McKenzie’s Senior Portraits

We’ve been friends with Jim & Re FOREVER!!! They are such a neat couple that we used to hang out with all the time. We were so excited for them when they started their family with the birth of their adorable daughter, McKenzie.  A couple years later, Caleb joined the crew.  It’s hard to believe, but now McKenzie all grown up and about to graduate from high-school! 🙂

I had so much fun catching up with Jim & Re, and photographing McKenzie’s Senior Portraits. McKenzie and Caleb are best friends…so she invited him to be in a few photos with her, which I thought was super cool! She also requested we do her shoot in and around Joe Riley Waterfront Park, because she wanted to re-create a couple of her favorite portraits I had taken of her and Caleb during a family shoot there when they were little kids.  Isn’t that awesome?!?

McKenzie has grown up to be such a beautiful, thoughtful, and kind young lady. It was an honor and a pleasure to capture these portraits of her during this special time in her life!  Please help me in CONGRATULATING McKenzie on her up-coming graduation!!!

Emily & Halen are Engaged!!!

It was a pleasure photographing Emily & Halen’s beautiful engagement session yesterday!

We met up at The Post House in the old historic downtown Mt. Pleasant area. It was so much fun exploring the area. Plus they brought their adorable 2-year old beagle, Cooper to be in some of the shots! As an added bonus, their good friends Kelly & Chris joined us to help with Cooper. I owe them a huge “Thank You” for not only helping with Cooper, but also for recommending us to Emily & Halen!!! 🙂

After a few shots downtown, we headed over to the park at Pitt Street Pier. It was a gorgeous evening! The sun set was awesome, and the moonrise was surreal. We came away with some AMAZING photos showcasing Emily & Halen’s fun-loving personalities, and their love for each other.

I can’t wait to photograph their wonderful wedding this fall!!!

Mylo’s Puppy Portriats

Meet Mylo! He’s a super sweet 16-year old Pomeranian. He may be mostly deaf and nearly blind, but for being as old as he is Mylo is still active and in great health. I had so much fun hanging out with Mylo and his “parents”, Jocelyn and Lawrence, at Hampton Park last evening! He truly is a special pup who found a beautiful home and has had a wonderful life!!!

Hatfield Temple Law Firm

I had the pleasure of photographing Hood and Alec of Hatfield Temple yesterday for an upcoming article in Super Lawyers Magazine. The attorneys and staff were nothing but kind, sincere, and professional. They were an absolute pleasure to work with!

“When an unexpected tragedy turns your life upside down, the decisions you make after will spark a chain reaction, impacting the rest of your life. Of those decisions, choosing your legal team may be the most important. Our team of experienced, caring, and dedicated attorneys are prepared to advocate vigorously on your behalf.” – https://htlawsc.com/

Mounted to one wall of their conference room is the original façade to the old historic Florence Courthouse that was torn down to build the new judicial complex. What an iconic location for their portrait! I set up a “wall of light” with 4 Nikon SB-5000 flashes shooting through 2 Westcott 60″ umbrellas at camera right. The image was captured with a Nikon Z9 + Nikkor Z 24-70 f2.8 lens at ISO 400, f4, 1/60 sec.

CONGRATULATIONS to the team at Hatfield Temple!

Publix Pharmacy

It was a pleasure photographing Rosa at the Publix Pharmacy in North Charleston this morning! Rosa is going to be a featured associate in an upcoming article by Publix Supermarkets Inc. Her family immigrated from Hong Kong. A few years ago, Rosa left the family’s restaurant business to entered Pharmacy School. She’s worked hard for 4 long hears to reach her goal of becoming a pharmacist. And I wish her all the best as she begins her new career!

To cool down the sodium-vapor lighting in the store, I wanted a warm main-light. So I attached orange CTO gels on two SB-5000 flashes (Group A), and fired them through a 60″ Westcott umbrella. For the first couple poses outside the pharmacy, I also attached a CTO gel to a bare SB-5000 flash (Group B) in the background to use as a kicker-light, highlighting her hair and shoulders. For the ones inside the pharmacy, I wanted to add a splash of color. So I attached blue gels to two SB-5000 flashes (Group C), covered them with dome diffusers, and pointed them at the ceiling. All images were captured with a Nikon Z9 + Nikkor Z 24-70 f2.8 lens at ISO 200, f2.8, and 1/80th sec. Camera and lighting supports were provided by Manfrotto.

Please help me in congratulation Rosa on achieving her dreams!!!

McLeod Law Group

One of the best parts of my job is meeting new and interesting people!

The other day I got to meet an amazing team of attorneys at the McLeod Law Group. I was there photographing them for a profile article being written in Super Lawyers Magazine. Cooper Wilson was my main contact, who was super helpful with logistics, scheduling, and organizing their team. Mullins McLeod was the principal attorney, and had so many crazy stories from his time practicing law. Everyone was such a pleasure to work with and we came away with a variety of great shots for them to choose from.

Ultimately, they selected the one with the reflection in the conference room desk as their favorite! The images was captured on a Nikon Z9 with 24-120 f4 S lens placed just above the surface of the table using a Manfrotto tripod. To expose for the sky, I shot at ISO 200, f7.1, 1/250 sec. To create a wall of artificial light that would balance out that daylight, I added 4 SB-5000 speedlights firing through 2 Westcott 60″ umbrellas at camera left.

It was an absolute pleasure working with this fantastic team of attorneys! They have an impeccable record and a ton of 5-star reviews. Check them out at: https://mcleod-lawgroup.com/?utm_source=GMB&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=charleston.

Pierce Sloan Kennedy & Early

I’ve worked with the law firm of Pierce Sloan Kennedy & Early for several years now. You simply couldn’t ask for a more prompt, professional, and friendly group of attorneys! They like to have fun and always make me feel welcome.

This assignment was for a profile article being written about them in Super Lawyers Magazine. I used a big soft-box on camera-right to fill in the shadows of the first image. The rest were all captured with natural “open shade” lighting. Everything was shot on the Nikon Z9 with the Nikkor Z 70-200 f2.8 on Sony XQD cards.

Headshots for Thompson Turner Construction

Thompson Turner Construction is a major provider of new construction and renovation services throughout the Southeast. With high standards, great support, and full service, it’s no wonder they are so highly regarded in the industry!

It’s been my honor to photograph their team headshots over the last few years. Usually I set up in the hallway just outside their Mt. Pleasant office. That way, I don’t disrupt everyone diligently working away inside.

The kit I use includes a 53″ Savage studio gray backdrop, Manfrotto supports, Westcott light modifiers, Sony XQD cards, 4 SB-5000 flashes, a Z9 with a WR-R11 transmitter, and the Nikkor Z 70-200 f2.8S. This was my first time using the newest model of the venerable 70-200 on shoot with Thompson Turner. I recently upgraded from the previous model. I am TRULY impressed at how much quieter, sharper, and faster focusing it is than the previous generations I’ve owned over the years!

Morgan & Ryan’s Engagement Session at Hampton Park

I met Morgan’s parents at a fun event I was photographing for the Aucoin Family. When they asked me to photograph their daughter’s wedding, I was absolutely DELIGHTED!!!

With an unseasonably gorgeous 70-degree day yesterday, we headed out for a fun engagement shoot at Hampton Park. But not just your average engagement shoot, I was so excited when they brought their new baby boy, Wyatt to join us! The light was amazing. Wyatt was adorable. And we all had an amazing time exploring the park and capturing a wide variety of images to preserve this special time in their lives!

CONGRATULATIONS Morgan & Ryan! I can’t wait to be there for you guys at your wedding in just a few short months. 🙂

Pet Portraits

Cami and I are animal lovers! I always enjoy photographing pets. So while we were visiting family over the holidays, I offered to do a few portraits of their beloved 4-legged fur-babies!!! 🙂

(Nikon Z9 with animal eye-detect enabled, Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 Z, Sony XQD cards)

Frito Lay Headshots at Wild Dunes Resort

As part of our contract to cover Frito Lay’s Atlantic Region Rollout Meeting at Wild Dunes Resort, we were asked to provide headshot stations for anyone needing an updated portrait.

Over 200 employees signed up…and we had a very short window in which to photograph them before the general session began! So I reached out to my good friend Jason of Docent Prodigy to double up with me. Jason is my Moto Photo Adventures partner-in-crime (check out our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/motophotoadventures), and an amazing photographer in his own right!

We set up our “double-trouble” studio in the Boardroom at the Boardwalk Inn, using a Savage Studio Gray backdrop in a diagonal pattern to allow more shooting space on each side. Each station included a Z9, Flashpoint trigger, 2 Flashpoint Speedlights in a Westcott 60″ umbrella as the main light, 1 Flashpoint Speedlight in a 43″ Westcott umbrella as the fill light, and 1 Flashpoint Speedlight in a Westcott Apollo Strip soft box as a kicker light. Everything was placed on Manfrotto supports, held down by BoaBags for safety. In one station, the Z9 was mounted with 24-120S f4 lens (set at around 105mm). In the other station, the Z9 was mounted with a 70-200G f2.8 (also set around 105mm). Everything was shot at ISO 400, f5.6, 1/200, with the flashes dialed to 1/16 power. These settings ensured fast recycle time and no risk of running out of battery power in spite of such a large group.

Even though we had calculated a window of approximately 2 minutes per person, our task was made even more challenging when we were told we also had to rename each person’s headshot to include their region, first name, and last name. This meant each camera had to be tethered to a computer. We used Lenovo Yoga laptops for the task. But since Lightroom doesn’t yet support tethering to the Z9, we used Nikon NX Tether software for the job. It’s a simple, clean, and robust program. And the best part is, it allows you to press a shortcut key to bring up a renaming dialogue box before you shoot each person. This allowed us to input each person’s region, first, and last name into NX Tether before each client. Thus, each image was being automatically renamed by the program while it was transferring to the laptop.

The system worked beautifully, everyone was so friendly, and we had a BLAST!!!

Many thanks to Kate at Destination South, Jason with Docent Prodigy, and Donna & Tracey from Frito Lay for all their help. I couldn’t have done it without you!

Loesch Family at Rainbow Row

13 years ago, I had the pleasure of photographing Erik & Julia’s beautiful destination wedding in St. Thomas. Earlier this week, I got to photograph some fun family portraits for them near Rainbow Row in the old historic area of downtown Charleston. It makes my heart full to see them with their two adorable girls, a loving home, and a happy ever-after…