Wilson Family at The Sanctuary

Grace & Phil must be living right! After all the gloomy, soggy days we’ve had over the last couple weeks, the afternoon of their family portrait session turned out GLORIOUS!!! 🙂

I had so much fun catching up with them, and literally “chasing after” their adorable daughter last evening.  We met at The Sanctuary on Kiawah Island. The temperatures were cooler than usual from all the rains that came through, which was a nice change. Eliza has so many “looks” that I had a ball trying to capture each and every one of them. And she certainly LOVES the water! As you can tell, she wasn’t afraid to get her dress dirty…much to dismay of Grace & Phil’s dismay I’m sure, since they were meeting friends for dinner afterwards.  🙂

Adorable Eliza will turn 2 years old later this week. Help me wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Brown Family at The Citadel Beach Club

The Brown Family is growing!!! Little Charlie joined the family nine months ago. It was a pleasure to finally meet this beautiful young lady, and to catch up with the rest of the crew! 🙂

We picked a beautiful summer evening to meet at The Citadel Beach Club on Isle of Palms. A gentle breeze kept us cool, and kept the no-see-ums away. A receding tide left us with some picturesque tidal pools to splash and play in.  Just as the sunset splashed it’s colorful rays across the sky, a full moon rose from the ocean.  It was an absolutely perfect evening!

We had a BLAST and captured a wide variety of wonderful images to commemorate this year’s Wild Dunes family vacation!!!

Sessions Family on Isle of Palms

I had so much fun with the Sessions Family during their family vacation this year! Kathleen had rented the bright yellow “Banana House” on Isle of Palms for the week. Her three kids, and all the grandkids came in to town to enjoy a wonderful time of catching up and bonding together.  The adults looked a little worn out.  But the kids all looked like they were having a BLAST!!!  🙂

Jenn’s 50th on Folly Beach

Happy Birthday, Jenn! I had so much fun photographing you and your amazing friends during your Folly Beach birthday bash. We wish you all the best for 50 more wild rides around the sun!!!

Muro Family on IOP

Last night was another awesome beach session with the Muro Family. I’ve been photographing their portraits on Isle of Palms every summer for 10 years! They have taken me in and made me feel like family. It is always such a pleasure re-connecting this special group of kind, generous, and amazing people!!!

Richard Surprises Stephanie with Folly Beach Proposal

SHE SAID YES!!!

It was such an honor capturing Richard’s Surprise Proposal to Stephanie on Folly Beach last evening!

This amazing couple met at Southwest College, where Stephanie played hard to get at first. But before long, her and Richard became inseparable. They’ve been best friends ever since. After 5 years together, Richard FINALLY dropped to his knee at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean and asked Stephanie to be his wife. 🙂

While making plans to vacation on Folly Beach together, Stephanie thought it would be fun to schedule a couple’s session. Since Richard had already bought the ring, and was trying to think of the perfect time to pop the question, he thought this could work in his favor. Together, he and I worked out a secret phrase so that half-way through their couple’s session, he would know it was time to do his magic. Richard’s brother had joined us under the ruse of “helping hold your phones and sunglasses”. Unknown to Stephanie, he was also secretly hiding the ring! At our pre-determined time of 8:00 PM, I distracted Stephanie by asking to photograph a couple shots of her by herself…giving Richard time to get the ring from David. Richard then took Stephanie’s hand and led her down the shoreline for a little privacy. Facing her with waves gently lapping at their feet, he opened his heart and asked her to marry him. It was SO AWESOME!!!

CONGRATULATIONS Richard & Stephanie! We wish you all the best as you begin this beautiful new stage in your journey together…

Powell Family on Kiawah Island

I think it’s simply fantastic when extended families, who now live in different parts of the country, travel long distances to spend time catching up with one another. When Courtney called to say they were celebrating their mother’s birthday with a trip to Kiawah Island and wanted to schedule a family session for her, I was delighted to be a part of it! 🙂
Meeting up with The Powells at The Sanctuary last evening, we had so much fun capturing tons of fun images together!!!
+38
Like

Comment
Share

Hagedorn Family at Huntington Beach State Park

It’s been 10 years since I photographed Danielle & Matt’s beautiful wedding at the Grand Dunes Ocean Club in Myrtle Beach: https://chrisandcami.com/danielle-matt-at-the-grande-dunes-ocean-club/. So I was SUPER EXCITED when they called from Ohio to let me know they were returning to Myrtle Beach for a vacation, and asked if I would help them commemorate the occasion with a family portrait session? How could I say not to THAT?!?

Before their wedding, I had photographed Danielle & Matt’s engagement session at the historic Atalaya Castle ruins inside Huntington Beach State Park: https://chrisandcami.com/danielle-matts-engagement-session-at-atalaya-castle-ruins/. So we decided to bring things full circle by re-visiting this gorgeous park for their family session.

The threatening weather from earlier in the day made us nervous, but passed out of the area in time to leave us a delightful evening of soft warm light to work with. I had so much fun meeting and playing with their two adorable children! Both sets of proud “grand-parents” joined us as well, which made it even more special. But the best part was catching up with Danielle and Matt! They hadn’t changed a bit since their wedding day. It was like no time had past. It felt like we had just seen each other a week ago!

Congratulations on your beautiful family, Danielle & Matt! You guys were one of my FAVORITE couples to photograph!!! And now I can say you’re one of my favorite “families” as well.  I can’t wait to see what amazing humans Charlie and William grow up to be.  🙂

Johnson Family on Isle of Palms

Remember a little while back when I shared Hunter & Sydney’s AMAZING surprise proposal?!?  https://chrisandcami.com/hunter-sydneys-surprise-proposal-at-white-point-garden/.

Well, Hunter got is papers and was deployed to a submarine based on the west coast. He’s been hard at work, preserving our freedom and serving his country with honor! Now his ship is returning to port and it’s time for Sydney to join him.

Before Sydney and her mom embark on a big cross-country trip to get her moved to California, they wanted to get one last family portrait session together! We met at The Citadel Beach Club on Isle of Palms on a beautiful blue-sky day. Everyone looked amazing! We had so much fun capturing a variety of shots of Sydney and her sisters, the family together, and of course their adorable grandson, Tanner!

Sydney, we wish you all the best for a safe journey and a joyful reunion with your best friend and the love of your life, Hunter!

Callahan Family on Kiawah Island

Last night was one of the prettiest evenings we’ve had in a long time! And I got to work with one of the nicest families you could ever hope to meet!!!
The Callahans have been vacationing on Kiawah Island for several years. Before this trip, Julie reached out to me about having some updated portraits made now that the kids are older. I arrived at their villa just as “Golden Hour” was beginning to cast it’s magical light on our corner of this amazing planet. The kids were in great spirits. And we all had a BLAST, capturing a variety of fun images together!
I’m so glad Julie & Mike contacted me. It was an absolute pleasure working with their wonderful family!!!

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

Evans Family on Kiawah Island

10 Years!!! That’s how long I’ve been photographing the Evans Family during their annual summer vacation on Kiawah Island. Their youngest daughter just turned 10, and their oldes son is heading off to Duke University! What a joy it has been to watch this beautiful family grow.

As usual, we met for a sunrise session at their home, right on a beautiful stretch of beach. After rescheduling from a few days ago when the skies were gloomy and gray, it was so uplifting to see the sun rise out of the horizon and punch through the clouds!

We had so much fun, and captured a variety of wonderful photos. I can’t wait to see what the NEXT 10 years will have in store for the Evans Family!!!

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

”

Colored Powder Photography

One of my good friends and artistic inspirations is Reid Strauss. She is an absolute visionary, always full of the coolest and most creative ideas!!!

A couple days ago we gathered her adorable daughters together (or did we drag them kicking and screaming…I can’t remember which?). In any event, they somehow got volunteered to be our victims as we headed out to Folly Beach for a super fun photo shoot!

Reid had ordered some organic biodegradable colored powder for us to play with.  Made out of corn starch and natural dies, it was completely water soluble and wouldn’t harm the environment. When we started, the girls had no problem pelting each other with the fine grains…but when it was their turn, not so much! Just kidding!!!  They were in fact quite enthusiastic and so much fun to work with, which I appreciated. Once they saw how cool the shots were coming out, the competition was ON!!!

It was an overcast gray day. But this was supposed to be all about COLOR!!!  Gray just wouldn’t do. So I switched my Nikon D5 to tungsten white balance, which of course added an electric blue tone to the sky. Then I covered two of my Nikon SB-5000 Speedlights with orange CTO gels, which are thin colored filters for flashes.  For protection, each flash was placed in a zip-loc bag. Using one flash as my main light, and the other as a rim light, I was able to give the skin tones a nice “sunset glow” to them, which contrasted beautifully with the electric blue sky.  I used the compact and lightweight Nikkor 24-120 f4 VR lens so that I could keep my distance and move quickly. From that point on, it was just a matter of getting everyone’s timing down as they hurled fists full of colored powder at each other!!!

Many thanks to Reid, Sydney, Jacqueline, and Trinity for such a fun evening!!!

Beach Portraits, Charleston Children Photographer, Charleston Family Photographer, Charleston Portrait Photographer, Chris & Cami Photography, D5, Folly Beach, Folly Beach Children Photographer, Folly Beach Family Photographer, Folly Beach Portrait Photographer, Morris Island Lighthouse, Nikkor, Nikon, Nikon Pro, Nikon USA, OCF, Off-Camera Flash, SB-5000, Speedlight, Colored Powder, Colored Powder Photography