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I didn’t think it was possible, but day two of the conference was EVEN BETTER! Cami got to meet none other than Anne Geddes!!! (If you don’t know who she is, you can’t tell me you haven’t seen one of her famous baby-in-a-flower-pot calendars!) Cami first learned about this amazing children’s photographer when she was an exchange student in Australia, which is where Anne is originally from. Anne was kind enough to autograph a book of hers for us. And later that evening we joined with THOUSANDS of photographers to hear her story and be inspired by her message of purity, integrity, and excellence in our craft. It was THE highest attended keynote presentation in the HISTORY of the Professional Photographers of America!

Imaging USA 2009 started off with a BANG today! My friend Robbin Knight (left) and I (right) bumped into none other than Joe Buisink…TWICE! If you don’t know who JB is, he is THE photographer to the stars…shooting all the huge high-end celebrity weddings in Hollywood that you only hear about but never get a guest invitation to! We’re talking folks like Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson & Nick Lachey, Brendan Fraser, Kelsey Grammer, Hillary Swank & Chad Lowe, Christina Applegate, Jenny Garth & Peter Facinelli, and Christina Aguilera. 😉 I’ve heard JB speak many times and love his passion, his art, and his down-to-earth personality.

Here’s one of my favorite shots from Stephanie & Mike’s Day-After Shoot! 🙂

Cami & I are on the first flight out of Charleston tomorrow on our way to Phoenix. As we do every year, we’re attending THE national photography convention hosted by Professional Photographers of America. It’s called Imaging USA. We always get pumped up, filled with new ideas, energized, and full of excitement at this convention. All the greatest photographers in the world are there sharing their thoughts. Plus of course EVERY manufacturer of ANYTHING relating to photography is there showing off their new toys. For me, walking around the HUGE Trade Show floor is like a kid wondering around the biggest candy store in the WORLD!!! 🙂

As always we’ll do our best to stay in touch even while out of the office all week.

My first wedding of 2009 was AWESOME! Mike amp; Stephanie are the neatest couple. Their wedding at Charleston Place was very classy and a lot of fun. They even had a separate Play Time set aside for all the “little kids” while us “big kids” had dinner in the Palmetto Cafe. 🙂 The next day I met up with Stephanie amp; Mike again for a really cool Day-After Shoot in the historic part of downtown Charleston. The image from that session came out really cool. CONGRATULATIONS Stephanie amp; Mike!!!br /diviframe title=”Showit Web Slideshow” style=”BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000″ src=”https://chrisandcami.com/slideshows/StephanieAndMike/iframe.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”510″ scrolling=”no” height=”690″/iframe/div

My first wedding of 2009 was AWESOME! Mike & Stephanie are the neatest couple. Their wedding at Charleston Place was very classy and a lot of fun. They even had a separate Play Time set aside for all the “little kids” while us “big kids” had dinner in the Palmetto Cafe. 🙂 The next day I met up with Stephanie & Mike again for a really cool Day-After Shoot in the historic part of downtown Charleston. The image from that session came out really cool. CONGRATULATIONS Stephanie & Mike!!!

We’re SO EXCITED! After being featured inside the 2008 Town Planner the last few years…THIS year we got the COVER!!! 🙂 This beautiful sunset was captured on my way home from shooting a family portrait session on Sullivan’s Island. In addition, our images appear on February and April. The Town Planner is distributed to over 43,000 homes and businesses in the Charleston are. We are honored to have our images in your homes, on your desks, over your computers, above your dogie bowls, or wherever you keep your calendar. HAPPY 2009 to everyone!!!

My heart was too sad to even weep as I spent the first hour of my day reading the journal entries from photographer Sherrlyn Borkgren on her Blog about her last few weeks in the Congo (DRC) documenting and bringing light to the plight of young girls being raped by soldiers over there. As you all know, this is where Mom & Dad served as missionaries, where I was born, and where my brothers and I called home throughout our formative years before settling back in the US to attend college. Please read her stories and see her images at http://lovesimplyhappens.blogspot.com/. Pray for her safety and that the story she is telling helps get the world’s attention.

Here’s an old slide of me with all my soccer friends. (I’ll bet you can figure out which one I am!) Soccer is the national sport of course…you don’t need shoulder pads, baseball bats, or tennis rackets to play. Just one ball, a grassy field, and a couple sticks in the ground at each end. In fact you can’t see it in this photo, but we played in our bare feet because no one could afford cleats. I wonder what happened to all these guys when the war broke out?

Traveling between assignments, I was driving along East Bay St. and noticed this beautiful lighting hitting the famous Rainbow Row. A popular photography spot in the Spring when the flowers and bushes are in bloom, I thought this winter version would give you a different view than the normal tourist sees. 🙂

You couldn’t meet a nicer young man on the planet! I had the privilege of photographing rising tennis star Ryan Young the other day. His speed and accuracy amazed me. But his easy going personality and grounded faith are what really impressed me. It was just a year ago this week that Ryan was heading off to China to kick off his pro career. He was a stand-out player at Clemson and joined with Nathan Thompson to form the best doubles team in the ACC. He also played in an exhibition match at the Family Circle Cup as a warm up to stars Andy Roddick and the #1 doubles team in the world, Bob & Mike Bryan. I was glad to be able to catch up with Ryan while he was home visiting his family for the holidays.

Ryan’s Mom, Toni, is the head pro at the Maybank Tennis Center where I played on the Men’s USTA 4.5 team before getting sidelined with an injury last year. Prior to that I played on Jeff’s 4.0 Team…Jeff is Ryan’s Dad. Ryan’s sister, Kristen (not pictured) is also an avid club player. So tennis vibes are obviously in the family’s blood…as are honor, commitment, integrity, patience, excellence, and many other personality traits that make it easy for me to see why this young man is going places!

Bon Anee! I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL New Year’s Eve. I had the joy of spending the evening with my new friends Chris & LaVerne who had hired me to photograph their 50th Anniversary Celebration. They were so much fun to work with! The event took place at The Sanctuary on Kiawah Island with 24 of their closest friends and relatives flown in from all over. If you’ve never been out there during the holidays, make sure you visit next year…it’s GORGEOUS!

While photographing Mary & Gary’s intimate service at St. Luke’s Chapel, I had the pleasure of working with Doug Farmer of Charleston Wedding Officiant. He did such an AMAZING job that I asked him for his contact information to put on our Recommended Vendor List. If you’re getting married this year and need someone to perform the service, I HIGHLY recommend calling Doug! He’s an eloquent speaker, very professional, and takes a personal interest in making your ceremony about YOU. Who knows, you might even have a little fun!!! 🙂

Tara & Matt’s wedding was my last one for 2008. And what a WONDERFUL CELEBRATION to end the year on! Tara & Matt came to us as referrals from Robbie & Kelli Irvine…two of our favorite clients EVER! And Robbie and Matt are cousins. So I knew we were going to have a lot of fun together. Plus Tara was STUNNING in her bridal portraits that I photographed earlier this year. So I knew what a beautiful bride she was going to be on her wedding day. All of my preconceptions came true last weekend. It was an AWESOME day!

Tara & Matt held their ceremony at Sunrise Presbyterian Church on Sullivan’s Island. Their reception was at Alhambra Hall. It was just a fantastic experience, capturing all the joy and excitement of their day…and being in the presence of the love and commitment these two share with each other. What an HONOR! Congratulations Tara & Matt…