Portrait in a Construction Trailer

As a professional photographer, I am sometimes required to deal with some interesting situations. But this one was a FIRST!!!

Several weeks ago, my good friend Jay hired me to photograph an updated head-shot for his business profile. I drove to the address he gave me…and this is what I found. Jay is a foreman with a large construction company. He was on-site, supervising a huge project on Daniel Island. So I got to make his portrait in the construction trailer that served as his mobile office!

Sometimes you just have to think outside the box…and work with what you’ve got! 🙂

CTAR Leadership Conference at Founder’s Hall

The Charleston Trident Association of Realtors has served as the “Voice of Real Estate” in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina for more than 100 years, issuing statistical analysis of market conditions, offering legislative support to its members, and serving as the premier resource for all things real estate. This slideshow is a vignette into the story of the CTAR Leadership Conference, held at Founder’s Hall, located in Charles Towne Landing

Lofton & Lofton Law Firm

As a full-time professional photographer, I have the honor of meeting and working with a lot of different law firms and attorneys. The team at Lofton & Lofton were very responsive, personable, and knowledgeable. They were an absolute delight to work! I would highly recommend them!!!

Trident Healthcare Holiday Party

It’s been our pleasure to photograph the Trident Healthcare Christmas Party for the last several years. They are such a great group. And the couples really seem to appreciate having a nice portrait of themselves, all dressed up in their festive attire!

Aside from setup shots of the banquet hall, and candids of the party, for most of the guests the highlight is our print-on-site Portrait Station! I’ve included a few behind-the-scenes shots of my setup. But basically, I create a mini-portrait studio, using wireless Nikon SB-800 flashes, Manfrotto light-stands, and Westcott umbrellas. I photograph each couple with a Nikon D5 and a Nikkor 24-70, while it’s tethered to my Lenovo Yoga laptop via Adobe Lightroom. After shooting a few test shots before guests arrive, I create a custom preset in Lightroom (including parameters such as white balance, exposure, and contrast) so that every shot comes out perfect and consistent. After capturing two or three quick shots of each couple, I bring them over to the laptop, where they get to immediately see the images and pick out their favorite. I then print out a beautiful 5×7 portrait of that image using the high-speed DNP DS-40 Dye Sublimation Printer, slip it into an elegant black folio, and hand it to them. Couples LOVE the instant gratification of being able to walk away with their portrait in hand!!!

We always enjoy working with the amazing team at Trident. I can’t wait to do it again next year!!!

Behind-the-Scenes Fashion Shoot

Today’s photo shoot finds me at Pixel Studios, where I’m photographing a high-key fashion shoot for an upcoming style book called Thirty Classic Garments.

Follow along on this behind-the-scenes video. Created with the help of studio owner and fellow photographer, LeRoy, we discuss the high-key lighting setup, using gels to color the background, and switching to neutral gray for a different look. We also go through how to shoot tethered to a laptop. And of course we talk about Nikon vs Canon vs Sony vs Panasonic vs Olympus vs Everybody Else!

Look for Sarah & Julie’s new book, Thirty Classic Garments, in stores soon. In the meantime, check out their previous book, The Tunic Bible at: https://goo.gl/Dj4ahm.

Visit out Pixel Studios at: https://goo.gl/CAo4Sm.

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments. I always respond. If you like this video, please give us a Thumbs Up, Subscribe to the channel, and Share with all your friends and family!

GEAR FOR THIS SHOOT: Nikon D850 (http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/…) Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 (https://goo.gl/HFXUgF) Alien Bee Strobes (http://www.alienbees.com/flash.html) Lenove Yoga 900 (https://goo.gl/YKyVN1).

Fashion Designs for Classic Sewing

My good friends and ingenious designers, Julie Starr and Sarah Gunn, are back with another beautiful sewing project!!! After an overwhelming response from their first publication, the Tunic Bible, they have teamed up again to produce a book called Thirty Classic Garments.

I was honored that they would ask me back to photograph some of their fashion pieces for the new publication. We rented Pixel Studios, which was the perfect location for the assignment. LeRoy, the owner of the studio, was so helpful and such fun to work with. In spite of the dreary rainy day, we were warm and dry inside as we captured some great images of their beautiful fashion designs!

Look for their new book in stores soon…

Nexton Development for Seimon Whiteside

Seimon Whiteside is a leader of environmentally conscious, low-impact advancements in engineering and site design. They blend civil engineering and landscape architecture to create holistic environments. They were the creative team behind the new Nexton Development near Charleston.

It was our privilege to be called in to photograph this project for their portfolio. We covered the assignment with a combination of high-resolution still images using the venerable Nikon D850, as well as aerial drone images with the incredible DJI Mavic Pro quadcopter.

Here are just a few of the results…

CTAR Market Forecast Conference

Last week I was honored to be invited back to photograph the annual conference for the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors. Their Market Forecast Report was held at the beautifully renovated Charleston Marriott.  With an excellent panel of speakers, delightful live music, and lots of networking opportunities, the evening was a huge success.  Many thanks to Claire and her team for including me in another amazing CTAR corporate event!!!

Lee & Associates at The Gaillard

Precariously positioned on the top step of a rickety old aluminum ladder, awkwardly balancing $5000 in camera gear in one hand, I had to ask myself “how did I get here?”.

I love photographing the annual holiday photo for Lee & Associates! This year they had selected the grand staircase at The Gaillard as the location for their photo shoot.  I owe a special thanks to April Curci for all her help gaining permission from the venue and coordinating with everyone’s schedules. Also thank you to Emily Valentine for snapping the shots of me in action.

Arriving early, I had everything set up before the team arrived. Since it was a rainy overcast day, there wasn’t much natural light coming through the windows as we’d hoped. To augment the lighting, I mounted 3 SB-800 flashes on a Manfrotto light stand, bouncing into a 60″ Westcott umbrella. These were set to Group A on camera right. I mounted 3 more on a second stand as Group B on camera left. All flashes were controlled by an SB-5000 Master Flash on the camera, and set to 1/8 power using RadioPopper wireless transmitters.

Because of the tight quarters I was working in, I mounted the Nikkor 14-24 f2.8 to my Nikon D850. The high resolution of the D850 was perfect for the task of clearly capturing every face in this large group with excellent detail. Settings were ISO 400 at f5.6 and 1/30th second. By standing high on that wobbly ladder, I was able to shift the plane of focus to be more inline with the slope of the stairs, thus only needing a mid-range aperture to get enough depth of field. And even though I was hand-holding the camera at a relatively low shutter speed, the pop of the flashes and the use of a wide angle lens prevented any motion blur.

By tethering the camera to my laptop, the client was able to review the photos right there on site before the team dispersed. Everyone loved it!

Center for Birds of Prey Annual Gala

Last week I was thrilled to photograph a fundraising gala for an important cause! Aloft at the Cedar Room was this year’s annual celebration of the Center for Birds of Prey, the amazing team that works there, and the incredible work they do for our planet and the wonderful creatures we share it with!

Kara Bale from the Center for Birds of Prey writes: “What a wonderful night! Aloft at the Cedar Room was a fantastic event. The Cedar Room is a beautiful space which allowed guests to enjoy and celebrate the beauty, mystery, and wonder of wild birds while contributing to their conservation and our own future. The energy in the room was amazing! Here’s a quick snapshot of our evening for those of you who could not attend. We would like to extend another special thanks to our top sponsors including Coastal Expeditions, Benefitfirst, and The Boeing Company and to the many others that made this event possible. More photos to come from the very fabulous Chris Smith!!!”

It was an honor and a pleasure to be a part of this great evening again. I can’t wait for next year!!!

CB500X Acropovic Knockoff Upgrade

Trinity has a new pipe!

This morning Trinity and I rode over to my friend Mike’s place. He helped me swap out the old OEM exhaust for a smaller, lighter, and throatier aftermarket slip-on I had ordered. The new exhaust is basically a knockoff of a popular product by Akrapovic. Click Here for a link to the item.

The retailer is out of Kentucky. So the exhaust arrived in just a couple days. Installation was a breeze, except for the fact that the Givi pannier rack I had previously installed made fitting the final bolt into place REALLY tight!  Since I carry a lot of heavy camera gear in the panniers on my way to photo shoots, I was advised to find ways to reduce the weight of Trinity’s *ahem* rear end.  One of the biggest weight savings was replacing the OEM battery with a new lithium ion one last year.  The new carbon fiber exhaust saves at least half as much in weight over the old factory steel can. So the weight is much more balanced now.  Plus the new pipe sounds great. I’m very pleased with the addition!!!

After the install, Mike, Stacy, and I went out for a celebratory brunch at Madra Rua Irish Pub. Then it was off to a beautiful Sunday afternoon ride… 🙂

Fundraiser for St. Andrews Family Fitness

Yesterday I had the pleasure of photographing a fun fundraising event for St. Andrew’s Family Fitness Center. Their longtime director, Kevin Walsh, had suffered a heart attack while at meetings out west. It was so neat to see everyone coming together and rallying to help his family with medical costs and help speed him towards recovery!