I had a fantastic time photographing James yesterday!
Hailing from Tennessee, he joins the fantastic team at First Citizens Bank in downtown Charleston. He was such a great guy, with a fantastic sense of humor. Plus he served in the Army!
Thank you for your service, James! And welcome to the team!!!
Being a professional photographer is not always roses and sunshine. Sometimes we are faced with difficult scenarios, yet expected to produce stellar results!
Photographing an assignment for Lee & Associates, I needed to create headshots for a couple of recent additions to the team. We normally do their shoots in The Cedar Room. This is the big beautiful ballroom in Charleston that’s known for its gorgeous historic brick walls. Instead, they offered us this wall in the bottom floor, which is now a a back service entrance in the basement of the old factory.
I got to work and set up my Nikon D5 with Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 on the Manfrotto 055 carbon fiber tripod. I mounted 2 SB-5000 flashes, both set to Group A, on a Manfrotto light stand with a 60″ Westcott shoot-through umbrella, as my main light. I set 2 SB-5000 flashes, on another light stand with a shoot through umbrella in the back. One of these flashes was set to Group B and directed at the subject to act as a rim/fill light. The other was set to Group C and directed at the wall as a background light. The camera was then tethered to my Lenovo Yoga laptop, which rested comfortably on the trash can in the corner. Using Adobe Lightroom allowed the client to proof images as I shot, and allowed each individual pick out their favorite shots.
In spite of the conditions, with a little ingenuity, and a dash of creativity, we were able to make this dark hallway look as bright and beautiful as the gorgeous ballroom above!
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of photographing more head-shot for one of my favorite clients! As Siemon Whiteside continues to grow and expand, they bring me in to photograph the newest members of their awesome team of professionals.
Setting up my portable studio in their conference room included the following: Savage seamless black background, Nikon D5, Sony XQD Card, Nikkor 70-200, Nikon SB-5000 (Master) flash, Westcott Apollo 50″ softbox with 3 SB-800 flashes (main light), two Westcott Apollo Strip Lights with 1 SB-800 each (rim lights), RadioPoppers (to sync all flashes), and Lenovo Yoga Laptop (tethered to camera).
I always enjoy working with this awesome team of wonderful human beings!
I had an amazing time meeting and photographing Doug Ward, who is Vice President of Customer Care at Comcast. I absolutely loved his energy and enthusiasm!
I also had the pleasure of working with Erika Paolo, who is a fantastic make-up artist. She’s originally from Equador, but now calls Charleston “home”.
The client requested a high-key style of portrait. So I brought a white backdrop, which I lit from behind the subject with an SB-5000 flash. For a main light, I used a Westcott 50″ Apollo softbox containing 3 SB-800 flashes. And for fill, I used a smaller Westcott Apollo softbox containing 2 SB-800 flashes. All images were captured on a Nikon D5 with a Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 VRII.
Many thanks to Erika Lanier (my fellow Buckeye), and Jen Hollaway, for coordinating everything for the shoot. It was an honor and a pleasure!!!
I owe Liz a HUGE “Thank You” for inviting me to photograph updated head-shots and marketing photos at her new firm of Elliott Davis. Liz used to work for another large accounting firm in Charleston. When she accepted a position with Elliott Davis, she knew they needed to update their images.
I am so grateful that Liz thought of us for this assignment! It was a lot of fun. Everyone was so pleasant and easy to work with. We captured a ton of great images together! Here are just a few of the 500+ we captured that day.
CONGRATULATIONS Liz on finding your new home at Elliott Davis!!!
It was a pleasure photographing an updated head-shot for Mr. Renshaw as he embarks on his new career path!
I met up with him at his beautiful home on Johns Island. We looked through various samples of portrait styles he liked, and chose a background that was in line with the requirements from his new company. I then set up my wireless portrait station, using the appropriate light modifiers and light placement to achieve the style we were after. The whole process was quick and painless. Even his daughter , who was home visiting from college, joined in the fun and helped pick out the best shot to use!
Congratulations to Mr. Renshaw on his continued success!
Founded in 2011, Exaqueo is an employer brand experience firm on a mission to transform how organizations find and keep best-fit talent through employer branding. Their vision is for every organization to have a fully-realized, best-fit workplace.
It’s been our pleasure to be there photographer for a few years now. This morning I had the privilege of photographing headshots for a few new members to their team!
The soggy December rains kept ruining our plans for another annual Rogers Family Christmas Portrait.
But Dr. Lori of Belle Hall Eye Care is such a wonderful, easy-going, and understanding human being! She kept rolling with the punches. And on the 3rd day of the New Year, we FINALLY captured her family portraits at Pepper Plantation! With ponies, puppies, and even a chicken, the session was a real treat. Plus, at one point Ellie got a hold of my remote control and started taking their own photos. So of course I HAD to jump in! 😉 We had so much fun!!!
We absolutely love this beautiful family to pieces!
I had another FANTASTIC photo shoot with South Atlantic Bank this week. These guys are always so much fun to work with!!!
I set up a complete high-key studio right in the lobby of the bank. Fortunately it was off-peak hours. So we didn’t have too many interruptions. But it was fun to see the look on people’s faces when they did come in…and see the bank manager and a bunch of employees having fun in front of the camera! 🙂
Shots were made with a Nikon D5 with a Nikkor 70-200. Lighting was provided by 6 SB-800 flashes. Background was a Savage Super White seamless paper. Stands and tripods were all Bogen Manfrotto.
Being a full-time professional photographer often requires wearing many hats. Usually those hats don’t come into play at the same shoot!
One day might find you photographing professional head-shots for a client’s website. The next day, you might be creating product photography for a retail storefront. Then on your day off, maybe you capture some amazing wildlife encounter.
This week at the Center for Birds of Prey, I had the pleasure of photographing all three in one day!!!
Lawson is an incredibly smart, kind, and beautiful young lady! Her easy-going personality and naturally quiet demeanor has a calming effect on everyone around her. And when that infectious smile bursts out, you can’t help but be happy inside! Lawson plays golf on her high-school team, and is hoping to study law when she goes to college.
Yesterday I had a really fun mentoring session with my friends Geno and Tyler. They were kind enough to teach me how to fly their drones. So I returned the favor by sharing some photography tips. Lawson was kind enough to accept the challenge of being our super model for the afternoon as we worked on our techniques. What a brave girl!!! 😉
We started our fun fashion shoot off at Hampton Park…later progressing to Brittlebank Park for the sunset. It was a gorgeous day, and Lawson was absolutely STUNNING!!! It was an honor and a pleasure to capture some creative Senior Portraits for this amazing young lady!
It always blows me away, how quickly children grow!
Photographing the Haddens, starting way back at their engagement session, has been a real joy to me. Photographing their latest addition has been no different. Emma is an adorable, sweet, loving, little girl.
For her 8-month portrait session, Clay and I got to take her out for a fun play date. I even got to hold Emma while Clay was getting a few things out of the car. It was a bit like that movie, Three Men and a Baby…HA! We met at the Old Village Post House in Old Mt. Pleasant, wandering the surrounding neighborhoods for quaint backdrops.
Emma put a smile in my heart and a spring in my step that lasted throughout the day! 🙂
