We are gearing up for the fall wedding season here in Charleston and wanted to do a quick post.  In the next few weeks we will also be working on a new website, so please keep checking back to see the new design.  We are also excited do what we love best in the coming month-creating unique, beautiful and authentic photographs.  

Susan and Rob tied the knot last month in a beautiful ceremony on the Charleston Harbor!  They met while in college at Clemson, have family in Charleston and had one specific idea for the wedding-they wanted to be married on the water.  We were excited to add The Cottages,  to our list of Charleston favorites.  What a beautiful and unique venue with majestic views of downtown Charleston from across the harbor.

We had so much fun spending the afternoon with both families and capturing all the emotion and happiness of the day…there were so many great dancing shots!!!

 

Wedding season is in full swing here in Charleston.  Over the past several months we have had a chance to meet some of our future brides and grooms during one of our signature E-Sessions.  Engagement sessions are a perfect way to get to know each other and a perfect way to practice for the wedding day!  We also love a chance to scout out some new locations and find interesting ways to shoot in out favorite spots.  Here is some of our favorites from recent couples…

Here is a few more of the fine-art wedding images for our new galleries.  There are so many different ways to tell stories from our weddings and these images are the best example of our unique style and the diversity of couples we have the pleasure of meeting.  We love making these pictures and getting the chance to spend the day with our new friends.  

Still working on updating my portfolio of wedding images.  Rather than write all about every image and wedding, we just wanted to add a gallery of these for inquiring couples who are interested in seeing weddings from a few of the most popular Charleston wedding destinations.  The trees are starting to bloom and next we will begin updating the galleries with some beautiful Charleston engagement photography.  Looking forward to next weekends engagement session and proposal-we have some new ideas and locations we can’t wait to use for interesting backdrops.

We are going through last years amazing weddings from Legare Waring House, Thomas Bennett House, Isle of Palms and Folly Beach, as well as other beautiful and popular Charleston wedding destinations.  One of the many things that is essential for creating great wedding photography is getting to know each couple, find out their style and understand what makes them unique.  Here is a few images from recent weddings that will show the diversity and special character of a beautiful lowcountry wedding!

We had a great time meeting Todd, Vera, Vivienne and Ava last weekend on their visit to Charleston.  We braved the 50 degree weather on the beach with 15 mile an hour winds which made it feel like 47!  The beach is beautiful this time of year.

We always keep our eyes open for new and interesting locations for family sessions, but for right now we just can’t get enough of the old antique barn.  Charleston is full of beautiful colors and textures which we use for “out of focus” negative space in our portraits.  The technical term for this element of photography is “bokeh“; the non-technical term is “awesome”!

Briefly, we now shoot primarily on a Nikon D800 which is a 36 megapixel camera and we have an arsenal of professional lenses.  Photography tools are changing daily, but I am finding myself going back to old manual focus lenses, shooting film and 4×5 view cameras. The choice of equipment is one of the many creative decisions made in an effort to create the best portrait possible for our clients; we know that these images will be cherished for a lifetime.  That said, I know these images will print beautifully on our new Canon IPF-8300 large format printer with our signature canvas.  Images shown only on the web cannot show the amazing beauty of a beautifully created and printed portrait.  Please let us know if you have any questions about our signature prints and canvas.  We will keep you posted when we find new papers we love and look forward to showing you the beauty of modern fine-art photographs.

 

Here’s a few of our favorites from the day…

 

 

 

 

 

Imagine having a job where you get to be involved with the most beautiful and intimate moments in peoples lives, and then create art from those moments!  Charles contacted us last week to photograph his proposal planned for Saturday afternoon at Waterfront Park.  After talking with Charles and doing some location scouting we decided to meet an hour beforehand to formulate our final plan.  Charles now fiance Michelle was visiting family and making a day trip to Charleston-the city where they met while attending College of Charleston.  With help from Michelle’s parent’s and sister, our scheme involved a quick trip to the park for a family photoshoot.  With Charles hiding around the corner, I started the family session and of course decided to take a few pictures of Michelle in front of the Pineapple Fountain…check out the rest of the story in pictures to see if she said yes….

This was a very different proposal than the typical format.  Usually, the couple is in town for the weekend and, after careful planning, they walk by us to a pre-determined location.  We try and look like the ubiquitous tourists in Charleston and have been known to go as far as wearing shorts, black socks and sandels-LOL.   Since Charles was flying into Charleston “on the sly”, we had the unique opportunity to capture the event on video-and professionally mic him up prior to the proposal.  We were so excited to capture something so unique and beautiful!

Please subscribe to our Youtube channel and like us everywhere on Facebook (so we can show Google how much you like us and we get the search engine optimization) but, more importantly, you will see the World Premiere of the The Proposal as soon as we finish the video!

In keeping with the mantra that a wedding is “all about the bride,” the bridal portrait is one of the most important and compelling images taken at any wedding.  Every bride dreams of the perfect bridal portrait.  It is often the culmination of years of dreams, preparation, shopping for the perfect dress and even choosing the best location for its character or natural beauty.  At a recent wedding, the bride’s mother reminisced about how the bride and her sisters began planning this day on her third birthday; they would have ceremonies in the backyard.  It was a single moment 22 years in the making!

 

Choosing a photographer is probably the most important decision a bride will make in creating the prefect bridal portrait. This is the time to “trust their instincts,” and choose the photographer whose images resonate with their own personality and style.  Ask the photographer about their approach to bridal portraits; mention specific images in their portfolio that moved them; ask the photographer to explain how they created the images and whether real brides were photographed on their wedding day or the images were created prior to the wedding?  We suggest asking the photographer if their previous brides can be contacted to ask for a firsthand account of their experience.

 

There are several key factors that create a timeless, elegant and artistic bridal portrait.  First, experienced photographers always scout the location well ahead of the wedding in order to find all the best compositions and angles and to study the light.  This is necessary so that they are fully prepared for the moment immediately after the bride steps into her dress.  Once the photographer has been selected, trust them to create images that will truly be loved and cherished for a lifetime!  Children and grandchildren will thank you.

 

We recommend that the bride plan her portrait and bridal party photographs to take place shortly after putting on her gown.  This is the best time – her hair and makeup are perfect!  Most brides are somewhat nervous and have little-to-no experience posing, so it is important that the photographer not only chooses beautiful lighting, but the bride must also feel completely comfortable and confident with the process.

 

It is common for people who aren’t models to take some time to feel comfortable in front of the camera.  A good photographer will make the bride-to-be feel at ease and be able to show her exactly how to move in ways that are flattering.  A technique called “mirroring” can help to get the bride strike the perfect pose.  This is achieved by simply “mirroring” the photographer’s moves, i.e., follow his/her lead.

 

Often very subtle movements of your head or body can make all the difference, so when changing positions, make small changes, and follow the leader.  In addition, simple shifts of your weight onto your back foot and a slight bend in the front knee creates an hourglass shape characteristic of beautiful bridal portraits.  Careful attention to detail can result in adding depth to thin faces or shedding 15 pounds from “curvey brides.”  Lastly, have fun with the process and bring your personality.  Remember, there are two people involved in creating these images, so giving the photographer your energy will result in exceptional, unique and beautiful bridal portraits.

 

In an all-too-common story, we were contacted several months ago by Dannon to create editorial style fashion images for her bridal portraits.  She was not happy with the results taken by another photographer on her wedding day.  We were thrilled to have the chance to create the photographs she had always dreamed of.  During our initial consultation, she informed us that she didn’t want the “typical bridal portrait.”  She wanted an edgier contrast for these images, so we began planning for an editorial style portrait session.  Since Dannon is a wedding makeup artist, we knew her “face” would look awesome, and we were able to create an amazing portfolio of photographs for her album.

 

Dannon is a trained MAC Pro makeup artist and specializes in traditional and airbrush makeup.   Her makeup looked flawless throughout the shoot and she explained that her products are specifically used to make your photographs look amazing all day.  In addition to finding your photographer, trusting the advice of a professional make-up artist will result in finding the best products for your face and always give you results that last the entire wedding day.  If you need a great makeup artist for your wedding, you can contact Dannon and see examples of her “before and afters” at her website: http://www.dannonkcollard.com/

We had a lot of fun shooting these images for Dannon and look forward to hearing any of your interesting of different ideas for your bridal portraits!

 

 

 

We are gearing up for Charleston engagement portrait season and wanted to show one of our favorite E-sessions.  Engagement portrait photography in Charleston is so diverse because there are so many unique locations to stretch our “creative muscles”.

For the month of January we are offering our popular E-Sessions for $150 off.  Any sessions booked this month qualify for the discount.

Engagement portrait sessions also are the perfect opportunity to get a better idea of each couples individual style, get to know each other and practice for the wedding day.  Tony and Shannon loved our rich textured portraits and wanted to do something a little more “grungy” for an editorial style portrait much like you see in Vanity Fair Magazine!  We always try and “push the envelope” and we’re asked to leave several of the locations-thankfully, we have never had to spend a night in jail yet for making awesome art!  That said, using a “mug-shot” would be an interesting “save the date card”?

We also find that once we have had a chance to spend a few hours together it makes for a smooth wedding day as everyone is so much more relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera.  Engagement sessions are also a great way to create something unique and authentic.

We are looking forward to exploring more locations and hearing any unique ideas you may have for your engagement portraits.  For the month of January only we are offering $100 off our normally priced sessions ($650) which include all the creative photography and editing, as well as, a DVD copy of all the images from the day.  They are also great for “Save the Date” cards which we can help design or you can develop your own personalized ideas.  Please let us know if you would like to book the special $550 E-session this month and we can create some beautiful pictures for your engagement.