Fairfax Family at Folly Beach

As Hurricane Ian barreled down on a direct path to Charleston, I have to admit I was a little worried. We called Kelly on Thursday to see what she wanted to do about her family session. To her credit, she said, “let’s wait and see.” I am SO GLAD SHE DID!!!

Ian skirted past Charleston on Friday with no major damage. And Saturday turned out to be absolutely GORGEOUS!!! So we all met up at Folly Beach County Park as planned. 🙂

I had so much fun photographing the Fairfax Family. It was a nice cool evening. The sunset was incredible. And we came away with some beautiful images for them to commemorate their family vacation!

Wilson Family at The Sanctuary

Grace & Phil must be living right! After all the gloomy, soggy days we’ve had over the last couple weeks, the afternoon of their family portrait session turned out GLORIOUS!!! 🙂

I had so much fun catching up with them, and literally “chasing after” their adorable daughter last evening.  We met at The Sanctuary on Kiawah Island. The temperatures were cooler than usual from all the rains that came through, which was a nice change. Eliza has so many “looks” that I had a ball trying to capture each and every one of them. And she certainly LOVES the water! As you can tell, she wasn’t afraid to get her dress dirty…much to dismay of Grace & Phil’s dismay I’m sure, since they were meeting friends for dinner afterwards.  🙂

Adorable Eliza will turn 2 years old later this week. Help me wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

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!!!

Powell Family on Kiawah Island

I think it’s simply fantastic when extended families, who now live in different parts of the country, travel long distances to spend time catching up with one another. When Courtney called to say they were celebrating their mother’s birthday with a trip to Kiawah Island and wanted to schedule a family session for her, I was delighted to be a part of it! 🙂
Meeting up with The Powells at The Sanctuary last evening, we had so much fun capturing tons of fun images together!!!
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Muro Family on Isle of Palms

I haven’t had THIS much fun in a looong time!!!
 
Many thanks to the Muro Family for another fabulous family portrait session at their beach house on Isle of Palms. Susan did a great job organizing everything, and bringing pinwheels for the kids. I always love photographing this wonderful gang. They make me feel like part of the family!
 
See what you missed out on, Christopher & Dana? That’s OK, you had a good excuse. We’ll see you next year with another beautiful “+1” for the group!!!  🙂

Elizabeth & Tricia in the French Quarter

Cami & I were so blessed to have Elizabeth Hayes help us with all the financing and paperwork when we closed on our new house two years ago. We can’t recommend her enough to anyone buying a new home! You can find her at Carolina One Mortgage.

It was an honor and a pleasure to meet Elizabeth’s daughter, Tricia, and photograph some mother/daughter portraits for these two. We had a BLAST, exploring all the nooks and crannies of the old historic French Quarter.  We started at Waterfront Park and explored the surrounding area, photographing their fun personalities along the way.

Many thanks to Elizabeth and Tricia for making it such a fun shoot!!! 🙂

A Kiss of Light

I am, and always will be, a student of light!  Most days I can find absolutely gorgeous natural light to work with.  But sometimes a shot needs a little extra “something”.  During this fun shoot with James & Ashleigh and their beautiful daughter, I started photographing this story-telling scene with all natural light.  But the exposure value on Larkin was the same as James & Ashleigh’s.  Even though the shallow depth of field made it clear that Larkin was my main subject, James & Ashleigh were competing for my attention.  So to make them recede even more into the background and make Larkin really pop, I used a single SB-800 on my light stand off to my left to give her that extra lift.  I didn’t pump it up too high…just enough to give her a little extra kiss of light and make her the true centerpiece of the shot.  As always, the remote flash was triggered with a RadioPopper Px remote.  Next time you’re out shooting, try adding a kiss of light to add extra depth to your shot!

Kathy & Rusty’s family at Folly Beach

I had a really fun time photographing Shelley, Chris, and their son Logan last year.  So I was ecstatic when her Mom called to ask me to photograph the WHOLE family.  J  It was so beautiful, peaceful, and un-crowded out on my favorite stretch of Folly Beach.  One of the joys of my job is getting to know folks as we walk to and from the beach…hearing about all the interesting things they do, their amazing accomplishments, their passions, and what’s important in their lives.  I’m so blessed to be able to do what I do!

Boone Hall Family Shoot

I met Holly while shooting assignments for her at the Charleston Regional Business Journal.  We’ve been friends ever since and I’ve had the pleasure of photographing her and Clint’s family for several years.  Originally it was just their 4-legged kids, now they have a beautiful 2-legged one too.  J  We met at the historic Boone Hall Plantation just down the road from their house.  The early morning light was just perfect and we had a great time roaming the grounds and stopping for different shots.  At one point, when I had everyone set, including 2-dogs and a 1-year old girl, this huge (think grayhound) bus slowly wanders down the famous Avenue of Oaks that was my backdrop…and proceeded to stop right behind us to let it’s FULL contents of elderly tourists out behind us!!!  How inconsiderate was that?  They could have just as easily pulled up 15 feet closer to the mansion and been out of our shot!  But that’s the fun of working in a public environment.  We rolled with the punches, moved on to a new spot, and came back to that one after everyone had dispersed. 

Robbin & Leighanne at Folly Beach

Yesterday Cami & I did a fun “Dual Photo Shoot” with our good friends Robbin & Leighanne of Robbin Knight Photography!  We went out to Folly Beach where we took turns photographing each other for our respective Christmas Card photos.  First Robbin & Leighanne would set Cami & I up with our golden retriever, Marley, and photograph us.  Then we’d do the same for their family.  It was a BLAST and we had a lot of fun trading who was shooting, who was watching “the kids”, and who was playing with the squeaky toy.  Afterwards we took the dogs, the kids, and our tired selves to a dog-friendly restaurant on the island and had a great time relaxing on the patio with the cool evening breeze and wonderful conversation.  Here’s a couple of my favorites of the Knight gang.  You’ll have to wait until Christmas to see ours!!!  J

Family Portrait at Folly Beach

The last time we tried this, it started to rain as soon as we began our walk out to the beach.  THIS TIME, Dawn & Chris pulled up on the most beautiful day you could imagine!  After having to reschedule their previous session, they deserved it!!!  J  The light was warm and beautiful, the temperature wasn’t too hot, and the beach was relatively un-crowded for a Friday evening.  I had a great time with them and their two fantastic children.  As we were walking back after the shoot was over, Chris exclaimed “This wasn’t NEARLY as painful as I thought it was going to be…you actually made it kind of fun!”  J 

 

Jacci & Scott at Wild Dunes

I photographed Jacci & Scott’s wedding two years ago.  It’s hard to believe since I remember their Big Day like it was yesterday!  So imagine how excited I was to hear they had started a family.  They were coming back to Charleston for vacation and asked if I’d be willing to do a few photos of them.  Are you KIDDING?!?  It was so nice to see them again, catch up, and meet little Jack.  The really funny part is, they were married at Sunrise Presbyterian Church…and Jackie & Chris’ wedding last weekend was at the same location…coincidence?!?  Hmmm….