Charleston Wedding Photographer, Charleston Portrait Photographer, 2008 Election, Chicago, Grant Park 2008 Election

In 2008 I was fortunate to land an assignment in Chicago shooting a Kimpton Hotel the same week as the election.  I knew months in advance that I was going to have an opportunity to capture unique moments in history-regardless of who won.

As the hotel began filling up with bloggers, writers and news photographers, I tried to call in some favors with friends who shoot for the NY Daily News, Getty Images, etc. to get press credentials to the northern part of Grant Park.  After much effort, I resigned myself to the realty that there would be no ticket to the main event for a wedding photographer!  So I moved to plan B knowing I would be hanging out with all the “commoners” who would be crowded into the other side.

In my fifteen years doing photography, my mantra has been that if someone is standing next to you with a camera shooting the same thing, you’re probably not in the right place.  With this in mind, I was considering setting up a studio lighting station and doing some full length, perfectly lit portraits-but there was no power and schlepping a generator downtown wasn’t feasible.  I decided to go as light as possible. I also had no idea whether I would be able to get into the park looking too professional and without a press pass.

Earlier in the day, I took a taxi to Obama’s precinct in an effort to get something different.  I ended up talking with a polling station worker who captured Obama on her cell phone walking into the voting booth-I guess this is a bit different type of cell phone photography-picture of an actual cell phone?  I kept looking for images throughout Chicago, but everything seem too contrived; usually between moments, I can shoot details or a fun portrait of the ring bearer in order to tell a story of the day.  Some of the daytime portraits were part of the atmosphere in and around the city.

Following much deliberation, I headed out with one small camera bag, my new Nikon D-700 and a handfull of memory cards in order to capture history.  Once inside the park, it was a surreal environment.  Perhaps I looked the part, maybe it was the grey hair or my confident stride, but I gained access inside the roped areas and roamed wherever I wanted to capture these images.

As the night moved on, I studied almost everyone in order to be prepare for the moment the winner was announced.  All the years spent photographing weddings, ceremonies, environmental portraits and composing architecture went into capturing these historic photographs; most of which I have never shown to anyone until now.

Once I returned to the hotel, the atmosphere was energized with those who spend their lives creating news.  All the photographers with credentials informed me they were so far away from the President giving his speech, unable to move from the bleachers and only able to get images on their 400mm zoom lenses-which still weren’t that effective.  Turns out that being denied credentials was one of the best things that could’ve happened!

Some of the additional images included in this gallery have been made within the last four years.  However “mushy” this may sound, although this glimpse of epic moments in history are compelling, I believe the portraits and weddings stories I have captured over the last four years are more meaningful in telling the story of America-one family at a time.  I love what I do!

Maggie and Drew Artistic Wedding Photography

Maggie and Drew tied the knot at Alhambra Hall on August 4th.   With so many downtown weddings under our belt, this was our first at Alhambra Hall in Mount Pleasant.  While we could wax poetic about their amazing families and friends, we think that seeing the pictures will tell the whole story of this beautiful wedding.  We wanted to share this one in it’s entirety so we hope you enjoy the slideshow.  There was a record number of “keepers” from the event-over 3,000 final images.

A special thanks to all the professional talented colleagues who made the day an awesome experience for our team; of course, a big shout out to Rod and Tara at Red Shutter Studio for being awesome!

Wedding Cooordinator: Connie from Synders was everywhere and made the day go on without a single hitch!  It is great working with professionals and as MOB says, ” Connie took multi-tasking to a whole new level”!  http://www.snydereventrentals.com/

Catering:  Low Country Eats- Elaine made it difficult to photograph food because everything looked so delicious it was hard not to sneak a bite.  This was one of the most beautiful presentations of food we have seen in a long time.  But more important, the food tasted amazing-thanks for feeding the team like royalty.  http://www.lowcountryeats.com/

Wedding Cake- Amy from Village Bakery-one word, delicious!!!!  http://www.dinewithsal.com/village

Floral:  Paula from By the Bunch- You can see the unique and perfectly accented arrangements in all the photos.   Mom loved the lavender roses worn by the guys and even more she had nothing but praise for Paula’s ability to “figure out what you want and express it with flowers”.  Great work.  http://www.buythebunch.net/

Band: Mike and the Mixers-Rocked the House.  They can play everything note for note.  The bride and groom were both theater majors so I am sure this was an unusual and eclectic mix of songs.  I heard everything from from Gershwin (I think that’s who it was) to the Commodores, “Brick House”.  It is easy taking pictures when the dance floor is “off the chain”-Thanks Mike!  http://www.mikeandthemixers.com/