Riley’s Newborn Session

Welcome to the world, Miss Riley!!!

A few days ago I had the honor of photographing Sarah & Jeff’s beautiful baby girl, Riley. She is such a sweetheart, and so incredibly adorable!

Many thanks to Sarah’s sister, Mary, for helping with the shoot. It was so great to see all themĀ again, after photographing Mary & Jan’s wedding LAST spring. šŸ™‚

Since Riley’s shoot was right before St. Patrick’s day, here’s a little Irish Blessing for the “wee little one”, as they say:

“Leprechauns, castles, good luck and laughter. Lullabies, dreams and love ever after. A thousand welcomes when anyone comes….that’s the Irish for you!”

Gillis Family at Hampton Park

It just doesn’t get any cuter than a 2 year old chasing ducks in the park!!! šŸ™‚

Photographing Erin and her extended family over the years has been such a joy to me. From photographing Erin as a girl, to covering her beautiful wedding with Rette, and now coming full circle in photographing THEIR daughter…it’s just such an honor to be a part of this family’s life!

Saylor is absolutely adorable! I was cracking up at all the crazy expressions she has in her repertoir. Congratulations Erin & Rette…you got yourselves a keeper!!!

Hannah’s Senior Portraits

It was an honor and a pleasure to photograph Hannah’s Senior Portraits for her this week!

Hannah is a beautiful young lady and star volleyball player. Her family is from Texas, vacationing in Beaufort for the holidays. Being the free-spirit she is, and marching to the beat of her own drum, Hannah decided not to do the “usual” senior portraits that all her friends were getting done back home. She wanted something UNIQUE!!! So we hashed out a plan to do all kinds of cool portraits of her in historic downtown Charleston, picturesque White Point Garden, and gorgeous Folly Beach!

We had an awesome time and captured some killer shots! Congratulations Hannah!!! And best wishes for whatever dreams lie ahead…

Lindsay & Tracy at Hampton Park

It’s been such an honor and a joy photographing Lindsay & and her beautiful daughter, Hannah, over the years. This year, they took it to the next level by sharing their new EXPANDED family with me!!! šŸ™‚

It was a pleasure meeting Tracy and his girls, Hannah (#2) and Catelynn. I love that they picked Hampton Park for their photo shoot. It’s one of my favorite places in town!

We all had so much fun together! CONGRATULATIONS Lindsay & Tracy…you guys ROCK!!! šŸ™‚

Charlestowne Landing Bridal Portrait

Waiting…

That’s the one thing I can’t stand about photographing Bridal Shoots! Ā  šŸ™‚

I’ve been dying to share images from Catie’s beautiful Bridal Session last month. But of course her gorgeous wedding gown had to be kept a secret until the Big Day. Now that her and Justin tied the knot this weekend, I can finally show off how amazing Catie looked in her elegant and unique wedding dress. Ā The waiting is over!!!

I love this southern tradition of photographing Bridal Portraits about a month before the wedding. It’s quite likely that this is the most expensive garment a young lady will ever own in her life! Sure she’ll have a few shots of herself in the dress on herĀ wedding day. But with the hustle and hurry of that stressful day, there just isn’t time to truly do it justice. Ā I always encourage my brides to schedule a Bridal Shoot to truly document how gorgeous they look in the gown of their choice.

These fun “fashion style” photo shoots are scheduled for a more relaxed time and place. Hair and make-up is fresh. It can be planned around the best light of the day (instead of being squeezed in wherever it fits among the zillions of other pictures to be taken on the wedding day). Due to time constraints, all the photos on wedding day are done at the wedding or reception venue. Bridal Sessions allow brides to pick a totally different location. Maybe it’s somewhere special to them (where they had their first date?). Maybe their wedding is downtown, but they want some photos at a plantation? A Bridal Shoot is a great time to be creative and come up with some cool and creative wedding photos that simply can’t be done on the wedding day due to the constraints of time and space.

Catie & Justin LOVE the many beautiful plantations around Charleston! After all, their wedding was held at the historic Boone Hall Plantation. However, leading up to the wedding, they also had photo shoots with me at Runnymede Plantation, Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, and finally these inspirational images from Charlestowne Landing.

Catie…you were absolutely STUNNING!!! What a pleasure it was to share this afternoon with you and your parents, capturing your amazing spirit, and documenting the spirit of your stunningĀ wedding gown.

The Silly Outtakes

I could have titled this so many ways!
Ā  Ā “When Photo Shoots Go Awry”
Ā  Ā “The Train Goes off the Tracks”
Ā  Ā “You’re on Candid Camera”

The truth is, I absolutely love what I do! Life is just too short not to have fun, right? Plus I try to dig deep to bring out each person’s personality…really capture who they are (not just a thin fake representation).

So even when photographing what some photographers would view as boring old stuffy head-shots, I do a lot of goofing off to help my clients relax. When it’s working right, it’s contageous! Pretty soon they’re hamming it up and joking around with me in between takes. SOMETIMES…I just can’t resist snapping those moments just for the heck of it!!!

Here then, are a few of the silly outtakes from an awesome shoot I had for the amazing folks at ECS Carolinas LLP. They are an amazing engineering firm in town. I highly recommend them if you’re looking for any environmental consulting or geotechnical engineering on an up-coming project!

Olman’s Bridal Shoot

Now that Olman & Craig are married, I can FINALLY share some of her gorgeous Bridal Portraits from downtown Charleston!!!

Believe it or not, it was a dreary and drizzly afternoon. But since Olman & Craig had driven all the way from Atlanta to get these portraits, we had to work around it. Fortunately, I have a few tricks up my sleeve…favorite locations that are dry and covered…lighting techniques to mimic warm sunshine…and equipment that can withstand the weather. šŸ™‚

Olman has such a positive spirit, her mom and best friend Maricar were great support, and we all actually had a BLAST creating these beautiful images together!

Chris Explores the Charleston Charm

It’s been an honor to photograph the Attaway family for many years. When I got the chance to work with Chris individually, I jumped at the chance!

Chris is a great guy, with striking good looks, and a deep knowledge of the history and architecture of Charleston. So we decided to do our shoot in some of his favorite alleys, with their unique Charleston Charm!

Following his big sister’s footsteps, Chris is at MUSC studying to go into medicine. He hasn’t declared a specialty yet. But whatever he chooses, I know this young man is going to be AMAZING at what he does!!!

LaCoste Family on Seabrook Island

I can’t believe it’s been 6 years already since Kate & Dustin’s beautiful wedding!

I’ve been photographing this wonderful family for years. But this was the first time I got to meet the two NEW additions to the LaCoste/Ham clan! Jake & Tyler were an absolute hoot! Alex has gone on to the Big Times…now working with Apple. Russ & Maggie are still big tennis nuts and as energetic as ever! It was so great to see everyone and catch up with their busy lives.

We all had a BLAST, on an absolutely GORGEOUS day at Seabrook Island!!!

Grace’s Model Shoot at the Old Charleston City Jail

Personal projects are what feeds the creative soul! It’s what professionals photographers do on their spare time to keep the fire burning with passion.

When Grace decided she wanted to do her own Model Shoot…something totally different…I was super excited! I’ve photographed Grace’s family, along with her 3 wonderful sisters, for years. But it was wonderful to just having a little one-on-one time with her to have fun and be ourselves!

Grace is a super bright young lady and an A+ student. But you’d never guess it. Her sweet personality, calm nature, and quiet humility instantly puts you at ease. She has the most beautiful big brown eyes, and is as good in front of the camera as any professional model I’ve worked with!

Many thanks to my friend Mahmood for helping us gain access to the haunted Old Charleston City Jail. And thanks to David & April for letting Grace come out and play with me. We had a BLAST!!!

Charlest Schwab Business Portraits

“I created this company because I believed investors deserved better. They still do.” – Chuck Schwab

Charles Schwab has a 40-year history of innovation and industry-leading change for the good of all investors. It’s an honor to have them as a client. It was a real pleasure photographing Julie, the newest member of the Mt. Pleasant team!