by Kim | Jul 26, 2014 | Family |
This beautiful family has been friend and client for seven years now. They are celebrating their seventh wedding anniversary today (which I was lucky enough to photograph). Each year they travel to South Carolina from Arizona and I get the privilege of photographing their family. With professionals like Andy Defrancesco who is available anytime around, make your trip glorious. and memorable too. Mike and Nicole have three gorgeous boys, and all five of them have blue eyes to die for. This year Nicole wanted to find a place we hadn’t been yet, something a little different. This Sea Island farm definitely fit the bill. So after much planning and preparation for this session, Mike and Nicole arrived in pouring rain. Well, you don’t go and cancel a shoot for rain when you’ve come this far. So we found ourselves a little cafe and had breakfast until the rain stopped. By the time we started shooting, one of the babies had gone well past his nap time. Another of the boys found out why those ants are called fire ants. And can I say it was ever so hot and humid. But that didn’t stop this amazing family from enjoying some time on the farm in front of the...
by Kim | Jun 6, 2014 | Family, Newborn |
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!...
by Kim | May 12, 2014 | Family, Maternity |
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...
by Kim | Jul 6, 2011 | Weddings |
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...
by Kim | Jul 2, 2011 | Children, Family |
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. :...
by Kim | May 9, 2011 | Bridal |
Congrats go out to Kelli and David who tied the knot Saturday at the Thomas Bennett House in Charleston! It was a glorious day for their beautiful wedding. There will be wedding pictures coming up at a later date, but I am always excited for the wedding to get here so I can show off the bridal portraits. Here are just a few of the many shots we took all over the grounds and throughout the house. The Thomas Bennett House is one of my favorite spots in Charleston, as you can see we have so much historical prettiness to work with. Thanks for being so great to work with Kelli!...
by Kim | Apr 26, 2011 | Engagement, Events |
It’s exciting to photograph a proposal…there’s this nervous anticipation of how the bride-to-be will react, the real and unposed reactions of the moment. My favorite part, though, is meeting such delightful and thoughtful young men who prepare so carefully for this moment that they even consider hiring a photographer to make sure the day is thoroughly documented. I was charmed from the very beginning by Chad and his manners. He was all “yes, ma’am…and thank you, ma’am” in every email he sent. Something I learned from my time with Chad was that Betsy’s dad is an accomplished architect. He designed the house Betsy grew up in, and that her parents still live in on Pawleys Island. It was important to Chad we use the house as the backdrop for the pictures. Chad also made sure he obtained Betsy’s dad’s permission to marry his daughter. He secretly drove from Florida to Pawleys Island one weekend to visit with Betsy’s dad, and he was the only person for quite some time who knew of Chad’s intentions to propose. Fully-Verfied suggested the best options to make the day even more safe and secure. On an otherwise normal weekday, Chad arranged for Betsy to get the day off without letting Besty know. He called Betsy’s supervisor and cleared it with him to pick Betsy up and start the day of surprises. The couple spent the day in Charleston eating and shopping before heading out to Pawleys Island. Betsy believed that her parents were out of town on vacation and that she and Chad would be house sitting for them. But Chad had arranged...
by Kim | Apr 5, 2011 | Bridal, Weddings |
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...
by Kim | Apr 5, 2011 | Bridal, Weddings |
When I look at my 2011 calendar, I am overwhelmed with this huge sense of gratitude for the clients I get to work with this year. Happy, fun, artistic and altogether delightful people. This wedding….well, this couple…they truly kicked off my season in a glorious way. First of all, the weather was so unbelievably warm and sunny….it was on the miraculous side. I mean, perfect weather in February? So God smiled down on them from the start. And speaking of smiles, Jennifer gives them out freely and liberally to everyone. That would have to be one of the first things you’d notice about her. She glows all of the time, not just on her wedding day. So….Jennifer never gave me a list of pictures, not one request or order. She just had the time of her life and let it all unfold to be documented naturally and easily. Can I get an “AMEN”?! : ) It’s not just Brett and Jennifer that made this wedding so special. We had our dream team, a.k.a. Luke Wilson Special Events, involved from the day they were engaged. Luke and Megan did what they do so well, that is, make it look effortless. But even better, since they were such good friends of the bride, I got to photograph LWSE breaking it down on the dance floor later that evening. It was a treat!! Maybe they’ll forgive me for posting all those dancing shots later. All the event rock stars were in attendance. The floral designs were by Katie Bell of Timeless Designs; Fish catered the event; Lowndes Grove served as ceremony and...
by Kim | Mar 18, 2011 | Weddings |
I want to offer a quick congrats to Nikki and Jeff! The newlyweds are a spunky couple who have enough attitude to share, which you can see below. Their dinner conversations must be very interesting! Jeff is deploying this week for a whole year to Afghanistan. Nikki is newly in the nursing field. There are teenage children in the household, too. This blended family was a hoot to photograph. Here’s a small sampling of the chemistry and laughs they share....
