Brittainy & Nate at St. Luke’s Chapel

I first met Brittainy & Nate last August.  They are friends of Whitney & Ryan, as well as Amy & Seth, both of whom I photographed their weddings.  So I owe a HUGE thank you to these guys for encouraging Brittainy & Nate to check out our website.  I’m so glad I got a chance to work with them and preserve all these beautiful moments of their special day!  I had SUCH a hard time narrowing down my favorites for the blog!!!  J

Brittainy & Nate were married at St. Luke’s Chapel…one of my favorite churches in town.  I love the dramatic wooden rafters and quaint courtyard.  Brittainy went to MUSC Pharmacy School, so the chapel, which is located on MUSC campus and is affiliated with the school, was a great choice.  Chaplain George Rossi, also of MUSC, did a beautiful job with their ceremony.  Afterwards, Brittainy & Nate made a stop down at Waterfront Park for some really cool portraits.  I LOVE IT when a couple appreciates what I do enough to give me just a few moments alone with them so that we can create something special together!!!  Afterwards we met everyone at Cottage on the Creek for a fun-filled evening reception.  One of my favorites is this last shot of them on the top deck at dusk with Shem Creek below and the dramatic sky behind them.   After watching their Music Video below, head over to www.chrisandcami.zenfolio.com to see the rest of their wedding photos, engagement portraits, and Brittainy’s beautiful bridal portraits.

Brittainy & Nate, CONGRATULATIONS!!!  You guys were AWESOME!  I had so much fun on your wedding day and wish you all the best for a beautiful new life together… 



High-Key Headshots

Earlier this week I got to work with some of my favorite corporate clients at Colliers Keenan.  They’re doing some re-branding and decided to make all new headshots using a high-key white background.  I lit them with a single giant softbox and placed a reflector on the oposite side to open up the shadows.  The background was placed about 8 feet behind my subject and lit separately with an umbrella on each side.  I’ve found that when shooting high-key, it’s very important to light the background separately from the subject to really keep those whites clean and bright!

Packing for Romania

While thinking about what I wanted to take to Romania, I knew I wanted to pack light.  So I left my main ThinkTank Take-Off bag at home.  But I also knew I wanted to have as full a range of equipment at my disposal as possible, since I didn’t know what kinds of photographic opportunities were going to avail themselves.  So here’s what I packed:

 

Nikon D3

Nikon D300 + MBD10 Grip with ENEL4a adapter

Nikkor 10.5mm f2.8 fisheye

Nikkor 24-70 f2.8

Nikkor 70-200 f2.8

3 – RadioPoppers (1 transmitter, 2 receivers)

3 – SB800 strobes

2 – Bogen 5001B light stands

All of this gear along with spare batteries, chargers, compact flash cards, lens cleaning pens, and the usual assortment of doodads all fit into my ThinkTank Streetwalker Pro and this super small generic light stand bag pictured in the photo.  I was very happy with my selection and used every piece of equipment I brought, without being left wanting for anything I didn’t! 

My thinking on bringing the D300 instead of two D3 bodies was because it gave me a little more reach, turning my 70-200 into a 105-300 f2.8 if I needed it.  Plus in a pinch I could command my remote flashes with its built-in pop-up flash.  Both proved to be scenarios I would be glad I had.  I fitted it with the MBD10 Grip with the ENEL4a adapter so that I could use the same larger capacity batteries for both cameras and only have to bring one charger. 

For image management and storage, I brought my smaller 14” Toshiba laptop in a small backpack.  That and my Streetwalker Pro were my carry-on luggage.  The light stand case fit easily into my checked bag.  I’ve mounted this laptop with a small 320GB external drive and software that backs up all the important data off my laptop every night.  After each day of shooting I transferred all the images from my CF cards to my laptop, which then got backed up to the external hard drive.  I brought enough CF cards that I never had to re-use them.  I kept each copy of my images separate from the other…especially during the 26-hour trip home. 

I hope some of this info helps you out the next time you have to pack light…

Featured on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Website

Mike Saia, my “Boss” for the week at the Family Circle Cup when I photograph the professional tennis tournament there every spring, just sent me this note:  “Check out the WTA home page: www.sonyericssonwtatour.com.  Wait for the Flash to move to More News!”  Turns out the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour is using my image of Samantha Stosur, last year’s champion, on their main page.  I love it!!!

50th Anniversary on Kiawah Island

A few days ago I had the distinct pleasure of photographing Jim & Pat, who were celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary with a vacation to Kiawah Island along with their extended family.  Having recently returned from my own family reunion in Ohio, it was neat to witness the bonds and connections that were shared by all.  Next month marks 15 years for Cami & I.  Only 35 more to go and we’ll reach Jim & Pat’s status!!!  J

Caldwell Commercial

Though I mostly post my Wedding and Portrait work on here, I shoot a good bit of Corporate/Commercial photography as well.  One of my favorite corporate clients to work with is Caldwell Commercial.  They are a great group of folks, always fun and entertaining to be around.  Plus, Bob (the owner) used to do a bit of professional photography himself back in the film days.  So he and I always have lots in common to talk about.  Here’s a shot I did a few days ago of Cindy, the latest member on their team.

Ken Sklute Seminar

Last weekend I attended Ken Sklute’s photography seminar for the annual Lamarr School of Photography in Columbia.  He’s an amazing photographer and fantastic speaker.  After the seminar, we had a short photo-shoot-out where the attendees could break out their gear.  It was overcast, meaning the light was nice and soft.  So everyone else just started shooting with available light.  But when I saw our model and the custom chopper, I knew I wanted something a little more EDGY!  Soft natural light just wasn’t going to do her justice.  So I lit her up with three SB-800 strobes and further enhanced that with a high-contrast selective-color filter in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.  Let me know what you think…

Lisa & Chadwick’s Wedding at Pepper Plantation

I had a really cool 4th of July Wedding at Pepper Plantation last weekend.  Lisa & Chadwick are a really fun, casual, and laid back couple that are absolutely a RUSH to be around.  They have so much personality and energy…and truly are perfect for each other!  Check out the fun slideshow on our blog at www.chrisandcami.com/blog.  Then head over to www.chrisandcami.zenfolio.com to see photos from their downtown Engagement Session, their entire Wedding Day, AND their crazy PhotoBooth!  CONGRATULATIONS Lisa & Chadwick…you guys deserve the world! 



Featured Wedding on The Wedding Row

I’m so excited!  The wonderful folks at The Wedding Row just emailed to let me know our photography of Tara & Will’s Wedding at the Daniel Island Club was just FEATURED on their popular wedding blog at:  http://theweddingrow.com/?p=3287&cpage=1#comment-582.  If you get a second, check it out and leave some luv…

Jessica & Keith’s Family Beach Portraits

A few days ago I had the distinct pleasure of photographing Jessica & Keith’s family portraits on Isle of Palms.  I photographed the usual shots on their rental property, then offered to shoot some of them on the beach at no charge.  It was a beautiful evening, cooler weather than last week, and an absolutely GORGEOUS sunset to work with.  As a bonus, the tide was going out and left all kinds of interesting tidal pools in the soft sand.  I asked if everyone was crazy enough to get a little wet, and they were all for it!  I LOVE the shots at the end with the reflections from the tidal pool they are sitting in.  J  Such a neat family…so much fun to hang out with these guys.  Enjoy…

Allison says “YES” to Damon on Kiawah Island!

A few days ago I had the great privilege of documenting Damon’s TOP SECRET Proposal to Allison on the beach in front of The Sanctuary on Kiawah Island!  He and his Mom & Dad, along with his girlfriend, Allison, and her beautiful daughter, were all vacationing there for the summer.  Little did Allison know that Damon & his Mom were secretly scheming behind her back.  They had contacted me to be there “incognito” when they arrived on the beach so that I could capture all the momentous occasion.  It was SO AWESOME!  She said YES!  And we had a beautiful photo shoot afterwards.  Congratulations to Allison & Damon!!!

David & Megan’s Storybook Design

Cami & I had so much fun at David & Megan’s New England Destination Wedding in Fairhaven, just outside Boston, earlier this year.  So I thought I’d share a few pages from the layout of their new Storybook that we just finished designing.  We’ve used a number of different design programs over the years…from good old Photoshop to You Select It to Soho Styler and more.  But by far our favorite new tool is FotoFusion by LumaPix.  Enjoy…