Charleston Newborn Session | Blake Olivia

Charleston Newborn Session | Blake Olivia

  Meet Blake Olivia and her happy family.  She was just a week old here and her big brother turns two this week.  Like most of my Charleston newborn sessions, this one was shot inside their home.  Check out Blake’s nursery decor!  That color and the alphabet wall hanging…love it!  Blake’s mom crafted those herself. We had the nursery nice and warm with plenty of  natural window light, so baby girl slept like a… well, like a baby.  We shot a few family photos on the front porch, too.  While I come to a newborn session with the perfect sleepy baby poses at the top of my to-do list, the candids and family moments are the real treasures. I recommend newborn sessions to be shot within the first week while they are sleepyheads and quite easy to pose.  The time invested in a session like this is well worth it for the memories captured.  Speaking personally, they grow up way too fast.  Hug them, kiss them, tell them you love them, and take lots of pictures!...
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.  ...
Peyton {Children} | CHARLESTON PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER

Peyton {Children} | CHARLESTON PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER

This sweet family lives in Beaufort, but our ties run deep.  Peyton’s grandmother Gretchen became a good friend of mine years back when we worked together on her daughter’s wedding.  Gretchen is a design maven here in Charleston, so I am hugely flattered anytime she calls on me.  This time her call was to bestow my services as a gift to her son’s family.  Peyton is the first grandchild in the family and loved like the angel she resembles.  We chose to shoot downtown to take advantage of the Charleston scenery and revisit a few places special to Peyton’s parents. After chasing Peyton through the park and around several trees, she quite beautifully collapsed on her favorite blanket.  Then she rolled over and gave me these “older than her years” poses that made her daddy blush. This precious child LOVED to smell flowers.  And like most children, her curiosity for all things new overcame her desire to pose for the camera.  But these sweet and playful photos are exactly why I love to photograph children. Yes, she was waving at the tourists walking by….how adorable! This is where Adam and Amy stopped to show Peyton where they were married.  :...
JENNIFER & BRETT, PART II {WEDDING}| CHARLESTON WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

JENNIFER & BRETT, PART II {WEDDING}| CHARLESTON WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

Jennifer and Brett are full of that contagious kind of laughter… plus the smirks, giggles and cute jokes.  They don’t take themselves too seriously, so the result is a truly laid back affair where everyone has fun.  Jennifer laughed going down the aisle!  They laughed as they exchanged rings.  Brett smirked and scratched his head all silly like when he realized they’d been pronounced “husband and wife”.  You know, I hope their children and grandchildren look back on these wedding pictures with a sense of wonder at all the joy shared by these two. Let’s be real now.  There wasn’t just a bunch of kissy kissy going on.  Jennifer and her girls can tear up a dance floor!  Oh, my!!  Darrell of The Connellys set up his very popular photo booth on the grounds for added entertainment.  Jennifer might have been in 99% of the pictures.  The camera loves her and she loves the camera!  Well, that is easy to see below. Jennifer and Brett, I wish you continued happiness and a long life...
LIAM {NEWBORN} | CHARLESTON NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER

LIAM {NEWBORN} | CHARLESTON NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER

Working with Liam made me yearn for another baby to hold and snuggle, so it’s good that I can photograph them to get my fix.  Annie, whose maternity session was featured a short while back, told me that her brand new baby loved to sleep the mornings away.  He was just 11 days old when we met up, but I think he must have liked me.  He wouldn’t shut his eyes for anything.  We came back and tried it again the following morning with more success.  You’ll see Annie’s super duper trick for keeping a newborn warm and happy on a frigid winter morning.  I am definitely stealing this idea for future use on cold days! Big brother might have been a little excited, too….he jumped in front of the camera between snacks and playing behind the camera with me. Annie is demonstrating her amazing skills...
Annie’s little sprouts

Annie’s little sprouts

Welcome back to the blog (I’m telling myself)…the holidays were heavily weighted in the direction of my family, and quite intentionly so.  The blog took a back seat to holiday portrait sessions, weddings, Christmas cards, albums….and so on and so forth.  The best part was that the kids got lots of homemade goodies and we made tons of holiday memories.   Where should I start?  Since I just visited Annie for a newborn session today, I thought posting her maternity shots from December would be a good place to begin. Annie, Jeremy, and Landon hiked all over the place for these photos.  Hard to believe Annie was just a few weeks from delivery here, and she never complained a bit about the long walk or the odd places I had her sit.  What an adorable...
Grace + Graham + a pinch of nostalgia

Grace + Graham + a pinch of nostalgia

I love that my clients’ tastes vary so greatly, that each client gets a product a little different from the last, and that I get to excercise some creative flexibility from shoot to shoot.  Christina came to me with a very specific goal…she wanted something classic and vintage that she would always treasure.  Her children Grace and Graham were perfect little subjects whose sometimes solemn and stoic expressions really do look like they were from another era.  With a variety of backdrops, editing finishes and textures, we have a precious collection of portraits of this adorable brother and...
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...
Henry

Henry

Meet Henry.  Things you should know about Henry:  he loves his mother, he loves water, he loves horses, and he LOVES bananas.  Henry looks so much like his dad Charlie, but dad steers clear of cameras.  You won’t see him in any of these pictures.  Amy (otherwise known as mommy) didn’t intend to be in too many of these pictures, but Henry loves his mom.  Wait, I said that already.  Henry has a special name for water.  I wouldn’t know how to spell it if I tried.  Nobody is quite certain where the name came from or what language it might be, but it sure is cute to hear him say it over and over. That’s his “all wet” face.  He immediately forgot about being wet because his favorite animals walked by.  I must say children are fascinating because they are so easily fascinated!  I love seeing the world through their eyes. Even though the family lives in Virginia, Amy and Charlie still call South Carolina home in many ways…her parents live here, they were married here, and let’s not forget they are the best Gamecock fans north of the Carolinas!  : ) This series is just too cute!  The faces progress from wanting to pet the doggy to running in fear from the doggy to wondering where the doggy went.These next few are my favorites.  Sweet and timeless.  They remind me of photos of my dad from his childhood. Thanks for coming all the way to Charleston so I could photograph Henry!  I’ll remember to bring bananas next...