Charleston Beach Maternity Session || Kristy and Ryan

Charleston Beach Maternity Session || Kristy and Ryan

  Kristy and Ryan are expecting their first child any day now.  We recently shot their Charleston beach maternity session early one morning on Folly.  Shooting at sunrise gave us the opportunity for all of this brilliant color that we would have missed shooting just an hour later in the day.  I love an early session when the temperatures are still cool and crowds haven’t gathered yet.  This gave us the chance to use the views up and down the beach in both directions, giving us beautiful backlit silhouettes, as well as the soft early light on their faces.  We look forward to meeting their baby boy soon and taking him out for his first...
The Moore Family {Family} | CHARLESTON PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER

The Moore Family {Family} | CHARLESTON PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER

Since it is all glum and overcast outside today, this sunny Kiawah Island beach session is just the remedy to brighten things up.  The Moore family came back to visit the place where “Mommy and Daddy” first became Mr. & Mrs. Moore.  We went back to the Sanctuary grounds for some pictures, sitting on the lawn right where their ceremony was held.  And the kids got their first “toes in the sand” experience on the beach just behind the Ocean Course clubhouse.  What the family wanted most were some classic black and white shots that could grace their walls and some fun candids of the kids playing.  ...
John & Denise {Wedding} | GEORGETOWN WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

John & Denise {Wedding} | GEORGETOWN WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

John and Denise…they have stories.  Really, really awesome stories.  Somewhat unbelievable, definitely loveable.  I hope they make a movie about these two one day.  Without giving away their sweet secrets, I can say that it would be a mix between “Four Weddings and a Funeral” minus the funeral, “Trains, Planes and Automobiles”, and “National Lampoon’s Vacation”.  And that is just the story of how they met. John and Denise…her Greek heritage, her career in the NYC fashion district, a prominent judge as a close family friend, his well-known family business to run, and super cool and relaxed demeanors.  John and Denise waited a long time to find each other, and no amount of threatening weather would dampen the sweet peacefulness and intense love these two share. The storms were pretty intense.  The forecast had huge rain and thunderstorms covering the entire area.  I couldn’t help but take several shots of the weather progression throughout the day.  It was hard to describe, but the guests were talking about the odd way the clouds formed around the house all day.  It was raining on either side of us up and down the beach.  The clouds were scary and threatening but all the while, there remained a small opening for the sun just overhead.  You couldn’t have been there and not know it was unusual.  Magical.  Blessed.  The rain held off until the very last picture was taken, at which point the bride and groom took off running into the house. The house is special, too.  It belongs to John’s parents.  It has been the site a other family weddings and special...
Brett & Jennifer + the brownies

Brett & Jennifer + the brownies

Jennifer and I have known each other long enough that I can’t remember how long.  Years.  She knows the wedding business inside and out given her time at LWSE.  And she knows just about everyone in Charleston that has anything to do with weddings.  But she never really saw herself as a bride in the “get lost in the moment giddy over the details” sort of way.  But wouldn’t you know that love can change all that!  : )  And without a doubt, Jennifer loves Brett.  Alot!  (Brett, you know you’re a very, very lucky guy, right?!) This girl is completely at ease in front of the camera….which totally makes up for Brett’s disdain for the camera.  They balance each other in many ways.  : )  They have a mutual adoration for their “brownies”.  That’s the cutie pie nickname Jennifer has for their chocolate labs.  You wouldn’t believe how long it took me to figure out that all those facebook posts she made about laying in bed with her brownies every morning wasn’t some peculiar eating habit.  Just some sweet puppy loving.  So of course Gibbs and Layla had to be in some of the pictures. Wedding in three...
Sullivan’s Island revisited

Sullivan’s Island revisited

Every year just before school starts, Margaret Ann and Cam bring their whole family to Sullivan’s Island for a week to enjoy the beach and each other’s company.  It’s a vacation but it’s even more than that, it’s now tradition.  It’s something I count on like my morning coffee.  I LOVE this family. As Margaret Ann would say, she knew me “when”.  When I was transitioning out of film and into digital.  When our friend and my mentor JD was still with us.  When she had a mere two grandchildren!  waaaaay back when…   And every year until this one, we have done a beach shoot. Posed, candid, matchy, non-matchy, and every other thing you can think of.  It was time to mix it up again. You may see the ocean in the background but we were not on the beach.  : )  Needing to stay close to their beach house, I scouted the area for something cool and photogenic.  This great big empty lot with a view of the ocean, a rusty old wrought iron gate on a crumbling brick fence, a big old oak on the lot, and plenty of wildflowers all over….perfect!  So I marched our troop onto the lot only to have everyone, children included, attacked by Biblical-plague-amounts of ants.  Maybe they weren’t fire ants, but they were fast and angry.  yikes!  I just got the shivers thinking back to that.  So we used the fence near the safety of the road and went back to the beach house to finish it off. This is the newest member of the family.  I believe Margaret Ann...
Waiting on Chase

Waiting on Chase

Laura and Josh are two of those people that you just consider yourself blessed to know.  Laura has this beautiful calm about her that is only occasionally interrupted by a sly twinkle in her eye for Josh.  And Josh is this bright and happy person with the energy of a child that I totally envy. They are expecting their first child Chase any day now.  What wonderful parents they are sure to be! We met out on Folly a few weeks ago for perfect sun and clouds.  We also got a good dose of wind that added some playful drama to Laura’s hair.  Even with the wild winds, they rocked their pictures and marked a moment in time that will forever be changed with the appearance of...
Boudoir on the beach

Boudoir on the beach

Really doesn’t sound very private, does it?  Oh, but it was.  Imagine a warm September morning around 6:30am on the remotest part of the island.  Just us and the pelicans.  And dolphins.  And two fishermen.  And a nasty swarm of black flies.  The fishermen didn’t bother us…they didn’t really even look in our direction.  (what’s up with that???)  The black flies still give me nightmares, though.  Hurricane Earl had passed off shore just a few days earlier.  These flies were supposedly blown in with the hurricane (according to Luke Wilson and Google).  Hundreds of bites later, I’m still glad we did this.  Miss “N” didn’t get bit quite so bad, so her pictures only needed the flies “photoshopped” out.  She has her wedding this weekend so our lips are sealed until she surprises her fiance on the wedding day with this book.  Don’t you just love imagining his surprise and delight?!  I hope she tells him how she roughed it like a supermodel in a SI swimsuit shoot.  : ) Keeping it PG for my sensitive viewers and for Miss “N”‘s...
Labor Day

Labor Day

Labor Day is one of the holidays I usually find labor, i.e. work, to do…or work finds me.  This year has been all about regaining balance.  Work can inevitably push out all that is truly important if you allow it to do so.  So while years past have seen me work through the holidays, this is not one of those years.  This is one of those weekends that seem meant to be spent at the beach.  The last big swim in the ocean before the water cools down.  The last Saturday that doesn’t have hockey games, soccer games, and of course, weddings scheduled.  Warm sun, cool wind, warm water…perfect!Each of my children (and husband) got busy doing their own favorite beach activities.  Kevin and Nathaniel surfed.  Gracie built sandcastles. Nicolas collected shells. The waves were pretty choppy given Hurricane Earl had passed through a few days earlier. My “good” equipment was at home for safe keeping, so these images aren’t what they could be or should be.  I’ve learned that any image of the fam is better than none, though. Shell hunting went very well today.  The beach was littered with all sorts of beauties.  But I also noticed that the landscape of the beach was vastly different from last week.  The storm did lots of remodeling. This was the first little starfish they found.  We walked a bit further and found the whole stretch of beach covered in dead starfish (sea stars) of all sizes.  This is the first time any of us had seen something like this on Folly Beach. This little rareity was a six-legged star!...