Aerial Assignments

More and more corporate clients are turning to us for our new Aerial Drone Photography. Why?

EXPERIENCE:
Much like buying a nice digital camera doesn’t instantly make one a great digital photographer, simply buying a drone doesn’t make one a great aerial photographer! Just because someone can fly a drone doesn’t mean they know how to capture a compelling image. Mastering the tried and true techniques of lighting, exposure, composition, color, (and the list is a mile long) takes time! Cami and I have professional photography degrees, which means we’ve truly studied the finer nuances of beautiful art and imagery. Plus we’ve been photographing professionally for over two decades! That’s a priceless amount of experience and training that you just can’t pick up in a weekend workshop. Think about the revolutions and changes that have taken place in 20+ years. From medium format to 35mm, from film to digital, from crop sensors to full-frame sensors, from megabytes to gigabytes…we’ve seen it all! Which is why our clients feel confident in our abilities to deliver more compelling images.

EQUIPMENT:
Sure, the latest drones are easy to fly and take descent photos in their dumbed-down-out-of-the-box settings. It takes a lot of studying and experimenting with the deeper nuances and internal settings to eek out that NEXT higher level of quality and detail. I wonder how many new drone pilots never even read the manual?!? Flying the latest quadcopters on the market, and setting them up to take full advantage of every pixel they offer, we’re able to deliver a superior quality product.

EDUCATION:
Everyone has seen one news story or another about crashed drones or near collisions with other aircraft. Unlike a highway where you can only go one of two directions, airspace is a wide open fronteir. For the safety of other aircraft, and the safety of people below, the Federal Aviation Administration has implimented strict rules and regulations. Unfortunately, very few UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) pilots have taken the time to study, train, and pass the FAA certification process. We are proud to have passed the exam with the highest grade in the class, on our way to obtaining the FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Licesnse! This means we are legal to fly our drones commercially, and will do so with safety as a primary concern.

For more information, check out https://chrisandcami.com/gallery/aerial/.  When it’s time for YOUR aerial photography assignment, please don’t hesitate to contact us! You’ll be in good hands…and you’ll be glad you did.

The Ocean Course

The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort hosted the 2007 Senior PGA and the 2012 PGA Championships. It will also host the 2021 PGA Championships. The Ocean Course is only the fourth course to have hosted each of the PGA of America’s major championships.

The Ocean Course gained instant notoriety as the host of the dramatic “War by the Shore,” a battle decided literally by the final putt of Sunday’s final match in 1991’s Ryder Cup Matches. In 1997, The Ocean Course hosted the World Cup of Golf, with the world’s finest golfers from 32 countries competing in the stroke play tournament. The inaugural UBS Cup took place on the course in 2001, and in 2003 the course hosted the World Golf Championships World Cup. The PGA Professional National Championship was played in June 2005.

Golf Digest named The Ocean Course “#3 Public Golf Course in U.S.”, #20 among “America’s Greatest Courses” and “America’s Toughest Resort Course.” It is one of only 17 “5-star” courses in North America in Golf Digest’s “Best Places to Play” reader’s poll. GOLF Magazine has rated it #4 in its “Top 100 Courses You Can Play” list. The Ocean Course has achieved the designation as a “Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary” by the Audubon Sanctuary System, and has recently been named “Golf Course of the Year” by the National Golf Course Owners Association.

The Ocean Course made its big screen debut in November 2000 when the movie “The Legend of Bagger Vance”, directed by Robert Redford, narrated by Jack Lemon, and starring Will Smith, Matt Damon, and Charlize Theron, opened at theatres nation-wide.

Drayton Hall in Infrared

Drayton Hall, the iconic 18th-century estate in the South Carolina Lowcountry, is vital to our understanding of early American history. It’s also one of my favorite plantations in Charleston!

Founded in 1738, Drayton Hall is the nation’s earliest example of fully executed Palladian architecture…and the oldest preserved plantation house in America still open to the public!!!

I recently had the pleasure of exploring and photographing the property with my Infrared Camera. It’s a special Nikon camera, converted to be able to “see” a frequency of light that’s beyond the range of human sight. I’m always pleasantly surprised by the surreal images it creates! Please enjoy…

Kiawah Cottage for Solaris Inc.

One of my favorite parts about my job is that no two assignments are ever the same!

I photograph a lot of “people” assignments where juggling personalities is a large part of the equation. Balancing those assignments with the more cerebral ones like architecture and interior photography is always a nice change of pace. Houses don’t talk. To capture their “good side” involves carefully calculating the best lighting, angles, and perspectives.

One of my favorite architecture clients is Solaris, Inc. They create such BEAUTIFUL houses with such unique character! They pay attention to the fine details.  Every little piece of the puzzle is considered to ensure it belongs in the design.

Here is one of their amazing projects on Kiawah Island that I had the honor of photographing recently!  Kudos to Steve on another brilliant home.  And Thanks to Julie for always being so great to work with.

SCFCU Commercial Shoot

I love to travel. And I love photographing corporate assignments. So when one of my all-time-favorite corporate clients asked me to travel around the state to photograph images of all their financial centers, I jumped at the opportunity!

To catch the best light at each location, the planning and preparation had to be meticulous! I used a number of photography apps and online resources such as The Photographers Ephemeris to map out the best route so that I hit each center at the optimum time of day for which direction it was facing. I also used a number of weather apps to make sure the dates picked for each shoot would have clear blue skies.

Everything worked out perfect! And the shots came out great! Many thanks to the South Carolina Federal Credit Union for the opportunity. We’re not just their photographer, we’re also a client. If you run your own business and need an AMAZING financial institution to work with, I highly recommend www.scfederal.org!!!

Charleston Condos for Solaris Inc.

Last week I had the pleasure of photographing a couple of AMAZING downtown condos for my favorite architecture firm, Solaris Inc.

Their attention to detail, their creativity, and their ingenuity never ceases to amaze me! From TVs hidden inside antique cabinets, to TVs mounted behind bathroom mirrors…it truly is AMAZING what these guys come up with! I love photographing interior and architecture assignments JUST to see what neat ideas they’ve incorporated into the design.

Many thanks to the wonderful team at Solaris…great job as always!!!

Washington DC Architecture

Last month, Cami and I had a wonderful time photographing Matt & Caroline’s destination wedding in Turf Valley, VA.

Since we flew into Washington D.C. to get there, we decided to take an extra day to “play tourist” in our country’s capital on the way home. Here are a few architectural studies I did while we visited the many sights.

All images shot with Nikon D810 and Nikkor 16-35 f4 VR.

Sandra Ericksen Design

After first falling in love with of interior design while studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, Sandy and her family returned to Charleston. She opened her boutique interior design firm over a decade ago, and has been beautifying people’s homes ever since!

It’s been a distinct pleasure of mine to work with Sandy over much of that time. I get her vision, and we really seem to “click”. With some clients, it seems to take a little time for us to get into the grove. But with Sandy, it’s always off to the races as soon as we start. 🙂

Last week, Sandy & I had an awesome time photographing a couple of her beautiful projects! It’s always fun to see where her creativity goes…