RadioPopper Goes to Romania

I have been a HUGE fan of RadioPoppers since they liberated me from the line-of-sight limitations of my Nikon Creative Lighting System.  I absolutely LOVE the versatility, dependability, and control that the whole Nikon CLS flash system gives me.  Extending all those qualities to HUNDREDS of feet instead of a couple dozen, and being able to place remote flashes around walls and behind subjects, all while maintaining full i-TTL functionality and high-speed-sync, truly allows me to bring my vision to life without any limitations. 

This past July I traveled to Romania with a very compact lineup of gear that included a RadioPopper Px System.  (To see some my other posts and photos from Romania, Click Here.)  I have a couple of tricks I’ll share some day that allow me to attach the units in a more compact and streamlined manner to my flashes.  This maximizes my opportunities and minimizes set-up, tear-down, and excess space in my camera bag…especially important while doing run-n-gun street-level travel assignments like this!

In spite of the different radio frequencies floating around most of Eastern Europe, I had absolutely no problems with interference.  My RadioPoppers worked every time and made for some really dramatic shots that never would have been possible without them!  Since I’m such a believer and real-world tester of their products, the wonderful folks at RadioPopper have been kind enough to sponsor my “Light Bending 411” wireless lighting workshops like the one I’m doing in Maine next week.  So please check them out at www.radiopopper.com and let me know if you have any questions or would like a discount code so you can order your own set!

Kathy & Rusty’s family at Folly Beach

I had a really fun time photographing Shelley, Chris, and their son Logan last year.  So I was ecstatic when her Mom called to ask me to photograph the WHOLE family.  J  It was so beautiful, peaceful, and un-crowded out on my favorite stretch of Folly Beach.  One of the joys of my job is getting to know folks as we walk to and from the beach…hearing about all the interesting things they do, their amazing accomplishments, their passions, and what’s important in their lives.  I’m so blessed to be able to do what I do!

Alison & Kevin at Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian

Alison & Kevin had a GORGEOUS ceremony last Saturday!  The sky was blue, the temperature was perfect, and Alison & Kevin were a BLAST to hang out with!!!

I met up with them at Alhambra Hall where the wedding party was getting ready.  Kevin & Alison shared their “First Glance” shortly after that, giving us time to get some fun wedding party photos before heading to the church.  Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian has a beautiful historic sanctuary that I love photographing in.  We always obey each church’s protocol, even if it means no photography inside the sanctuary during the worship service.  But I was kindly allowed to polish the glass windows at the back to shoot through them from the foyer, and also mount my fisheye remote camera on the balcony for some unique shots.

After the ceremony, Alison & Kevin burst from the church to an excited gathering of friends and family clapping and blowing bubbles as they rode off on their horse-drawn carriage.  The reception followed at the always-popular Alhambra Hall.  It was an EXCITING party with lots of laughter, emotional toasts, crazy dancing, and a beautiful sunset for some of my favorite shots of the day.  Later, a full moon rose in time for me to grab a couple dramatic images before Alison & Kevin made their grand escape among waving multi-colored glow sticks.  What a FANTASTIC day!   To see the rest of their photos, head over to www.chrisandcami.zenfolio.com.

Alison & Kevin, may the joyous glow of your love for each other never fade…


Belle Hall Eye Care

I first got to know Dr. Lori Donovan when I photographed her wedding seven years ago.  Hard to believe it’s been that long…she’s just as beautiful as the day she wore her wedding gown!  Now Lori, with the help of her super sweet Mom, Maxine, and indeed the whole family, has become an instant success in the field of eye care.  After out-growing their original building in just a few short years, I got to do a photo shoot for them to showcase their brand new state-of-the-art facility!  Check them out at www.bellehalleyecare.com. 

Product Photography

Although I primarily showcase our wedding/portrait work on here, we photograph a wide variety of subjects and genres.  So I thought I’d write a post about a fun shoot I did for healer Ayal Hurst the other day.  She’s a long-time client of ours and so full of positive energy.  It’s always a pleasure working with her.  Plus she’s a fellow artist, designing and creating beautiful jewelry and truly unique paintings with depth and dimension like you’ve never seen before!  Her and her husband also run a very peaceful Bed No Breakfast downtown.

When photographing Products and art, it’s important to use feathering techniques to prevent hotspots.  Feathering the light means not pointing it directly at your subject, but aiming it such that just the softer “edge” of the light source illuminates the product.  Here I used a soft-box with 2 SB-800 strobes coming in from the right.  Feathering gave me “almost” even illumination across the camera plane.  But I added an umbrella with a single SB-800 from the left to fill in and further even out the exposure.  All strobes were triggered by an SB-900 Commander on my D3, pointed backwards AWAY from the painting so as not to create any glare, and controlled via RadioPoppers.

Light Bending 411 Encore

I’ve been getting such WONDERFUL feedback from the Wireless Lighting Workshops I’ve been teaching.  THANK YOU to everyone that has participated and made it such a success.  I’ll be teaching my “Light Bending 411” course again on November 6th!  I’ve been asked by The Aroostook F-Stops, an extremely active photography club in northern Maine, to come do a full-day program for them.  The club’s fearless leader, Tom, has been so organized and fun to work with.  His wife is a fellow alumni from The American School of Kinshasa (TASOK)…so we’ll have lots of catching up to do!  Since Cami spent several summers in Maine and has many fond memories from this beautiful part of the country, we’ll be going up early and taking some much anticipated R&R.  We’ll fly into Portland and wind our way up to Aroostook, hiking and sightseeing in places like Acadia National Park, and staying in quaint B&B’s along the way.  I’m truly excited and look forward to sharing my enthusiasm with these wonderfully talented photographers in Maine!!!

Light Bending 411

I would like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Patty Hallman and the Professional Photographers of South Carolina for inviting me to teach my “Light Bending 411” wireless lighting workshop in Columbia yesterday!  We had about 30 AMAZING photographers there.  I loved working with our three gorgeous models.  Erika is an incredibly elegant creative dancer.  Her young prodigy, Lea, was simply beautiful.  And Megan was such a gorgeous bride.  Last but not least, a special thank you to the crazy group from Charleston that drove up to participate.  It was great to have a few familiar faces in the crowd!!!  More to come soon…

Featured Wedding on The Wedding Row

I’m so excited!  The wonderful folks at The Wedding Row just emailed to let me know our photography of Tara & Will’s Wedding at the Daniel Island Club was just FEATURED on their popular wedding blog at:  http://theweddingrow.com/?p=3287&cpage=1#comment-582.  If you get a second, check it out and leave some luv…

Jessica & Keith’s Family Beach Portraits

A few days ago I had the distinct pleasure of photographing Jessica & Keith’s family portraits on Isle of Palms.  I photographed the usual shots on their rental property, then offered to shoot some of them on the beach at no charge.  It was a beautiful evening, cooler weather than last week, and an absolutely GORGEOUS sunset to work with.  As a bonus, the tide was going out and left all kinds of interesting tidal pools in the soft sand.  I asked if everyone was crazy enough to get a little wet, and they were all for it!  I LOVE the shots at the end with the reflections from the tidal pool they are sitting in.  J  Such a neat family…so much fun to hang out with these guys.  Enjoy…

Strobist Gathering

Recently a bunch of us Charleston photographers, David Hobby followers, and Strobist aficionados got together for a little “Strobist Gathering”. My good friend Charlie Thiel did a great job organizing it and helping the Canon folks with their questions about E-TTL. My buddy Robbin Knight set up an outdoor location-type shoot and helped show off what Radio Poppers can do. My friend Mahmood Fazal helped folks with Pocket Wizards. And finally, I set up a completely wirelss studio and helped answer questions about Nikon’s CLS system. It was a total BLAST and we all had a great time…especially once we hit the pizza joint at the corner after we were done. 🙂 Part of the purpose of the gathering was to raise awareness and support for http://www.charlestonkidswithcameras.org/.

Here’s a “before” shot while I was setting up, taken by my friend Kip Bulwinkle.

Here are a couple shots I took with my lighting setup.

I used my Nikon D2x with the WT-2a attached. This allowed the images to magically pop up on my laptop, allowing everyone to see exactly what I was getting.

Here’s a crude (HA…understatement!) diagram of my setup.

Here’s a quick grab-shot of the scene outside with some of the location shooters.