South Carolina Convenience & Petroleum Marketers Association at Sweetgrass Inn

Every summer I look forward to photographing this fun event at the Sweetgrass Inn on Wild Dunes Resort for the South Carolina Convenience & Petroleum Marketers Association.

SC-CPMA is the voice of the petroleum & convenience store industry in South Carolina. They serve their members by lobbying the General Assembly, multiple state agencies and the Congressional delegation on issues that impact the industry. Among the top issues they address are: underground and above-ground tank regulations, the SUPERB Fund, tobacco, alcohol, lottery sales, fuel taxes and much more.

The photography for this program is sponsored by Coca Cola Consolidated. What I do is bring out two photographers with two separate Portrait Stations for guests to choose from…one location is outdoors with an environmental background, the other is indoors with a studio background. My good friend and amazing photographer, Robbin, always photographs the indoors setup…while I sweat to death photographing the outdoors setup! šŸ™‚ After we’ve photographed each couple or family, we print out beautiful 5×7 portraits of each, and place them in an elegant black folio. The prints are placed on a table for guests to take home as a keepsake at the end of the evening. Everyone loves the instant gratification!

Brandy & Dan’s Hampton Park Engagement Photos

WOW!!! What an amazing sight greeted me at Hampton Park when I arrived for Brandy & Dan’s engagement session. The rains had just passed through Charleston, the sun was out, and a gorgeaous rainbow stretched across the sky!

Brandy & Dan arrived shortly thereafter. And we had an AMAZING time exploring the park, getting to know each other, and creating beautiful images together. As we returned to our cars, we realized there was a great chance for a brilliant sunset. So we zipped over to Brittlebank Park to capture a few dramatic silhouettes against that colorful sky!

CONTRATULATIONS Brandy & Dan! I can’t wait to be there for you guys on your wedding day!!!

Muro Family at Wild Dunes Beach

I’ve been photographing the Muro Family at their annual vacations to Charleston for many years. But each year it seems there’s always someone missing. Whether a family member was studying abroad, traveling, or just sick…it we always seem to be missing someone. But this year, we actually had EVERYONE TOGETHER!!!

It was so much fun catching up with the Muro family. They always treat me like family. And photographing their beach portrait session is always a highlight of my summer!!!

Center for Birds of Prey – Why Use Off-Camera Flash?!?

I frequently get asked: “Why do you use flash for outdoor portraits?” There are a ton of variables that I evaluate before starting a photo shoot. But paramount to them all is the QUALITY of the lighting. Whenever possible, I seek out beautiful natural light. For outdoor portraits, “open shade” is one of my favorites to work with. For indoor portraits, I look for soft “window light” to work with. But when the location is surrounded by trees, creating a gloomy greenish-blue color cast to the light, I pull out the flashes. If I don’t have beautiful natural light to work with, I create my own with speedlights!

That’s what happened in this photo session at the Charleston Center for Birds of Prey. In the first test-shot, you can see how muddy and unflattering the natural light is. Because we were in a clearing surrounded by trees, the only available light is coming from directly above Angelina, creating those sunken “racoon eyes” and a hotspot on her nose. So I mounted a Flashpoint eVolve 200 Pro in a large softbox on a Manfrotto light-stand, and placed it about 30-decgrees off to her left (the camera’s right). This gave me a fantastic directional main light, which created a soft contour to her face, cleaned up the skin color, and produced a nice catch-light in the eyes. Then I mounted a Flashpoint Zoom LiOn II on another Manfrotto light-stand, and covered it with a CTO (Color Temperature Orange) gel, which mimicks the color-balance of the late-afternoon setting sun. This speedlight was positioned behind the subject, aimed at the back of her hair, in a cross-light pattern opposite the main light. The result is a warm rim-light, which gave a golden glow to her beautiful hair, and helped separate her from the background.

Now that I had the lighting the way I wanted it, I mounted the Nikon Zf with the 70-200 f2.8 Z lens and a Flashpoint wireless trigger on a Manfrotto tripod…and the rest is magic!!!

The nice part about using this lighting setup is that it’s consistant and repeatable! Next time I show up to photograph a new staff member, whether it’s an overcast day or a bright sunny day, it doesn’t matter…the light hitting my subject will always be the same.

Katie’s Senior Portraits

Katie and her family were down here on vacation from Ohio. And she wanted some senior portraits that were “different” from all her friends. So we met up downtown and walked around the French Quarter, capturing a variety of cool shots of her with some Charleston cityscapes. The following day, I met up with her and her family at Magnolia Plantation for a little more of the “plantation feel” in her photos. Katie is a big photo-buff. So it was fun capturing her with her camera, and sharing a few photography tips as we walked around the beautiful property.

CONGRATULATIONS Katie! We wish you all the best as you embark on this new chapter in your life!!!

Cyrus Family on Kiawah Island

This was the 7th Year in a row that I’ve had the pleasure of photographing the Cyrus family during their annual vacation to Kiawah Island! Back when we started, little Emma wasn’t even born…and Mason was less than a year old. My have they grown!!! šŸ™‚

We kept to our tradition of meeting at The Ocean Course at sunset. The skies had an etherial haze…apparently from the massive forest fires enveloping Canada this summer! But with the unseasonably mild temperatures, and beautiful warm light, we didn’t complain. It was so much fun to catch up with this beautiful family! We had a BLAST and came away with tons of great shots to commemorate another year…

Headshots for Seamon Whiteside in Greenville

I work a lot with the engineering firm of Seamon Whiteside here in Charleston. But occasionally they request I travel to one of their other offices to photograph a project they’ve been working on, marketing photos, or headshots for new team members. Last week I had the privilege of driving to their new office in Greenville to photograph several new employees. We all had a great time! The guys seemed to enjoy hamming it up for the camera. And the photos turned out fantastic!!!

(Nikon Z9, Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 Z, Godox AD200Pro, Glow softbox, and Manfrotto supports)

Sophia’s Senior Portraits

I had a lovely conversation with Sophia’s mom, who was looking for some fun family photos, as well as senior portratis of her oldest daughter before she headed off to college. We decided to meet at Waterfront Park downtown, exploring the surrounding French Quarter and nearby Rainbow Row. The previous day’s rain had cooled things off nicely. So we ended up with a PERFECT day!!!

Sophia was absolutely stunning! Plus she was on the cheer team. So she was adventurous enough to handle all kinds of fun poses with ease. My favorite is the one from the drone, with her laying down on the cobblestone surface of Middle Atlantic Wharf. Her three sisters were a ton of fun as well. And I could tell Jen and Nick were incredibly proud of all their girls!

CONGRATULATIONS Sophia!!! We wish you all the best as you embark on this new chapter in your life…

Savannah’s Graduation Photos at Clemson University

We’ve been photographing Kristin’s family photos since her girls were knee high to a grasshopper! It’s incredibly hard to believe these giggling little girls are all grown up!!!

Last week Savannah graduated Summa Cum Laude from Clemson University. She had just returned from a semester abroad, studying in Australia. So she had an AMAZING tan! šŸ™‚ It was such a pleasure exploring her campus and capturing a variety of portraits to commemorate her time at Clemson. I know she’s going to miss it, and all the friends she’s made there. But we are super excited for whatever the next chapter in life brings Savannah’s way…

Headshots for State Farm

Kevin’s father-in-law, Troy, was a well-known State Farm agent in Charleston. After Kevin joined the family, he followed in Troy’s footsteps, opening his own very successful State Farm office in Bluffton. Fast forward to today, and I had the pleasure of photographing Kevin’s son, also named Troy, who has joined his father’s firm. It was almost surreal to see “little” Troy all grown up after knowing his parents from before he was even born!!! While I was there, I had the pleasure of photographing a couple other fun staff members as well.

If you’re looking for a new insurance agent, I HIGHLY recommend Kevin: https://www.statefarm.com/agent/us/sc/bluffton/kevin-sevier-g738v1ys000. He has the nicest staff. And he treats his clients like family!

Premier Physical Therapy

Getting 7 staff members to smile, look at the camera, and keep their eyes open for a new staff photo is hard enough. Adding 4 dogs to the mix makes it NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE!!! But we pulled it off! šŸ™‚

CONGRATULATIONS to Jill and her team at Premier Physical Therapy for another successful year…

Grant’s Senior Portraits at The Citadel

A couple years ago, I had the pleasure of photographing Senior Portratis for Grant’s two older brothers. They were twins! And they also graduated from The Citadel. I felt incredibly honored that Grant’s parents were so pleased with his older brother’s portraits, that they remembered me and called to book me for Grant’s portraits too!

It was a beautiful afternoon for our shoot. Grant had a great sense of humor, was super friendly, but clearly had leadership and organizational traits as well. He had some excellent ideas of shots he wanted, which were meaningful to him. And we worked quickly to be able to squeeze in 3 outfits into what would have normally been a 1 outfit session!!!

CONGRATULATIONS Grant! Whatever military project you land on after graduation is going to be lucky to have you.