Brown Family at The Citadel Beach Club

The Brown Family is growing!!! Little Charlie joined the family nine months ago. It was a pleasure to finally meet this beautiful young lady, and to catch up with the rest of the crew! 🙂

We picked a beautiful summer evening to meet at The Citadel Beach Club on Isle of Palms. A gentle breeze kept us cool, and kept the no-see-ums away. A receding tide left us with some picturesque tidal pools to splash and play in.  Just as the sunset splashed it’s colorful rays across the sky, a full moon rose from the ocean.  It was an absolutely perfect evening!

We had a BLAST and captured a wide variety of wonderful images to commemorate this year’s Wild Dunes family vacation!!!

Sessions Family on Isle of Palms

I had so much fun with the Sessions Family during their family vacation this year! Kathleen had rented the bright yellow “Banana House” on Isle of Palms for the week. Her three kids, and all the grandkids came in to town to enjoy a wonderful time of catching up and bonding together.  The adults looked a little worn out.  But the kids all looked like they were having a BLAST!!!  🙂

Nester Family on Seabrook Island

For me, the highlight of each summer “beach portrait season” is always the week of July 4th when the beautiful Nester Family visits Seabrook Island for their annual vacation!

Having photographed Suzanna & Jeff’s wedding back in the day, it’s been an absolute honor to capture this family’s portraits each summer since then. Rick & Carol have two amazing children, who have married two wonderful partners, and given them five beautiful grandkids!  I’ve had the pleasure of capturing so many changes in their lives.  And they have embraced Cami and I as an extension of that family!

CONGRATULATIONS to the Nester family for another successful Seabrook Family vacation! It was such an honor to hang out and catch up with you guys again this year!!!

Headshots for Elliott Davis

The weather was a little “iffy” this morning. But Sarah at Elliott Davis thought we had a “window” of opportunity to get their headshots in. And she was right!
The drizzling stopped just long enough for us to capture a variety of nice headshots and casual portraits of their team on the beautiful grounds of The Gaillard Auditorium. Everyone was fantastic to work with. Plus we had the extra benefit of overcast skies to provide us with nice, soft, light to shoot with!
(Nikon D5, Nikkor 70-200 f2.8, Sony XQD, SB-5000 off-camera flash, Lastolite EZY Box, Manfrotto supports, BoaBags weights)

Grindall Family at The Sanctuary

The extended Grindall family wasn’t able to make it this year. But I’m so glad Brian and his boys were still able to enjoy their annual family vacation to Kiawah Island! I know they are bonding and building amazing memories together. These will be the carefree times those youngsters will look back on as the “good ol’ days”!!!  🙂

Jenn’s 50th on Folly Beach

Happy Birthday, Jenn! I had so much fun photographing you and your amazing friends during your Folly Beach birthday bash. We wish you all the best for 50 more wild rides around the sun!!!

Muro Family on IOP

Last night was another awesome beach session with the Muro Family. I’ve been photographing their portraits on Isle of Palms every summer for 10 years! They have taken me in and made me feel like family. It is always such a pleasure re-connecting this special group of kind, generous, and amazing people!!!

Silverio Family at Hampton Park

A gentle breeze and soft lighting gave us the PERFECT evening for a summer family portrait session! I met up with the Silverio Family at the picturesque Hampton Park. They were in town enjoying their bi-annual family reunion. It was especially neat to have grandma Jean with us, celebrating her 83rd trip around the sun!

Many thinks to Cynthia for helping organize everyone. We had a BLAST and came away with some wonderful images!

(Nikon Z9, Nikkor 24-120 f4S, SB-5000 Speedlight, Lexar XQD Cards, Manfrotto supports)

Nick & Nicole’s Secret Proposal at The Sanctuary

After weeks and weeks of planning every detail for Nick’s secret proposal, we had to call a last-minute audible!!!

Nick and I had worked so hard to come up with the perfect plan for him to ask his beautiful girlfriend, Nicole, to marry him. We had picked a pristine beach at the northern end of Kiawah Island as the backdrop. We had chosen the perfect time of day to catch that “golden hour” light before sunset. But all our plans fell apart minutes before our scheduled time when the skies opened up, pelting buckets of rain down from the sky!!!

Fortunately, Nick and Nicole’s parents had secretly flown in to surprise the couple after the proposal. Since his parents were staying at The Sanctuary, they quickly scouted out a secluded spot indoors and out of the rain. They even placed a trail of rose petals leading Nick to “the spot” where he would do his magic. It worked out PERFECTLY!!!

Arriving right on cue, Nicole said later that she could sense Nick was acting a little strange. But she wasn’t sure why? Then Nick hit his mark, turned to face the love of his life, and dropped to one knee. It was a truly magical moment. Nicole burst into a HUGE grin as she realized what was going on…and she couldn’t stop smiling the rest of the night!

Afterwar she said “Yes”, we were able to incorporate the beautiful hallways, archways, and grand staircase of the famous hotel into a fun authentic engagement shoot. I got some neat candids of Nick & Nicole’s parents surprising them and checking out Nicole’s AMAZING ring. And of course we captured a few nice family portraits to commemorate the occasion.

CONGRATULATIONS Nick & Nicole!!! We wish you all the best as you begin your new journey together!

Palma Family at The Sanctuary

Joy and Dr. Tim brought their beautiful family to Kiawah Island in celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary! It was a pleasure photographing their family portraits on the amazing grand staircase inside The Sanctuary!!!

Headshots for HSB Law

It’s been a while since I’ve worked with Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd PA. This morning I was back at their office photographing new headshots for attorneys that have recently joined the team, as well as updated headshots for several attorneys have have been there a while.

(Nikon D5, Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 VRII, 4 SB-5000 flashes, Westcott umbrellas, Manfrotto stands, and Lenovo Yoga laptop)

Richard Surprises Stephanie with Folly Beach Proposal

SHE SAID YES!!!

It was such an honor capturing Richard’s Surprise Proposal to Stephanie on Folly Beach last evening!

This amazing couple met at Southwest College, where Stephanie played hard to get at first. But before long, her and Richard became inseparable. They’ve been best friends ever since. After 5 years together, Richard FINALLY dropped to his knee at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean and asked Stephanie to be his wife. 🙂

While making plans to vacation on Folly Beach together, Stephanie thought it would be fun to schedule a couple’s session. Since Richard had already bought the ring, and was trying to think of the perfect time to pop the question, he thought this could work in his favor. Together, he and I worked out a secret phrase so that half-way through their couple’s session, he would know it was time to do his magic. Richard’s brother had joined us under the ruse of “helping hold your phones and sunglasses”. Unknown to Stephanie, he was also secretly hiding the ring! At our pre-determined time of 8:00 PM, I distracted Stephanie by asking to photograph a couple shots of her by herself…giving Richard time to get the ring from David. Richard then took Stephanie’s hand and led her down the shoreline for a little privacy. Facing her with waves gently lapping at their feet, he opened his heart and asked her to marry him. It was SO AWESOME!!!

CONGRATULATIONS Richard & Stephanie! We wish you all the best as you begin this beautiful new stage in your journey together…