It was awesome working with Dorchester County PIO, Michelle, again this week!
We photographed updated photos of Ashley River Park, the new Ladson Fire Station, and the soon-to-open North Charleston Library. Everything was captured with Nikon Z9 camera, Nikkor Z 14-24 f4, 24-120 f4, 70-200 f2.8 lenses, and DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone.
Dorchester county is rich in history and filled with unbelievable beauty!
Last week I was assigned the task of taking a single day to explore and capture as much of the county’s diverse nature, scenic beauty, and significant history as possible. I covered everything from the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest, the Rosenwald School in St. George, Indian Field and Shady Grove campgrounds, Givhans Ferry State Park and the Edisto River that runs through it, Colonial Dorchester County Park, Middleton Place Plantation, and several stops in between.
It was a tough challenge, since I could have easily spent an entire day at each location! But I successfully completed the task and came away with a wonderfully diverse collection of images that showcase a day in the beauty of Dorchester County!
This has been a busy year for Dorchester County! With the new fire station, new ems vehicles, new mobile command station, all kinds of new streets and road repairs going in, and of course new employees constantly joining their growing team…I’ve been busy! It’s been a pleasure working with Michelle, the county’s Public Information Officer, to come up with new marketing photos to help promote transparency and keep their constituents informed of what’s been going on. A highlight of this week’s assignment included headshots of the Command Staff at the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office! Michelle works really hard and does an amazing job. I’m honored to be part of her team!!!
I’ve never been to a “swearing in” ceremony before. So when Michelle asked me to stay a few minutes at the end of our photo shoot to capture a few action shots of new Council Members taking their oath of office, I was absolutely delighted!
We had just wrapped up photographing a variety of drone shots, group photos, and headshots for various departments at the Dorchester County office building in Summerville. We had also photographed headshots, group photos, and some interior marketing shots of the Council Chambers. So to be able to stick around and see the government in action was pretty neat!
Many thanks to PIO Michelle for her hard work organizing and scheduling these photo shoots. I always enjoy working with her, and appreciate all the fun challenges she throws at me!
This was a fun photo shoot! I got to see some of the inner workings of the judicial system, and meet some powerful players like Judge Jenkins. It’s always a pleasure working with Michelle at Dorchester County Government to capture headshots for their team, photograph drone photos of their facilities, and create beautiful images for their marketing program!
Did you know that Dorchester County is named for its first settlement area, which was established by Congregationalists in 1696? These settlers applied the name “Dorchester” to the area, in honor of their last residence in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Officially, Dorchester was not established as a separate county of South Carolina until 1897.
I’ve had the pleasure of working on some new promotional photos this year with the amazing Michelle Mills from the Dorchester County Government. Here are a few shots from the most recent shoot, featuring the EMS Headquarters, Sheriff’s Office, Dorchester County Detention Center, Davis-Bailey Park, and Texas Community Park.
(Nikon Z9, Nikkor 24-120 f4 S, Nikon SB-5000 Speedlights, DJI Mini 3 Pro)
This was a fun day!
While creating marketing photos for the Dorchester County Government, I got to photograph a huge variety of images. From staff photos at the Public Works Group, to first-responders at the fire station, to members of the EMS team, to scenic shots of Rosebrock and Ashley River Parks…it was a pretty intense day. Portraits, group shots, aerial drone photos, nature, architecture, and scenery…I covered a wide gamut.
Two things I love about my job…I get to meet the most interesting people, and I never get bored! 🙂
Last week I found myself on an assignment in the dark recesses of a 911 call center. Given extremely limited time to work with, I channeled my inner Joe McNally, placed a single SB5000 with a blue gel on it in the background, and hid a single SB5000 with a CTO gel behind the bank of monitors. Click…click…click…and I was escorted back out so as not to distract them any further from their high-stress jobs!
(Before and after with Nikon Z9, 24-70 f2.8 S, ISO 1600, f2.8, 1/40s, WR-R11 transmitter, 2x SB5000 flashes)
Michelle at Dorchester County has been an absolute pleasure to work with the last couple of weeks.
We’ve been photographing lots of department photos, team group shots, and various properties around the county for use in their marketing and promotional material. Yesterday we photographed headshots for a number of key staff members, as well as group shots of their board of directors.
Wanting the photos to have a cheerful “outdoorsy” feel, we elected to set up at The Pavilion inside the new Ashley River Park. It’s a GEORGEOUS park with tons to offer. And The Pavilion is definitely an architectural highlight! Everyone was so much fun to work with and we had a great time!
(Nikon D5, Sony XQD Cards, Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 VRII, 3 Speedlights in a Westcott Apollo 50″ softbox for main light, 1 bare bulb Speedlight as a kicker, Manfrotto tripod and stands, BoaBags to hold everything in place during wind gusts.)
