of the Credit One Charleston Open!

Since 1973, the Charleston Open has been a pioneer in women’s professional sports, creating milestones that have directly influenced the popularity of women’s professional tennis. It was the first women’s tennis event to offer $100,000 in prize money. The tournament was the first women’s event to be broadcast on network television. More recently, the Credit One Charleston Open was named WTA 500 Tournament of the Year. Kicking off the clay season, it’s grown to be the largest women’s professional tennis tournament in North America.

One of the main events on Day 3 of the tournament is Media Hour. This is when mainstream media, photographers, and press are granted unfettered access to the top seeds of the tournament. The players are asked questions for upcoming news articles, interviewed for TV broadcasts, photographed for various media outlets, and have a chance to autograph tournament memorabilia. This year’s participants included Jessica Pegula, Maria Sakkari, Ons Jabeur, Emma Navaro, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Madison Keys, Elina Svitolina, and Victoria Azarenka.

Credit One Charleston Open – Player Party

Every spring, it’s an absolute honor to be invited back as the official photographer of the Credit One Charleston Open!

Since 1973, the Charleston Open has been a pioneer in women’s professional sports, creating milestones that have directly influenced the popularity of women’s professional tennis. It was the first women’s tennis event to offer $100,000 in prize money. The tournament was the first women’s event to be broadcast on network television. More recently, the Credit One Charleston Open was named WTA 500 Tournament of the Year. Kicking off the clay season, it’s grown to be the largest women’s professional tennis tournament in North America.

After Qualifying Rounds are completed on Day 2, and before the Main Draw of the tournament begins, all the players, coaches, and VIPs get together for the Player Party. It’s sort of the tournament’s way of welcoming the players to Charleston! This year’s party was held at The Peacock (formerly The Habit), right across from the Customs House in downtown Charleston. I got to photograph all the purple carpet runway-shots as players and guests arrived. What a fun night!!!

Credit One Charleston Open – Day 2

Every spring, it’s an absolute honor to be invited back as the official photographer of the Credit One Charleston Open!

Since 1973, the Charleston Open has been a pioneer in women’s professional sports, creating milestones that have directly influenced the popularity of women’s professional tennis. It was the first women’s tennis event to offer $100,000 in prize money. The tournament was the first women’s event to be broadcast on network television. More recently, the Credit One Charleston Open was named WTA 500 Tournament of the Year. Kicking off the clay season, it’s grown to be the largest women’s professional tennis tournament in North America.

Day 2 of the tournament found me covering tons of action! The first two days are known as Qualifying Rounds. These are players who aren’t high enough in the rankings to make the Main Draw of the tournament, and have to “play their way in”. The winners from the “Qualies” move into the Main Draw on Day 3. Plus it was Family Weekend, which means I got to photograph lots of player appearances like Caroline Wozniaki at Talking Tennis on the grand lawn, Sloan Stephens signing autographs and posing for photos with her fans, Jessie Pegula promoting her new line of cosmetics and interacting with her fans, etc.

Credit One Charleston Open – Iconic Photo Shoot

Every spring, it’s an absolute honor to be invited back as the official photographer of the Credit One Charleston Open!

Since 1973, the Charleston Open has been a pioneer in women’s professional sports, creating milestones that have directly influenced the popularity of women’s professional tennis. It was the first women’s tennis event to offer $100,000 in prize money. The tournament was the first women’s event to be broadcast on network television. More recently, the Credit One Charleston Open was named WTA 500 Tournament of the Year. Kicking off the clay season, it’s grown to be the largest women’s professional tennis tournament in North America.

Early on Day 2 of the tournament I got to capture the tournament’s Iconic Photo Shoot. This is a tradition every year where two top players are chosen to join me and the video team at an iconic location, indicative of our beautiful city and the lowcountry area, for a private photo session. This year the players selected were 2023 Guadalajara Open Champion, Maria Sakkari (Greece) and 2021 Monterrey Open Champion, Leylah Fernandez (Canada). The location for this year’s shoot was Shem Creek Pier. Both Maria and Leylah were fun, friendly, and wonderful to work with!

Credit One Charleston Open – Day 1

Every spring, it’s an absolute honor to be invited back as the official photographer of the Credit One Charleston Open!

Since 1973, the Charleston Open has been a pioneer in women’s professional sports, creating milestones that have directly influenced the popularity of women’s professional tennis. It was the first women’s tennis event to offer $100,000 in prize money. The tournament was the first women’s event to be broadcast on network television. More recently, the Credit One Charleston Open was named WTA 500 Tournament of the Year. Kicking off the clay season, it’s grown to be the largest women’s professional tennis tournament in North America.

Day 1 of the tournament had lots of tennis action, tons of activities on the Grand Lawn, live Tennis Talks with players, and even a Padel exhibition match. Padel, sometimes called Padel Tennis, is a racket sport of Mexican origin, typically played in doubles on a glass-enclosed court that is slightly smaller than a doubles tennis court. Although Padel shares the same scoring system as tennis, the rules, strokes, and technique are different.

Credit One Charleston Open – Charity ProAm

Every spring, it’s an absolute honor to be invited back as the official photographer of the Credit One Charleston Open!

Since 1973, the Charleston Open has been a pioneer in women’s professional sports, creating milestones that have directly influenced the popularity of women’s professional tennis. It was the first women’s tennis event to offer $100,000 in prize money. The tournament was the first women’s event to be broadcast on network television. More recently, the Credit One Charleston Open was named WTA 500 Tournament of the Year. Kicking off the clay season, it’s grown to be the largest women’s professional tennis tournament in North America.

Arriving early on the first day of Qualifying Rounds, I got to photograph the Celebrity Pro-Am benefitting Madison Keys’ non-profit, Kindness Wins. Some of the celebrity players included Tracy Austin, Jessica Pegula, Shelby Rogers, Jennifer Brady, Emma Navarro, Taylor Townsend, and so many more.

Credit One Charleston Open – Pre Tournament

Every spring, it’s an absolute honor to be invited back as the official photographer of the Credit One Charleston Open!

Since 1973, the Charleston Open has been a pioneer in women’s professional sports, creating milestones that have directly influenced the popularity of women’s professional tennis. It was the first women’s tennis event to offer $100,000 in prize money. The tournament was the first women’s event to be broadcast on network television. More recently, the Credit One Charleston Open was named WTA 500 Tournament of the Year. Kicking off the clay season, it’s grown to be the largest women’s professional tennis tournament in North America.

The week before the tournament began, I had the pleasure of photographing some pre-event photos! Working with the new DJI Mavic 3 Pro, I got some cool drone shots of the grounds. Then I brought out the Z9 for details of the trophy. And I even caught a few practice shots of last year’s champion, Ons Jabeur!!!

Music Movement 7th Annual East Coast Charity Golf Tournament

Music Movement is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that develops and funds music-centric programs, scholarships, and events to improve the lives of young people with Autism and learning differences. The organization hosts several major fundraisers throughout the year. One of them is the popular Annual Music Movement Charity Golf Tournament at the beautiful Dunes West Golf Club in Mount Pleasant, SC. Proceeds from the tournament benefit their cause of changing the lives of the young people they serve.

I had an absolute pleasure photographing the tournament and reception this year. In spite of the inclimate weather, everyone still showed up and had a great time at the event!!!

Palmetto ADV Rally

This weekend I had the pleasure of participating in the 3rd annual Palmetto ADV Rally! It was so fun re-connecting with old riding buddies, and meeting new ones. Our YouTube channel of @MotoPhotoAdventures was well represented with Jason, Steve, and I all being there together. We led a couple of the group rides to showcase how beautiful the lowcountry is, stayed up ’till all hours solving the world’s problems around the campfire with our fellow riders, and supporting our awesome sponsors like Moto Camp Nerd, SC Moto Lawyer Rick Stewart, and ADV Gourmet. Plus we were able to reconnect with our fellow YouTubers, Greg Simpson at The Bearded Grump and Frank Cone at One Old Man Riding! What a great weekend…we’re already looking forward to the 2025 PAR!!!

US Grains Council 21st International Marketing Conference – Guatemala (Day 3)

In the heart of Guatemala City, amidst the bustling streets and vibrant culture, the 21st International Marketing Conference hosted by the US Grains Council unfolded at the prestigious Westin Camino Real Hotel. As a photographer tasked with capturing the essence of this significant event, I embarked on a visual journey that not only documented moments but also encapsulated the spirit of collaboration, innovation, and global connectivity.

Nestled against the backdrop of Guatemala’s rich history and diverse landscapes, the Westin Camino Real Hotel provided an exquisite setting for the conference. Its elegant architecture and modern amenities served as the perfect canvas for a gathering of international delegates, industry experts, and policymakers, all convened with a shared goal of advancing global marketing strategies for grains. From the moment I stepped into the conference halls, I was immersed in a whirlwind of activity and engagement…a testament to the connections being forged, both professionally and personally, as delegates from across the globe exchanged ideas, insights, and experiences. Whether it was a passionate speaker captivating the audience or delegates engrossed in deep conversation during networking breaks, every click of the shutter aimed to preserve the energy and synergy of the conference.

Beyond the confines of the meeting rooms, the vibrant culture of Guatemala City provided an enriching backdrop for networking opportunities and social events. From exploring local markets teeming with colors and flavors to capturing candid interactions over traditional Guatemalan cuisine, my lens became a conduit for bridging cultural divides and fostering understanding among attendees. At the heart of the conference were discussions centered around innovation and market development strategies within the grains industry. As speakers shared insights into emerging trends, technological advancements, and sustainable practices, I endeavored to visually convey the spirit of innovation that permeated every aspect of the event.

As I reflect on my experience photographing the 21st International Marketing Conference for the US Grains Council, I am reminded of the profound impact that such gatherings can have in fostering connections, sparking innovation, and driving positive change on a global scale.