Earlier this week I had the honor of photographing the AMAZING team at Victoria Capital Management.
Diane and the rest of the firm had just been featured in Charleston Magazine. And they wanted to commemorate another successful year together by updating their head-shots and team photos. Congratulations to everyone!
If you’re looking for a great financial planner to work with, check them out at www.vcm.us.com. They are the nicest people you could ever hope to work with!
Last year several friends and I started planning an epic motorcycle adventure. We were to fly to Morocco, rent Honda XR250 enduro bikes, and explore that amazing country for two weeks. When those plans fell through, I shifted my sights to a NEW journey! We’re calling it the Moto Photo Mexico Adventure!!!
I say “We” because I’m so excited to be partnering with my good friend, amazing photographer, and incredible video editor, Jason from Docent Prodigy. Although Jason isn’t able to ride with me on this trip, he’s going to be working with me to produce daily moto vlogs of my epic journey, which we’ll be sharing on YouTube. He’s a fun guy with an amazing gift! Working together on this is going to be amazing. But I’m even more excited for our NEXT collaboration, when he will be able to join me out on the road!!!
In addition to Jason joining me in the post-production department, I am so grateful to his lovely wife, Erica, for letting “boys be boys”, and to my beautiful bride, Cami, for all her love and support. Cami will be holding down the fort and keeping up with our clients while I’m away. We couldn’t do it without you two!!!
As most of you know, I’m no stranger to living and traveling abroad. Having lived most of my formative years in a remote mission station in The Democratic Republic of Congo, AFRICA, I’m well accustomed to roughing it, and indeed feel quite at home in the third world. In fact, I seem to get an itch every few years to return to that simpler way of life that exists outside the realm of American commercialism, politics, and overindulgence. For example, in 2012 I went backpacking solo across Belize and Guatemala for two weeks, riding the “chicken buses” along with the locals, discovering incredible wildlife, and exploring the amazing Mayan ruins along the way.
Saying I’m super excited about this new Moto Photo Mexico trip would be an understatement. A ton of planning and preparation has gone into it. I have so many incredible friends who either live in Mexico, live along the route I’ll be taking through the southern US states, or have ridden their motorcycles in Mexico. Everyone has been so selfless with their guidance, and so generous with their hospitality. Many of them have even invited me to stay with them along the way. Others have connected me with their relatives and friends in towns I’ll be visiting. It has truly been wonderful to see this outpouring of help, encouragement, and support! (Speaking of which, if you live along the route I have planned in the map, and would like to reach out, I’d be delighted to connect with you!)
The ultimate final destination, and one of the biggest goals of this journey, is to finally see the millions of monarch butterflies that return to Mexico each winter from their long migration up through the United States. It’s been a bucket-list item for me for quite some time! I’ll be arriving at the pinnacle of this mass migration. I’m so excited!!! There are of course so many other incredible sights I’m looking forward to seeing and photographing. From the Cave of Swallows (which is the largest pit-cave in the world), to the spectacular waterfalls along the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains…from the old historic mining towns, to the glorious architecture of the Spanish colonial cities…it’s all going to be amazing!
However, I am most looking forward to meeting the incredible PEOPLE of Mexico! Everyone I’ve told about my journey (at least everyone who has never lived outside the U.S.), has stared at me like I’m NUTS!!! Their comments range from “why on earth would you go down there” to “are you bringing a gun”. Seriously?!? I personally believe there are two sides to every country…the political side, and the people side. What we see in the news here in America is all about the political side of things. How would you like to be judged as an individual by what people in other countries see on their news station every night? School shootings, police brutality, the social media ramblings of our leaders…you get my point? We forget that the “people” of every country, of every tribe, of every place on earth are no different than we are. “People” all around the planet have the same hopes and dreams we do. All they want in life is be healthy, to be happy, to fall in love, to raise a family, to have a good job, to enjoy life, and be a good neighbor.
My hope is that this video series will be fun, will be entertaining, will be educational, but more importantly, will show that people everywhere are full of goodness and kindness. I hope you’ll Subscribe to the channel and follow along. It’s going to be a WILD RIDE!!! And I’d love to share it with you. 🙂
Every year for the last I-can’t-remember-how long, I’ve had the honor of photographing this WONDERFUL holiday party for the Trident Medical Center!
Deborah and her team have created such a warm and festive atmosphere for this event. And they’ve fine-tuned every detail to make it a nun night of celebrating the holidays and celebrating the close of another amazing year of healthcare! Of course I would be remiss if I didn’t mention her partners at the Francis Marion Hotel, who always do an AMAZING job. Gillian and Ariana are just incredible people, making sure every detail is attended to.
CONGRATULATIONS to the entire staff at Trident Medical Center for another fantastic year!!!
In my younger days, I played on a tennis team at the Maybank Tennis Center with my good friend Jeff. His wife, Toni, is the tennis pro out there. Their son, Ryan, played on the pro tour for a little while. And their daughter, Kristen, now plays out of Maybank.
It was so great catching up with all of them (minus Ryan who lives in the upstate), during their family Christmas photo session at Hampton Park. This was also our first time meeting Kristen’s wonderful husband, Tony, and their beautiful daughter, Charlotte!
We were blessed with a gorgeous sunny day, and had so much fun capturing these beautiful memories for our friends. We love you guys! 🙂
A few days ago I had the privilege of meeting Alex. Alex is the newest member of the amazing team of commercial real-estate agents at Bridge Commercial. He moved to Charleston a couple months ago from his home in Florida. He’s excited to be joining one of the most respected firms in Charleston, and start this new chapter in his life!
Setting up in the lobby, I set up a white backdrop and created a high-key look by lighting the fabric with a single Nikon SB-5000 flash. I then created a nice soft main light by firing 2 SB-5000 flashes into a large 60″ Westcott shoot-through umbrella just out of frame on camera left. And I added a little fill light by firing another SB-5000 flash through a second 60″ umbrella just to the right of the camera. All stands and tripods were by Manfrotto. I selected the Nikon D5 and Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 VRII to shoot with. The camera was tethered to a Lenovo Yoga laptop for instant previews so that Alex could pick out his favorite.
It was a pleasure meeting and photographing Alex. I look forward to seeing great things from this young man!
I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors over the years! They are such a great group of people…always professional, kind, and fun to work with!!!
Once again, I had the pleasure of photographing their annual Leadership Luncheon. This year was held at a new location…the beautiful Hotel Bennett in downtown Charleston! I’ve photographed other events at this new hotel at the corner of Marion Square. So I knew what a picturesque venue it was. But I was blown away by the gorgeous Christmas decorations!!!
The Leadership Luncheon went perfectly. With great food, a wonderful keynote speaker, and all kind of honors and accolades bestowed on various members, it was a truly a memorable event!
It’s been a year or so since I photographed updated headshots and team photos for the Nautilus company in Mt. Pleasant. It was great seeing everyone again, and photographing the new members of their team!
After photographing all the headshots and group photos, I also captured some aerial drone images of their office and the surrounding views. They are located near Shem Creek, which is a beautiful part of Mt. Pleasant. With no wind, clear skies, and beautiful light, the aerial photos turned out great!
Everyone at Nautilus is always fantastic to work with. I’m already looking forward to our next shoot!!!
I had so much fun photographing the Veneman Family at Hampton Park this weekend! We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day. Beautiful light and a beautiful family ALWAYS makes for a great combination!!! 🙂
After spending the weekend camping and enjoying the company of other wonderful motorcycle junkies at the Horizons Unlimited Travelers Meeting in Appomattox, VA, my friends and I spent 3 days riding the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway!
The famed scenic highway, which is America’s longest linear park, runs for 469 miles from Anon, Virginia to Cherokee, NC. Linking Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway is also America’s most visited national park.
My good friends Scott, Kristi, and Steve were kind enough to join me on this bucket-list quest to ride the entire parkway from start to finish. We broke the trip up into 3 day so that we could enjoy the ride, and stop to take in the beautiful views. This is the first installment of our 3-part series!
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Returning to photograph Earl Klugh’s 10th Annual Kiawah Weekend of Jazz was an honor and a pleasure! Being surrounded by such incredible music all weekend always lifts my spirits. And being able to capture dramatic images of such legends as Earl Klugh, Gladys Knight, Boney James, Christian McBride, and Kandace Springs gives me goosebumps every time I think about it!
When you have a client with a unique vision, a bucket full of holiday cheer, and a really great sense of humor, you just have to roll with it!!! 🙂
Captured with Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70, 4 SB-5000 Speedlights, 4 SB-800 Speedlights, Manfrotto tripod and light stands, Wesctott 60″ umbrellas, and Sony XQD cards.
We couldn’t have asked for a prettier day, or a more amazing family to work with! A few days ago, Cami and I met up with the Holmes family at The Timbers on Kiawah Island. It was a perfect, sunny, 67-degree day, with no wind, and no bugs. How could it get any better? Well, if you throw in a beautiful couple from Ohio, their wonderful parents from Florida, and three absolutely ADORABLE kids…that’s how! 🙂
