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!

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!!!

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…

Molnar Family on Folly Beach

It was only been 55-degrees outside that day…BRRRR!!! But the Molnar Family were on vacation from Michigan. Joy said “this is like Summer to us”! That put things into perspective. 🙂 So we met up at Folly Beach County Park for their family portrait session as planned.

While they were dressed in their shorts and summer dress, I was bundled up in my jeans and sweater. But the instant we met each other, the temperature simply didn’t matter. The Molnar family are the kindest, warmest people you could ever hope to meet! We hit it off immediately!!! With me going to college in Michigan, and Cami’s love for dogs, meeting this beautiful family was like re-connecting with old family friends.

We had a BLAST photographing some beautiful portraits for them to commemorate this special Christmas get-away! What a warm and wonderful family!!!

Sally & Vincent Folly Beach Engagement

Sally & Vincent have been married for almost 10 years. But they never had a proper wedding celebration. So they decided to have a 10-year vow renewal and host a fun celebration on The Carolina Girl yacht! 🙂

We met up for some fun engagement photos at Folly Beach County Park. It turned out to be a GORGEOUS! We had so much fun getting to know each other and creating some beautiful images together. Vincent’s heritage is from Puerto Rico. Sally’s is from Venezuela. And they have two adorable girls, who joined us for a few family photos. What a beautiful family they have!

CONGRATULATIONS on making these special plans to celebrate your 1-year Anniversary, Sally & Vincent!!! I can’t wait to be there for you on your special day.
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Savannah’s Senior Portraits

We’ve known Savannah and her family for years!!! It’s been such a pleasure watching Savannah grow from this adorable little girls into the beautiful young ladies she’s become. So it was with great honor that I got to photograph her Senior Portraits last evening! We are so proud of Savannah and all that she’s accomplished. Clemson is lucky to have her!!! 🙂
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Colored Powder Photography

One of my good friends and artistic inspirations is Reid Strauss. She is an absolute visionary, always full of the coolest and most creative ideas!!!

A couple days ago we gathered her adorable daughters together (or did we drag them kicking and screaming…I can’t remember which?). In any event, they somehow got volunteered to be our victims as we headed out to Folly Beach for a super fun photo shoot!

Reid had ordered some organic biodegradable colored powder for us to play with.  Made out of corn starch and natural dies, it was completely water soluble and wouldn’t harm the environment. When we started, the girls had no problem pelting each other with the fine grains…but when it was their turn, not so much! Just kidding!!!  They were in fact quite enthusiastic and so much fun to work with, which I appreciated. Once they saw how cool the shots were coming out, the competition was ON!!!

It was an overcast gray day. But this was supposed to be all about COLOR!!!  Gray just wouldn’t do. So I switched my Nikon D5 to tungsten white balance, which of course added an electric blue tone to the sky. Then I covered two of my Nikon SB-5000 Speedlights with orange CTO gels, which are thin colored filters for flashes.  For protection, each flash was placed in a zip-loc bag. Using one flash as my main light, and the other as a rim light, I was able to give the skin tones a nice “sunset glow” to them, which contrasted beautifully with the electric blue sky.  I used the compact and lightweight Nikkor 24-120 f4 VR lens so that I could keep my distance and move quickly. From that point on, it was just a matter of getting everyone’s timing down as they hurled fists full of colored powder at each other!!!

Many thanks to Reid, Sydney, Jacqueline, and Trinity for such a fun evening!!!

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Danielle & Mike’s Collage Recreation

Many moons ago I had the pleasure of photographing Danielle & Mike for a creative collage idea of theirs!

They had bought a new home and wanted some artwork depicting a low-country scene for a long empty wall. Being quite the creative genius that he is, Mike had suggested a series of 4 images, showcasing a panoramic marsh scene, but that included a photo of the two of them in one of the 4 images. I loved the idea and it turned out awesome!!!  Check it out here:  https://chrisandcami.com/mike-danielle-at-james-island-county-park/.

Fast forward to today and guess what? Mike and Danielle decided it was time to update their wall to include their beautiful 6 year old daughter! 🙂  Deciding to change it up a little, we chose a twilight beach scene this time. We had a fabulous time together on Folly Beach last night. And the new collage recreation turned out fantastic…

 

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Hill Family on Folly Beach

I had so much fun photographing the Hill Family yesterday!

Coming in from Lancaster, SC, everyone had settled into the “Sea Palm” house on Folly Beach for the week. I met up with them there on a beautiful summer evening. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day…a gentle breeze off the ocean and a dramatic sky at sunset made it even better!

Many thanks to Dave for organizing this crazy crew. Everyone was so much fun to work with!!! And Happy Birthday to Graham for turning 8 on the day of our photo shoot! 🙂

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Izzy & Chance’s Senior Portrait Sessions

I love photographing Senior Portrait Sessions. But what’s even more fun is when I get to photograph a double-session for an AMAZING couple like Izzy & Chance!!!

I was so excited when Tena and Tammy (Izzy & Chance’s parents) called to set up a double photo shoot for these two. They are all from Thomson, GA, and had planned a family get-away this weekend. They thought it would be really cool to get some amazing photos of their kids that would be unique and different from the ones Izzy & Chance’s friends were getting back home. What a cool idea!

After driving into Charleston Friday afternoon, I met up with both families at Folly Beach for Part 1 of their photo shoot. We had decided to do some beach portraits. I love Folly Beach County Park for its perfect views of the sunset. We lucked out with a gorgeous evening and a fantastic sunset!

The next morning we all met at White Point Garden for Part 2. This was a great location from which to explore the heart of old historic downtown Charleston. We had a fun walk-about as we discovered great avenues of trees, black iron gates, and old brick walls to use for backdrops. As a grand-finale, we also zipped over to Rainbow Row to mix in some of those cotton-candy colored houses.

Izzy was so beautiful and had such a delightful smile. Chance was quite dashing and so much fun. We all had a BLAST and came away with some wonderful images to preserve this special time in their lives.  CONGRATULATIONS Izzy & Chance!!!

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Brittny & Chuck at Folly Beach Pier

With just over a year to go until their wedding, I met up with Brittny & Chuck this morning for some sunrise engagement photos at the Folly Beach Pier!
 
We didn’t get to see the sunrise. But it turned out to be a REALLY cool morning with a deserted beach, a thick fog, and an eerie silence all about. It was almost like the beach was totally reserved for us!
 
Brittny & Chuck were absolutely ADORABLE!!! In spite of getting up at 3:00 AM, they were full of energy, laughing and flirting with each other throughout the shoot. We had so much fun together. And I can’t WAIT to capture all the beautiful moments of their wedding day!  🙂

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Aerial Drone Shoot for Docent Prodigy

I always love working and collaborating with my friends!

Earlier this week, Jason at Docent Prodigy, asked me to join him on a photo shoot for one of his clients in the solar power sector. We drove up to Orangeburg and had an AMAZING time working together. Jason photographed head-shots and team photos for the company.  (I grabbed a behind-the-scenes drone-shot of him in action when I brought the aircraft in to swap out batteries.) Meanwhile, I captured aerial photos and video footage for Jason to use in creating a promotional video for his client. It was an incredible spectacle to witness all those thousands of solar panels! Jason and I commented on the way home how lucky we are to have such cool opportunities in our line of work!

Many thanks to Jason for letting me be his wing-man.  🙂

If you need an amazing photographer, videographer, or video editor, I highly recommend Jason at http://docentprodigy.com/.  And if you’re a photographer in need of an FAA Certified drone-pilot to add an extra dimension to what you’re offering your clients, I’d love to work with you!

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