Iowa Corn Director Alumni Banquet

Before leaving Des Moines, I had one more fantastic event to cover!

It was an absolute pleasure to photograph the Iowa Corn Director Alumni Banquet at the Hilton Garden Inn. I’ve come to know a lot of the attendees through my coverage of various events involving the farming community…many of them I consider friends. It was wonderful to catch up with some of those friends like Julius, Maurice, Pam, Mark, and many others I haven’t seen in several years! But more importantly, it was such a joy to be there to capture Julie Kirby’s retirement roast at the end of the banquet. She has been with Iowa Corn for 39 years!!! Congratulations on an amazing career, Julie!

After a day of photographing the NASCAR Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol, a second day of photographing promotional photos at Paige & Joe’s corn farm, and this third day of photographing the Director Alumni Event, I have to say that Iowa Corn farmers are some of the nicest people on the planet!!! I was happy to be heading home, but sad to be saying goodbye to so many friends, new and old.

Iowa Corn Farm

While I was in Des Moines to photograph the NASCAR Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol, I had the opportunity to create some new marketing images for Iowa Corn. Getting to Joe’s farm was a beautiful scenic drive through endless fields of lush green corn. Joe and his beautiful fiance were wonderful to work with. Their passion and knowledge for farming was infectious! We had a blast and came away with a variety of great shots for Iowa Corn to use in spreading their message and promoting their product.

NASCAR Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol

Last weekend I had the honor and privilege of photographing the inaugural NASCAR Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at the Iowa Speedway on behalf of the title sponsor, Iowa Corn!!!

The Iowa Corn 350 (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol) is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. It was NASCAR Cup Series’ first race at Iowa Speedway and first race in the state of Iowa. The Iowa Speedway is a 7⁄8-mile (1.4 km) oval short track featuring 10 degrees of banking in the frontstretch, four degrees in the backstretch, and a progressive banking system utilized from 12 to 14 degrees in the turns. It’s known as “The fastest short-track on the planet.”

After struggling earlier this year, Ryan Blaney in car #12 took home the trophy!!! Grabbing the lead on crew chief Jonathan Hassler’s two-tire call under the final caution of Sunday night’s Iowa Corn 350, Blaney led the final 88 laps of the inaugural Cup race at the 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway. In front of a large contingent of family and friends, the reigning series champion crossed the finish line 0.716 seconds ahead of runner-up William Byron, who was racing on four new tires after a pit stop under caution for Chris Buescher’s accident on Lap 260. The victory was Blaney’s first of the season and the 11th of his career. Blaney now has won at Iowa Speedway in all three NASCAR national series, having also triumphed in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2012 and the Xfinity Series in 2015.

Not only was this the first NASCAR Cup race at the Iowa Speedway, and Iowa Corn’s first year as title sponsor…it was also my first time photographing a NASCAR motorsport. I did my research, and was happy with the results. Yes, there were areas I could have been more efficient or come away with a better shot or two. But I’m pretty pleased with what I was able to capture, having never even been to a race like this!

It was a grueling day. I woke up in Charleston at 4:00 am to catch my 5:50 am flight to Des Moines. I landed at 10:30 am, picked up my rental car, and drove directly to the speedway. I started shooting at 12:00 noon and didn’t stup until 9:30 pm (minus a 30-minute break in the media center where I managed to grab a quick bite to eat and get re-hydrated. By the time I had packed up and fought the traffic back to my hotel, it was 11:30 pm. But it was 12:30 am before I had gotten all the images imported, backed up, and my head hit the pillow!

5 hours of sleep the night before
9 hours of non-stop shooting
30 pounds of camera gear carried
3,284 photos captured
20,665 steps walked

* All images captured with Nikon Z9 (x2), Nikkor 14-30Z f4, Nikkor 24-120 Z f4, Nikkor 70-200 Z f2.8 (frequently with TC1.4Z attached for a 100-300 f4 effective focal length), Nikkor 400 Z f4.5, DJI Mini 3 Pro, Sony XQD cards, and ThinkTank Speedbelt.

Kent Family on Isle of Palms

What a beautiful evening for family portraits on Isle of Palms!!!

I had so much fun meeting and photographing the Kent family at their beach house on IOP last evening! Although they were a little worried about how windy it was, there was no cause for concern. The deck behind their house was sheltered from the wind. So I took advantage of the soft open shade and photographed some “safety shots” there before we headed to the beach. That way all the ladies had a few shots with perfect hair before the wind did its thing. 🙂

I also grabbed a cool drone shot of them on their boardwalk. Then we hit the beach! We had beautiful warm “golden hour” light, a nice high tide, and interesting clouds in the sky for a gorgeous backdrop. Since the wind was blowing in a westerly direction, I faced them into the wind, letting the sun become a “rim” light, and used my off-camera speedlights as the main light. We laughed and joked and came away with a nice variety of great shots to commemorate their time together!

With their kids spread out from New York to Nashville, Al and Kay have made a fun family tradition of getting everyone together each summer to reconnect with one another. I love that!!!

MUSC Doctor of Surgery Graduation Gala

It was an absolute pleasure photographing the annual Graduation Gala for the esteemed Medical Universary of South Carolina newest surgeons! This was my second year covering this amazing event.  And I’m so glad I got to be a part of it!

Many thanks to Diana for hiring me, and for sharing these kind words with me after she received the photos:
“Thank you so much!! You were great and everyone raved about you from the event. I couldn’t be more pleased with your services and the beautiful photos.”

Headshots for the Joye Law Firm

The best part of my job is meeting new, fun, and friendly people!!!

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing some new headshots for the Joye Law Firm. I’ve been working with their team for a few years now. And everyone they hire always seems to be so happy! I’d say this law firm must be really great to work for. Having a friendly work environment and a pleasant culture to be a part of makes for happy employees!!!

Allison & Trent at Rainbow Row

Last week I had the pleasure of photographing these fun, colorful, romantic images for Amanda & Trey! We had so much fun exploring Waterfront Park, Rainbow Row, and Adgers Wharf…before they headed off for a nice dinner date.  🙂

As I often do, I arrived early and found this beautiful heron hunting in the marsh while I waited for them.  Then heading home, I couldn’t help stopping to capture the sunset through the sailing ships moored on the Ashley River.

Debi & Scott’s Vow Renewal Photo Shoot

As Debi and Scott began planning their destination vow renewal in Charleston, the most important part was to have all their children together for the weekend! They are a blended family, with adult kids who have sprouted roots all over the country. So to find a date that worked with everyone’s schedules was tough…but they did it!!!

To comemorate this rare occurance, they asked me to spend a couple hours with them and their family, exploring different parts of Charleston, and capturing a wide variety of photographs of everyone together!

Debi & Scott are such an amazing couple! And it was an absolute pleasure to spend time with them and their growing family. 🙂

Staybridge Suites for Naman Hotels

I used to photograph a lot of hotels. One of my favorite clients was the Naman Hotels chain. Unfortunately, they moved over to using an internal source for their photography needs. But this week, my old contact reached out and said they needed some updated drone shots of their Staybridge Suites property in North Charleeston…and would I be willing to help out!

I got there pre-dawn to photograph some dramatic shots during “blue-hour”. Then Dexter and I had a nice time catching up over breakfast. And later I came back to get some daylight shots on a beautiful blue sky day. All images were shot with the DJI Mavic 3 Pro, with proper authorization obtained from nearby Charleston International Airport.

PNC Bank Elite Awards Banquet – Westin Savannah Harbor Resort

It was an absolute pleasure photographing the PNC Elite Awards Banquet at the Westin Savannah Harbor Resort earlier this week!

Because all the Elite Awards Winners were going to be receiving complimentary headshots during cocktail hour, my good friend and amazing photographer, Jason, joined me so we could double the pace. We set up two identical shooting stations on either side of a Savage Studio Gray backdrop. This allowed us two have two shooting stations going full tilt so we could get everyone photographed before the awards banquet began.

Once everyone had gotten their portraits made, Jason and I quickly repurposed several of the off-camera speedlights to use as spot-lights on the stage. As each award winner was called up, I photographed the formal shot of them receiving the award, while Jason coverd the podium and candids of the crowd cheering and clapping for their friends. It was a fun and exciting night!

Many thanks to Laura at KLH Group, as well as Margeaux & Danielle at PNC Bank, for trusting us with this assignment and keeping everything organized.

Jackie & Jason’s Engagement Photos at White Point Garden

I am so excited about Jackie & Jason’s upcoming wedding this November!!!

We’ve been talking, emailing, and planning for a couple months now. But yesterday was the first time I’d actually met Jackie & Jason in person! We met up at White Point Garden during late afternoon Golden Hour for their Engagement Session. We had so much fun getting to know each other, capturing their love for each other, and exploring the old historic downtown area around The Battery together.

Jason is a law enforcement officer with Isle of Palms. Jackie works in hospitality with Seabrook Island. They are absolutely ADORABLE together! And I can’t wait to be there for them on their Big Day!!! 🙂

Premier Physical Therapy

It’s always a pleasure photographing for Premier Physical Therapy! Jill and her team are top notch!!! So much so that not only are we their photographers, we’re also clients who have used their services many times to rehab injuries over the years.

This week, Cami and I got to photograph several new members to their team…of both the 2-legged and the 4-legged variety!  😉