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Jen & Luke’s wedding last week was characterized by the charm of the beautiful little city in which it was held. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is a delightful place to get married, full of history and romance. The tall white columns, red brick walkways, and huge arched windows make for a very picturesque setting. The reception was held at The Summer House…one of my favorite little reception locations. The staff there is always so friendly and fun to work with. One of my favorite DJ’s, Eddie L of Pro Wedding Entertainment, was there to keep everyone tapping their toes, clapping their hands, and EVEN performing a little Madonna impersonation during “Vogue”! Girls, you KNOW who you are!!! 🙂 But I must say, MOST of the charm from this wedding came from experiencing the love and respect this young couple shared for each another.

I truly was blessed to be with you guys on this special day. And I can’t thank Chris & Sarah enough (who’s wedding I photographed HOW long ago?!?) for recommending me to you. Congratulations Jen & Luke!

See the rest of the photos in their Online Gallery…

Signature Kitchens & Baths is one of our favorite longtime clients. The designs and quality installations Jim and Linda McLain and their staff come up with are truly works of architectural art in themselves! A few days ago, Linda asked me to photograph this kitchen they had totally redone for Mary Whyte to use in their portfolio. Mary is a FAMOUS local artist. So it was a pleasure to meet her and get to work with her on this project. At the end of the shoot, I asked if she would mind posing for an environmental portrait of her with her EXTREMELY well-behaved dog in their new kitchen. 🙂

This weekend I had the distinct PRIVILEGE of photographing Alex & Chris’ wedding at the picturesque Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. Actually, the REAL festivities started the night before when I photographed the fantastic Rehearsal Dinner Party at the Carolina Yacht Club. Then the next day after Alex finished getting ready, her dad, Nick, came in to see her. I just LOVE that first shot with her talking to him in the mirror while her mom, Cris, and her sister, Catherine, look on. Father John performed a beautiful service filled with tears and laughter. Isn’t the sanctuary BEAUTIFUL?!? I captured this next moment of comic relief at the end of the homily as Chris & Father John drew a wave of laughter from the congregation. The high-energy reception was held at the Country Club of Charleston. And of course, no Greek wedding is complete without some traditional music and dancing! 🙂 Alex & Chris, you guys were a BLAST to work with. Don’t EVER lose your passion and enthusiasm for life…and for each other!

See the rest of the photos in their Online Gallery…

I’ve always admired how Dinara Safina plays tennis with such INTENSITY and FOCUS every single time she steps on the court! I took this shot during her defeat of Lourdes Dominguez Lino at the Family Circle Cup earlier this year. I was reminded of her determination during a particularly difficult match that my partner, Shawn, and I faced recently in our tennis league. Neither of us was playing all that well that night. But we knew that if we just dug deep and played HARD, we could still beat these guys. It wasn’t pretty, but we ended up winning 6-4, 6-4. With the overall team’s victory that day, we solidified our ranking as the number one Men’s 4.0 team in Charleston. That means we compete once again at the State Championships in a few weeks. So I’m trying to get myself PUMPED UP for the big event! 🙂

When our friends, Karen & Carl, called to ask if I’d create portraits of their three children, I was delighted. They have the most ADORABLE children you can imagine! We did the entire session in and around their sprawling property on John’s Island. As usual, I arranged to do the shoot during Magic Hour. We photographed the kids together, as well as individually. This was one of my favorites! You can see the warm setting sun just kissing the back of her hair to create that angelic glow.

Talk about a true Southern Plantation Style wedding! Kelly & Aaron were boyfriend/girlfriend back in the 8th grade. After loosing touch for a while, they got back together several years ago…is that FATE?!? Aaron proposed to Kelly on the new Arthur Ravanel Jr. Bridge. So Kelly and I had a fun time finding a spot to shoot her bridal portrait so that the picturesque bridge was in the background. The wedding was held underneath the majestic oak trees, overlooking the river, at historic Lowndes Grove Plantation. And the reception was held on the grand lawn under the beautiful white tents erected for the occasion. For the wedding, the sun was shining and the temperature was soothing. The energy at the reception was ELECTRIFYING! Kelly & Aaron, you guys REALLY know how to party…southern style. 🙂 CONGRATULATIONS!!!

The rest of the images will appear in their Online Gallery soon…

The weather this weekend was PERFECT! The lighting was PERFECT! And of course Brad & Kristyn were the PERFECT couple! What more could a wedding photographer ask for?!? 🙂

OK, so being the official photographer of the Family Circle Cup isn’t ALL work…we DO play a little. Mike Saia, the Communications Manager at the cup, organized a really fun Media Tennis Tournament. We had writers, photographers, TV crews, and other media staff participating. It was a TON of fun! I was lucky enough to get paired with Leslie Billman, who was photographing the cup for Wire Image. Oddly enough, a few months ago Leslie had sponsored me to become a member of SportsShooter. So it was great to finally meet her and THEN to be able to win the Media Tournament with her. That’s right, she and I actually WON the tournament! Anyway, we had a great time and took home some nice trophies.

After a week of intense competition, a new queen has been crowned the Family Circle Cup Champion! Overcoming gail force winds as a storm front passed through Charleston on the day of the finals, Jelena Jankovic (SRB) defeated Dinara Safina (RUS) 62, 62. “It was really windy and tough circumstances,” Jelena said. “But I gave my best, and I’m the champion. I’m so happy I won this title. It’s my first Tier I title. It’s a really amazing feeling.” Only a year ago, Jelena was struggling and in a bit of a slump. “Some things are meant to happen for a reason. Maybe if those things didn’t happen I wouldn’t be here. That period made me a lot stronger and now I realize some things and values. Now, I appreciate my results a little more; I appreciate things a lot more than before.” This win puts an exclamation mark on her climb back to the Top 10 over the past year. It gives her an all-time highest ranking of #7 in the world. She says her goal is to crack the Top 5! A gracious winner, Jelena agreed to pose in front of the live oaks on the beautiful Family Circle Cup campus for one last photo before heading out to celebrate her victory!

In a THRILLING three-set semi-final match against Jelena Jankovic (SRB), there was only a difference of TWO POINTS in the total number won by each player. Now THAT’s close! The match was also filled with long rallies, jaw-dropping winners, and several hotly disputed line calls. Here’s one of Venus Williams (USA) stretching for a backhand. Here’s a write-up of the match and some more of my photos from the day on the Family Circle Cup website. And don’t forget to also check out the FCC Daily Photo Gallery while you’re there!

I think the Charleston fans have found a new sweetheart to support. Michaella Krajicek finally lost to Vera Zvonareva today…but not without putting up a fight in the second set! As an underdog, she defeated top players like Sybille Bammer and the tournament’s number one seed, Nicole Vaidissova. But it was her big heart and gleeful smile that made it so hard not to cheer for her. Always looking for a unique angle, I caught this ball-toss during her final service game of the tournament. For those of you who follow men’s tennis, Michaella is the younger sister of Richard Krajicek.

I get so many GREAT action images on the courts each day that I feel like I should be posting more of those each night. But when I get a truly special opportunity, like photographing Martina Hingis at a private Awards Banquet, it’s REALLY HARD not to select it as my shot of the day! The banquet was hosted by the AMAZING Virginia Wade, and those in attendance included former tour champions like Leslie Allen. Plus of course I got to rub elbows with Martina Hingis all night! Martina is a former world’s #1 player, has won just about EVERY title there is, and is the comeback queen of the year after her incredible rise back to the top of the rankings after several years off the tour for medical reasons. At the end of the night, as Martina was preparing to leave, I scooted outside the historic Riviera Theater to wait for her. I had already scouted out this location under the famous Marquee and had envisioned this image. The questions was…would she be willing to do it? The minute she stepped out those doors I smiled and mischievously asked “So have you had a little Campaign, Martina?” She laughed and said “yes…a little”. The minute she laughed, I knew I had her. So I quickly followed up with “How about one last FUN photo before you go?”. As you can see, she was kind enough to go for it!!! Thanks, Martina! 🙂