Brown Family at The Citadel Beach Club

The Brown Family is growing!!! Little Charlie joined the family nine months ago. It was a pleasure to finally meet this beautiful young lady, and to catch up with the rest of the crew! 🙂

We picked a beautiful summer evening to meet at The Citadel Beach Club on Isle of Palms. A gentle breeze kept us cool, and kept the no-see-ums away. A receding tide left us with some picturesque tidal pools to splash and play in.  Just as the sunset splashed it’s colorful rays across the sky, a full moon rose from the ocean.  It was an absolutely perfect evening!

We had a BLAST and captured a wide variety of wonderful images to commemorate this year’s Wild Dunes family vacation!!!

Sessions Family on Isle of Palms

I had so much fun with the Sessions Family during their family vacation this year! Kathleen had rented the bright yellow “Banana House” on Isle of Palms for the week. Her three kids, and all the grandkids came in to town to enjoy a wonderful time of catching up and bonding together.  The adults looked a little worn out.  But the kids all looked like they were having a BLAST!!!  🙂

Nester Family on Seabrook Island

For me, the highlight of each summer “beach portrait season” is always the week of July 4th when the beautiful Nester Family visits Seabrook Island for their annual vacation!

Having photographed Suzanna & Jeff’s wedding back in the day, it’s been an absolute honor to capture this family’s portraits each summer since then. Rick & Carol have two amazing children, who have married two wonderful partners, and given them five beautiful grandkids!  I’ve had the pleasure of capturing so many changes in their lives.  And they have embraced Cami and I as an extension of that family!

CONGRATULATIONS to the Nester family for another successful Seabrook Family vacation! It was such an honor to hang out and catch up with you guys again this year!!!

Headshots for Elliott Davis

The weather was a little “iffy” this morning. But Sarah at Elliott Davis thought we had a “window” of opportunity to get their headshots in. And she was right!
The drizzling stopped just long enough for us to capture a variety of nice headshots and casual portraits of their team on the beautiful grounds of The Gaillard Auditorium. Everyone was fantastic to work with. Plus we had the extra benefit of overcast skies to provide us with nice, soft, light to shoot with!
(Nikon D5, Nikkor 70-200 f2.8, Sony XQD, SB-5000 off-camera flash, Lastolite EZY Box, Manfrotto supports, BoaBags weights)

Grindall Family at The Sanctuary

The extended Grindall family wasn’t able to make it this year. But I’m so glad Brian and his boys were still able to enjoy their annual family vacation to Kiawah Island! I know they are bonding and building amazing memories together. These will be the carefree times those youngsters will look back on as the “good ol’ days”!!!  🙂

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!!!

Muro Family on IOP

Last night was another awesome beach session with the Muro Family. I’ve been photographing their portraits on Isle of Palms every summer for 10 years! They have taken me in and made me feel like family. It is always such a pleasure re-connecting this special group of kind, generous, and amazing people!!!

Lea & Frank on The Carolina Girl Yacht

I love photographing all weddings. But it’s always EXTRA special to photograph a close friend’s wedding. Last week I had the pleasure of capturing the amazing wedding celebration of our long-time friend and neighbor, Frank, and his beautiful fiancé, Lea!

I met Frank many years ago at a wedding where he was the videographer and I was the photographer. His background in the TV industry has made him an incredible story-teller. Our shared passion for capturing the love between two people was the start of a wonderful friendship. Finding out he lived just 4 doors down from Cami and I made it even easier for us to grab coffee, go to lunch, or just stop by for a chat. Frank is an AMAZING guy…and we couldn’t be happier for him and Lea!

Although I haven’t known Lea nearly as long, it’s been such a blessing to watch their relationship grow and blossom. Lea has a kindness and gentleness about her that speaks volumes to her character. The way she treats Frank with love and respect, and the way she “gets” his corny jokes, lets me know know they are a match made in heaven.  🙂  Lea is also an amazing mother to her son Josiah!

Lea & Frank planned an intimate celebration on a gorgeous summer evening aboard The Carolina Girl Yacht. Arriving early, they shared a very special First Look in the picturesque park near the dock. After portraits with family and friends, we boarded the yacht for a fantastic cruise around Charleston Harbor. Close family and friends witnessed a touching ceremony…with a few funny movie quotes thrown in for good humor. The couple then shared their First Dance before sunset portraits on the bow. Afterwards, Frank & Lea joined guests in the main cabin for dinner. The delightful evening continued on the top deck with dancing and mingling as we enjoyed the gentle ocean breezes until the captain brought us back to the dock.

Many thanks to Camille, Sarah Beth, and Captain Trent for going above and beyond. And a special thanks to Captain Bob for making a guest-star appearance to make sure all was ship-shape before our departure!

It was an absolute honor to photograph Lea & Frank’s surprise proposal earlier this year: https://chrisandcami.com/lea-frank-are-engaged/. And it was an even deeper honor to be there for them to capture all these special moments of their wedding day!

Silverio Family at Hampton Park

A gentle breeze and soft lighting gave us the PERFECT evening for a summer family portrait session! I met up with the Silverio Family at the picturesque Hampton Park. They were in town enjoying their bi-annual family reunion. It was especially neat to have grandma Jean with us, celebrating her 83rd trip around the sun!

Many thinks to Cynthia for helping organize everyone. We had a BLAST and came away with some wonderful images!

(Nikon Z9, Nikkor 24-120 f4S, SB-5000 Speedlight, Lexar XQD Cards, Manfrotto supports)

Nick & Nicole’s Secret Proposal at The Sanctuary

After weeks and weeks of planning every detail for Nick’s secret proposal, we had to call a last-minute audible!!!

Nick and I had worked so hard to come up with the perfect plan for him to ask his beautiful girlfriend, Nicole, to marry him. We had picked a pristine beach at the northern end of Kiawah Island as the backdrop. We had chosen the perfect time of day to catch that “golden hour” light before sunset. But all our plans fell apart minutes before our scheduled time when the skies opened up, pelting buckets of rain down from the sky!!!

Fortunately, Nick and Nicole’s parents had secretly flown in to surprise the couple after the proposal. Since his parents were staying at The Sanctuary, they quickly scouted out a secluded spot indoors and out of the rain. They even placed a trail of rose petals leading Nick to “the spot” where he would do his magic. It worked out PERFECTLY!!!

Arriving right on cue, Nicole said later that she could sense Nick was acting a little strange. But she wasn’t sure why? Then Nick hit his mark, turned to face the love of his life, and dropped to one knee. It was a truly magical moment. Nicole burst into a HUGE grin as she realized what was going on…and she couldn’t stop smiling the rest of the night!

Afterwar she said “Yes”, we were able to incorporate the beautiful hallways, archways, and grand staircase of the famous hotel into a fun authentic engagement shoot. I got some neat candids of Nick & Nicole’s parents surprising them and checking out Nicole’s AMAZING ring. And of course we captured a few nice family portraits to commemorate the occasion.

CONGRATULATIONS Nick & Nicole!!! We wish you all the best as you begin your new journey together!

FX Dance Performance at Queen Street Playhouse

It was both a pleasure and a challenge photographing the FX Dance Performance at the Queen Street Playhouse!

Capturing explosive movement in extremely low light conditions is probably the most difficult scanario for any camera to handle. But even with pushing the Z9 to 8,000 and 16,000 ISO, I was very impressed.

Many thanks to Allie for inviting us. She did an amazing job leading and choreographing this talented group of dancers!

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!!!