The Riccardi & Canonica Families on Kiawah Island

I was so honored when Tracey contacted us to photograph an updated family portrait for them before the kids went back to school. This year, her cousin Doreen and her family decided to join in on all the fun!

I met up with them at their beautiful home on Kiawah Island. With a storm brewing in the distance, the temperatures were nice and cool. Plus it provided for a really dramatic backdrop with interesting colors and cloud formations out over the ocean.

We had an awesome time and came away with some wonderful family memories!

John’s Retirement Roast on Kiawah Island

I haven’t laughed so hard, nor choked back so many tears, as I did at John’s wonderful Retirement Roast this weekend!

As a full-time professional event photographer in Charleston, I am so privileged to be invited into the most touching, most beautiful, most powerful, and most important occasions in people’s lives. Denise put on an AMAZING retirement party for her husband. All his closest friends and colleagues made the trek out to the Kiawah Island Club at River Course to celebrate this man, his integrity, his leadership, and his impact on their lives.

CONGRATULATIONS John on all your accomplishments!!!

Rowland Family on John’s Island

This weekend I had the pleasure of photographing the Rowland Family on John’s Island.  To see more of their photos, visit:  http://chrisandcami.zenfolio.com/p808783292.

Ronald’s brother is the priest at the Holy Spirit Catholic Church. So we met there to use their beautiful gardens as the backdrop to our fun photo shoot. It was absolutely GORGEOUS!!!

Their daughter, Kathy, who organized everything as a gift to their parents, said they have never had a professional family portrait done together. I was truly honored to capture these precious memories for this wonderful, kind, and loving family!

Mazirow Family on Kiawah Island

It was too chilly and dreary for a beach session. But this was the ONLY day the Mazirow Family would be all together! We bravely switched to “Plan B”, selecting the beautiful views overlooking Osprey Point Golf Course from the deck of their gorgeous rental house as our new photo location. That way, everyone could take brakes to run inside and warm up if they got too cold! 🙂

The secluded deck area was shrouded in trees on all sides, which kept the wind off. But this also prevented any light from filtering through. I quickly set up an array of Nikon SB-800 flashes, firing through giant 60″ Westcott umbrellas, to emulate the warm glow of a late afternoon daylight.  All flashes were triggered by RadioPopper transmitters.  The amazing Nikon D5 did the rest.

Everything turned out beautiful! And the Mazirow Family was so fun to work with!!! CONGRATULATIONS to Ann and Art on their beautiful, kind, and loving family.

Guin Family on Kiawah Island

It’s been overcast, gloomy, and rainy all week. I even drove through a short downpour on the way to the shoot. But by the time the Guin family arrived for our beach portrait session on Kiawah Island last night, the skies opened up, the winds calmed down, the temperature cooled off, and the light was spectacular. We could not have asked for a more BEAUTIFUL evening!

Having become a wonderful blended family only a few years ago, the Guins have been vacationing on Kiawah Island ever since. Now that their oldest son is married and moved away from the family home in Chicago, this is the only time they all get together!

It was an honor to meet everyone and capture some wonderful images for them to commemorate this special occasion.  🙂

Kiawah Island Sunrise Family Session

I had another AMAZING family portrait session with the Evans gang this year!

For something different, we decided to do a sunrise session…which was GORGEOUS!!! Being on the east coast, sunrise is the only time we get to actually have the sun on the horizon in the photos. We lucked out with some dramatic clouds. Plus there was hardly anyone else on the beach that early…so we had it ALL to ourselves!

I loved everyone’s enthusiasm and we all had a blast creating these summer memories for this wonderful family! 🙂