James and Ebony...Engaged!

Yesterday I met up with James and Ebony in the Vista (downtown Columbia) to shoot the prequel to their wedding next year...aka, their engagement shoot!  This couple was such a pleasure to hang out with. They are definitely a Yin and Yang pair that just ooze with the excitement of their upcoming union, and to boot, they look great in from of the camera! It's usually the couples that insist that they have no idea what they are doing that end up being stars on my Blog and on Facebook, and these guys will definitely take their place with that bunch :-).  Just to show how photogenic they are, the first picture in this post was literally the 3rd exposure I shot...wow!  But I digress, we did a good deal of walking in the vista and made a quick stop at their wedding venue (uninvited ) and was quickly rushed off by security because there was another event taking place, but not before we got a few great shots of our own! we ended up on the bank or the Broad River under the Gervais Street Bridge where I was lucky enough to break my light stand and ended up having to hold it in place with my feet.  Since I mention that, my photographer friends can appreciate this next little tidbit of information. Picture me laying on the ground at the bank of the Broad River trying to steady and aim a raggedy light stand with my feet while HANDHOLDING my camera at 1/25th of a second at 3200 ISO...yes 1/25th of a second at 3200 ISO, that's how I roll LOL! great shoot guys, I know we are going to rock the Bridal shoot...Well, not you James I'll see you at the wedding, LOL! check out a few of my favs from the day. Enjoy!!

Rhonda and Nicky Engaged!

This past weekend was a great time to be out taking pictures, and for us it was a fairly busy one. Yesterday, on what was the final shoot for the weekend, I met up with Rhonda and Nicky for their engagement session.  Most of my shoots always end up being pretty adventurous in some regard, and this one certainly didn't disappoint!  To start, time was definitely not on our side, because due to reasons beyond all of our control, we got started about an our late. So right out of the gate it was a race against the fleeting sun! We ventured down to the Great old town of Gilbert, SC where Nicky's uncle owns a horse farm. The scenic view of the farm combined with his sexy 1964 Chevy Impala, created the perfect backdrop for this lovely couple. For those of you who have shot with me before know that I love to shoot from sitting or laying on the ground, so picture me in a vacant horse pasture trying to frame that perfect shot and dodge the petrified manure that was scattered about at the same time. Can you say ADVENTURE!  After dark, we ended up in the city of Lexington where the couple dawned their Pittsburgh Steelers attire and gloated on the fact that their franchise had six Superbowl rings. They even gave me another opportunity to work on my low crawl, as I slid about on the ground behind some old building trying to find a good angle to shoot from..in the freezing cold I might add! (well, not quite freezing :-)  )  With all that said these guys had a wonderful shoot and I'm sure they will remember it for years to come. I can't wait until the wedding, but in the meantime check out a few peeks from the shoot. Enjoy!

Bonita and Kennede

First off, I must apologize to Bonita for taking such a long time to touch base with her and schedule this shoot. Can you believe she actually told my mother and my wife on me in order to get her session scheduled...lol!  I finally met with Bonita today to photograph her and Kennede, her daughter.  Usually when we do family shoots it takes a little over an hour.  Today we had so much fun the session lasted three hours and we only quit then because all of our sunlight left us! These two ladies definitely brought their A game today which made for some beautiful portraits. And all I had to do to keep Ms. Kennede smiling was say "laugh out loud on three" and before I could start to count she would be just cracking up with delight.  Great shoot ladies and I look forward to working with you both in the future.  And Bonita, thanks for not giving up on me. I promise you won't have to rat me out next time :-). here are a few teasers from the shoot. Enjoy!

Ethan and Ayden

On Monday I had the pleasure of photographing 18 week old twins Ayden and Ethan. These two little guys are the sons of  Tiffany and Richard Fortune.  I also did the Fortune's maternity portraits (which you can check out here) earlier this year, so technically I guess this is the second time I've taken pictures of these guys.  When we planned this shoot, the idea was to try and catch the boys while napping so they would be easy to work with. Of course that didn't work, but it actually worked out well in the end.  Ethan, the youngest of the two by a whole minute :) ran out of gas about 30 minutes into the shoot, but his brother Ayden was eager to steal the spotlight! The little guy seemed like he was use to being in front of the camera, and I think he even gave me a few poses to boot! We also got some great shots of Ethan catching his nap and we were even able to squeeze in a few Christmas photos.  So like I said earlier, it all worked out well in the end! here are a few peeks from the shoot. Enjoy!