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!!!
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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!!!

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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!!!

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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!!!

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Danielle & Mike’s Collage Recreation

Many moons ago I had the pleasure of photographing Danielle & Mike for a creative collage idea of theirs!

They had bought a new home and wanted some artwork depicting a low-country scene for a long empty wall. Being quite the creative genius that he is, Mike had suggested a series of 4 images, showcasing a panoramic marsh scene, but that included a photo of the two of them in one of the 4 images. I loved the idea and it turned out awesome!!!  Check it out here:  https://chrisandcami.com/mike-danielle-at-james-island-county-park/.

Fast forward to today and guess what? Mike and Danielle decided it was time to update their wall to include their beautiful 6 year old daughter! 🙂  Deciding to change it up a little, we chose a twilight beach scene this time. We had a fabulous time together on Folly Beach last night. And the new collage recreation turned out fantastic…

 

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Russell Family at The Ocean Course

I did a little “rain dance” in my car on my way out to Kiawah Island last night. I was under a clearing in the sky. But all around me dark storm clouds threatened!

It must have worked because the rains held off just long enough for The Russell’s and I to squeeze in an AMAZING family portrait session at The Ocean Course! We may have had to dance around a few raindrops here and there. But the empty beach, the dramatic light, and the SPECTACULAR sunset was so worth it.

I had so much fun with the Russell Family! Their positive energy and adventurous spirit truly paid off. Lots of families would have walked away at the sight of those clouds. But they decided to go for it…and I’m so glad they did! We had an absolute BLAST and came away with some incredibly beautiful images to commemorate their time together this summer. 🙂

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Wrede Family on Isle of Palms

I owe a HUGE “Thank You” to Patrick & Gina Maloney for their kindness in recommending us to their friends Doug & Chrissy!!!

While vacationing here on IOP, they wanted to do a fun beach session with their family. It was supposed to happen last night. But the CRAZY storms and lightning that covered our city had different intentions for our evening. So we pivoted to this morning and it turned out BEAUTIFUL!!! Last night’s rain had cooled things off a bit. And the cloud cover gave us a gorgeous soft palette of light to work with.

I had so much fun playing with Doug & Chrissy’s adorable kids. And we came away with some fabulous images to commemorate their time together!  🙂

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Conaghan Family at The Ocean Course

Oddly enough, none of the Conaghan’s, nor myself, are big golf fans. With a family history from Scotland, you’d think that was kind of strange. But guess what! We all shared a passion for “The Beautiful Game” of soccer…or “true” football as it’s known overseas. 🙂

Still, the famous Ocean Course was close to their summer vacation home on Kiawah Island. And it has one of the most beautiful stretches of beach in the Charleston area! So we met there and had a FANTASTIC evening of fun and fellowship while photographing a variety of family portraits together!!!

Many thanks to the Conaghan Family for being such a kind and delightful group to work with.

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Grace’s Senior Portraits on Kiawah Island

When she called, Marianne sounded a bit flustered. She had nothing to wear.

Vacationing on Kiawah Island for the week, Marianne and her family hadn’t planned for family portraits. They realized what a great opportunity this was to get some beautiful and unique Senior Portraits for their daughter Grace. And I had suggested we throw in a few fun family portraits while we were at it!  So suddenly Marianne was scrambling to find outfits for everyone.

Fortunately this gave her a good excuse to do a little shopping. And everything worked out PERFECT!!! 🙂 In spite of an afternoon thunderstorm, the weather was beautiful. Selecting three outfits for her session, Grace was absolutely stunning in each one. And the family outfits Marianne had selected were awesome.  We all had a fantastic time together…even their 11-year old golden doodle, Bella.

CONGRATULATIONS Grace! You rocked it!!!

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Muro Family on Isle of Palms

Every year I look forward with great anticipation to hanging out with and photographing the amazing Muro clan during their vacation to Isle of Palms!

We got rained out the night before, but quickly pivoted to this morning. It turned out to be a glorious day! The kids were all excited and full of energy. The sun finally peaked out from between the thunderclouds.  We all had so much fun!  🙂

Many thanks to Susan for all her hard work corralling and organizing this crazy crew!!!

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