State Farm is There

There’s a new State Farm office just outside of Hilton Head Island. The Agent’s name is Kevin Sevier. If you live down that way, make sure you go see him. He’s got to be the nicest, kindest, most honest and strait-shooting insurance agent I know! I’ve photographed his kids. And I’ve photographed his entire staff. Trust me, do yourself a favor and go see him if you need advice on insurance!

One thing that our corporate clients like about us is that for the initial assignment we will come to THEIR OFFICE to photograph all the staff head-shots. That saves productivity since each person just has to step out of their office and stroll to the conference room (or wherever I’m set up). Sure beats each person driving to the studio on their lunch break, right?!? As I photograph each person, the images wirelessly fly across to my laptop where they can see the images immediately afterwards to make sure they’re happy with them before returning to work.

But the real beauty is, several months down the road when a new person is hired, they can simply stop by the studio to have their head-shot taken on the same background with the same lighting as the others. That way even years down the road every team member has professional portraits that match and create an overall professional image for the entire company. John stopped by last week to have his picture added to the others we did for Kevin’s office last month.

If you work for a company that doesn’t have professional head-shots on their website, please let them know about our service!

MaryBeth & Brad

MaryBeth called me a couple weeks ago from Kentucky. She is the SWEETEST little Southern Lady you could ever meet! Her and Brad were coming down to Charleston to visit family and had seen some of our work. Since they were recently engaged, she wanted to do their e-Session with me while they were down here. They wanted ther Engagement Portraits to be TOTALLY different from all their friend’s portraits. Since Kentucky isn’t a coastal state…what better place than a beach session, right!?! šŸ™‚

Kerri & Wes are Married

I first met up with Kerri & Wes when I was in their hometown of Columbia shooting a wedding. Kerri is an AMAZING athlete and gymnastics instructor. Wes is a very creative and GIFTED musician! They had their wedding here at Alhambra Hall overlooking Charleston Harbor. Many thanks to Erin, Wes’ sister-in-law, for being a guest at another wedding I’d photographed here a few years ago and recommending us to Kerri & Wes. šŸ™‚ The ceremony was beautiful out under the Oak Tree on the Grand Lawn. And the Reception was one ROCKIN’ good time, highlighted by Wes and the old gang taking over for the band and jamming to every one’s delight! Click Here to check out their gallery of images. CONGRATULATIONS Kerri & Wes!!!

Folly Beach Family Portrait

Jean & Dutch’s family are all originally from the Dayton area of Ohio. As most of you know, that’s where Cami grew up and where we met when I lived there after college. So it was GREAT talking about old stomping grounds and getting to know their family! They were vacationing on Isle Of Palms, but elected to make the trek to Folly Beach for their session. They LOVED the diversity and uniqueness of the beach compared to the more tame landscape on IOP. So they were pleased about their decision. But the best part was, they stopped at the famous Ye Ole Fashioned Icecream, a Charleston icon on this side of town that “happens” to be right on the way back to IOP. šŸ˜‰

Photography on IOP Beach is Illegal

Since Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island have passed ordinances making it illegal to have professional photographs taken on their beaches, we’ve had to find alternative locations for our vacationing clients. I know…it’s hard to believe that ANY town would put a ban on creating beautiful family photos that show the bonds of love, and preserve such special times in a family’s history. But that’s EXACTLY what they’re doing. Here’s a link: http://www.iop.net/FAQs.aspx.

Many of these families are made up of multiple generations, all coming from different areas of the country, who rarely see each other all together like this. And when an older matriarch or patriarch is involved, who knows when the NEXT time will happen that they’ll all be together again?!? So a portrait to commemorate the occasion holds a great deal of weight.

Fortunately for the Henley family, the beach house they rented sat on a beautiful property with lots of nice landscaping. So we were able to photograph their session without them leaving. Here’s a fun one of all the grand kids goofing off. šŸ˜‰ Still, they didn’t get any images on the beach…kind of the whole idea behind renting a beach house! Other families are forced to make the choice to drive all the way to Folly Beach…the nearest town without such a ban on it’s beaches.

Glorious Sunsets

Here’s a glorious sunset over (or under?) the new Arthur Ravanel Jr. Bridge, which has rapidly become a symbol of Charleston. I caught saw this while driving home from a portrait shoot one evening and just sat and soaked up the light show…just STUNNING! I wise photographer once told me: “God only gives us ONE sunset a day…and no two are EVER the same…so enjoy them.” šŸ™‚

Blue Sky Magic

I’ve had a lot of folks asking me how I get my dramatic “BLUE SKY” effect. It’s a technique I learned from the legendary Sports Illustrated photographer, Dave Black. And I recently saw a couple shots by Joe McNally with this technique as well.

Take this scene for instance. It was a dreary, overcast, hazy, UGLY GRAY evening sky. Who wants a BLAH background like that, right? So to make it POP, you have to set your camera’s White Balance Setting to a cooler tone. You can set it on the Tungsten setting if you like. I prefer to use the Kelvin Scale since it gives me more control. I often use 4,000K, which is a little warmer than full Tungsten. Now changing this in the camera means it’s a GLOBAL change…everything in your scene will be blue, including my subject.

So to get the right color back on my subject I place a WARMING gel over my flash and light him separately. I underexpose the sky by about a stop and a half to make this easier and to give the background more saturation. I have an SB-800 just out of camera frame on the left, zoomed to 105mm, with a full CTO (Color Temperature Orange) gel, at about 1/4 power. I’m controlling this flash through Nikon’s CLS system (I didn’t have my Radio Poppers on me at the time). The flash on my D3 is an SB-900, pointed strait at the sensor on the remote flash. All it’s doing is telling the SB-800 what to do and when to do it. I was shooting from across the street with the 70-200 to frame the subject with just enough of the beautiful Spanish Moss covered oak tree overhead. This was shot last week at Legend Oaks Golf Course.

As you can see, legendary golfer Bill Kalback now has a nice warm shaft of setting sunlight on him, while the gray sky in the background shifts to a complimenting blue twilight tone. Next time you’re faced with an ugly sky, give this a try!

Family Vacation

It’s summer time! That means FAMILY VACATION! I enjoy photographing family portraits for folks who are vacationing here in Charleston, Isle of Palms, Sullivan’s Island, Folly Beach, and Kiawah Island. These are all popular vacation rental sites. If you’re planning a trip to the area, call ahead as summer bookings get snatched up fast..

Kelly & Robbie

I photographed Robbie & Kelly’s wedding several years ago. They’ve referred so many of their friends to us over the years that I get to see them quite often as guests at those weddings when I shoot them. It’s a lot of fun showing up at these weddings and already knowing half the guests…almost like I’m part of the family now! šŸ™‚ Their adorable daughter just turned one. Here are some of the portraits with this beautiful, sweet girl and their family.