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Archive for August, 2009

Getting Grilled in Skirt!

August 31, 2009

Everyone needs to run out and grab a copy of the latest issue of Skirt! Magazine. (And not just because my mug is in there this month!) It’s free, it’s creative, and it’s full of great advice and women power.

This month’s issue has a new section… “Our Contributors Get Grilled”. I’ve been a contributing photographer with them for over four years and was excited they asked me to give my 2¢ worth.

Since you probably can’t read my little blurb down there, here’s what it says:

Leigh Webber

Photographer

Charleston, South Carolina

Pet Peeve: People who talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk

Top Charity: Pet Helpers

Favorite Website: Swiss-Miss.com

Top of my wish list: A wise mentor

Palate Pleasure: Homemade birthday cake

Inspirational Read: Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia

Current Crush: Kombucha tea

Toughest Challenge: Finding the time to explore all of my ideas

Dream Job: Photographing a book on food, kids or dogs from around the world

contributors

Here’s September’s cover so you know what to look for. Skirt! can be found all over downtown Charleston in the shops and restaurants and also in Harris Teeter.

skirtcover

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Becky & Jim’s Sultry Summer Wedding

August 26, 2009

On a sultry summer’s evening in August, Becky and Jim tied the knot at the gorgeous and historic William Aiken House. The ceremony took place outside in front of the carriage house and was followed by a cocktail hour on the lawn. Playing upon the house’s colors, they used a color palette of lemon yellow and navy blue. Their clean and fresh look was put together by Ellen Robinson of WED, who had the pleasure of being both coordinator and guest!

I love the fresh and colorful use of lemons in the arrangements. Food and flowers, two of my favorite things to photograph!

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Final touches

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One thing I love about the William Aiken House is the stunning red room where brides can get ready. It’s a gorgeous backdrop for photos!

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Jim, moments before he sees Becky for the first time on their wedding day.

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The fans were wrapped with yelow ribbon to match the colors of the wedding and provide a welcome breeze to the guests.

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Becky is escorted down the aisle by her stepdad.

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I think it’s cute how Becky’s smiling and looking out to their guests.

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Mr. & Mrs. Bradley

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There was a special little VIP area under the pergola for Becky & Jim and their guests.

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Catering by Fish. Mmm… Charleston crab cakes!

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The children at this wedding were tres cute! I could have done a whole post just on them!

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The sparklers for the end of the night were personalized with the couples last name, “B” for Bradley!

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One last shot! After Ellen Robinson, the gifted event designer of WED, got Becky down the aisle, she joined her husband as a guest of the wedding.

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Muse

August 26, 2009

bellamuse

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The Maine Adventure

August 23, 2009

For my 34th birthday, I wanted to go on a trip. Up there with photography, dogs, and eating ethnic food is my other great passion, travel. But where to go? My friend Margaret put me on to FareCompare and they have this awesome feature where you can choose the month and year you’d like to travel, add in where you’re leaving from, and they will calculate the cheapest airfares out of your city for any given month. Other than Charlotte or Raleigh, which was not exactly the “trip” I was thinking, Boston was also close to the top of that list. Then the wheels started turning… Maine is within driving distance of Boston!

I feel like Maine is one of those destinations Charlestonians gravitate to, kind of like Cashiers, NC. And everyone raved about how it is the perfect place to be in August, so off we went.

We spent our first evening walking around Portland and ate here, at the Portland Lobster Co. I don’t even eat lobster, seafood, or much meat for that matter, I just really liked the logo design and they had a cool deck over the water to sit on. They did have some delicious corn on the cob and blueberry beer!

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I’d already been spoiled with a birthday cake while at the beach with my family, thanks Audrey! So on the road, this lemon lavender cupcake was my b-day cupcake.

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Other than our first night in Freeport, we camped the whole time. The sun rises super early in Maine, 5:30am-ish, but it wasn’t a bad view from the tent at this camp site over a quarry.

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This is the Bar Harbor Inn and was along the path on the coast that passes by the gorgeous sprawling coastline “cottages”.

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The flora was bucolic, I loved it. It was like Spring up here.

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We’d had a weird experience at a lobster pound the night before where they’d actually run out of lobster, of all things. But the next day, we scored big at Thurston’s Lobster Pound. Gorgeous view, loads of food, and a sunset that seemed to go on for hours!

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Here’s the spread!

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Another big score was the Bar Harbor farmer’s market on a Sunday morning. Fresh blueberries, homemade olive bread, artichoke hummus, homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers… It was one of the best meals of the trip!

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We spent two days exploring Acadia National Park making teenage jokes about the “Bubbles”, a set of mountain ranges that look like, well you guessed it! The first day there, we rented bikes and explored the carriage roads that John D. Rockefeller had built through the area.

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This part of Maine, around Bar Harbor, pretty much shutters up between the end of October through to April. It’s just too cold and wintry for the tourists to come. Summer is the big business time, when the locals store up their profits for the long winter. We did our best to contribute and visited a bakery one morning on our way up to the top of Cadillac Mountain. Looking at this photo reminds me of the divine breakfast we had atop of Cadillac Mtn. Double cut bacon, homemade cinnamon roll, and homemade bagels with cream cheese.

cadillac-mtn

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Surprise at the Wentworth Mansion

August 22, 2009

Tina and Doug have been married for 25 years and had recently celebrated their 25th at the Wentworth Mansion in December of 2008. Their original wedding ceremony then took place in their living room, and though it was special, it was not the wedding that they had dreamed of.

Fast forward to the summer of 2009. Doug, known for being the romantic one of the two, was in for a hugely romantic surprise. To show him how much their love meant to her, Tina decided to plan a surprise vow renewal with Doug here in Charleston, SC. He knew that they were coming for a vacation to Charleston, which they both love, and staying at the Wentworth Mansion. What he didn’t know is that she had secretly planned a vow renewal ceremony for them to take place in the yard of the mansion. She had a suit flown on for him and she wore a gorgeous new wedding gown. On the morning of the ceremony, Tina told Doug the surprise so that they could prepare their vows for the ceremony. With out the other knowing, each of them had called their children, she called their daughter and he their son, to go over the wedding vows to make sure they each had them just right.

The ceremony took place under a tree that was adorned with hanging balls of flowers that Ginny from Circa 1886 has designed. Miss Betty, from the Wentworth Mansion whom they had befriended on trips past, stood in as their witness. Afterward, we embarked on a great portrait session around the Wentworth Mansion. The final surprise was a carriage tour on Palmetto Carriage that Tina had arranged for the two of them.”Millhouse”, the horse, led us down Legare and to the Battery where I photographed Tina and Doug and heard more great Charleston lore.

Tina loves detail shots, as I do, and we made sure there was extra time to photograph her wedding dress hanging in their Mansion Suite.

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Tina wore an antique ring Doug had recently given her, called a vinaigrette. In the olden days, ladies would put a little vinegar in the locket to help ward off bad smells.

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Doug, moments before he sees Tina.

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Here comes the bride!

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The vow renewal was held outside on the grounds of the Wentworth Mansion under a large oak.

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Flowers were hung from the trees and Tina and Doug read each other personalized vows.

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Miss Betty, who works at the Wentworth Mansion had befriended the Mayoras when they stayed there in December. She was their witness.

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I had a lot of fun photographing Doug and Tina all around the Wentworth Mansion before we set off on a carriage ride to the Battery for more photos.

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Silhouette shot in front of the gorgeous stained glass.

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We also went up to the cupola, which overlooks Charleston for a few photos.

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Millhouse led us through Charleston on a carriage tour.

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The historic Battery

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Leigh & Andrew’s Engagement Session

August 19, 2009

Andrew and Leigh’s engagement session was photographed on one of those rainy days, where it’s pouring downtown, but somehow it is blissfully serene on Folly Beach. I was convinced we were going to get rained out, but when I saw that they had come with umbrellas and the spirit of adventure, I knew we were in for some great photos.

We ended up not needing the umbrellas at all as the sun peeked out from the haze and really saturated the colors and gave a great ethereal feel. It was absolutely gorgeous out there on the North end of Folly, I felt like we were on a tropical island far far away.

That’s the thing about rain, sometimes you have to go out into it and see what happens. That’s my philosophy for the day!

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Topsail Island

August 10, 2009

Each summer, my family and I get together for a week at the beach. The past three years, we have convened at North Topsail Beach, NC, which is about an hour north of Wilmington. It’s a lazy week where each day is blissfully unplanned and open to whim.

For me, most mornings begin with a walk on the beach to watch the sun rise. My dad cooks breakfast every morning, often whipping up “soda pancakes”, made with club soda, that are a Webber family favorite. Multiple pots of coffee are brewed.

We sit on the beach in the middle of the day, watching the 6 kids ride their boogie boards and dig holes to China and Antarctica. The waves are sizable and this year I bought my own Superman boogie board to ride. If anything, he’s nice to look at. For lunch, a ‘Mater sandwich on Bunny bread with Duke’s mayo and homegrown tomato slices with salt and pepper. Book reading is best done in the afternoons, with snacks and icy drinks at hand. Beach books are the best, I highly recommend “Between the Tides” by Patti Callahan Henry for your next beach book.

And each evening, a different person is in charge of dinner. On at least one of those nights, we have Frogmore Stew, which is a shrimp, corn, potato and kielbasa boil. We are a family of Leo’s, so there are always birthdays to celebrate and cake and ice cream to eat and presents to open.

On the last morning of our trip, my sister and I went for a sunrise walk on the beach and we both agreed that we feel lucky to get to spend one week each summer with our family and we hope it never changes.

Nighttime Crab Hunting

crab_hunting

Storm’s a brewing

storm

Losing her first tooth

toothfairy

The house

house

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Family and Thoughts on Photography

August 3, 2009

I took a few (or a lot) of photos while up in the mountains for my dad’s birthday last weekend. I was going to put a bunch up here, but then decided to just put a few of my favorites.

I am constantly editing photos and I’ve found myself just recently questioning and re-evaluating the way I edit, in terms of what photos do I keep vs. trash and what photos do I post on my blog.

This really leads to a much bigger question… For what reason do I, or you, take photos in the first place? Is it to make a pretty picture, capture a moment in time, serve as a reminder to a memory when you look at that photo in 20 year’s time? We take pictures constantly, which ones will stand the time and become the gems?

I don’t always know what the “stand out” shots from a portrait session or a wedding are with a mom and dad or with the bride and groom. But what I do know is that these are photos of my family that speak to me.

Michael and the boys fishing

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My protoge

protege

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Happy 70th Birthday, Dad!

August 2, 2009

This past weekend, the Webber clan headed up to Linville, NC to help my dad celebrate turning 70! We had had such a fun time celebrating his 60th with a party up in the mountains, that we decided to do it again. Thus, 70th birthday brunch was held in his honor at the Sandwedge in Linville Ridge.

Guests arrived at the outside deck of the Sandwedge and got to mingle and say hello over mimosas and spicy bloody marys under the most gorgeous blue mountain sky. The weather was absolutely perfect! Bright, crisp and 75 degrees. There were friends from Hickory and Linville Ridge who came, as well as my dad’s sister, Carolyn, and her husband, Albert, who live in Florida. Add to that my parent’s 6 grandchildren and you had a crew!

Brunch was held inside and it was absolutely delicious. There was a table set up with photos of my dad and family from throughout the years and a photo of Dad from when he was 7 that we’d blown up to be the centerpiece. He was a cute young thing!

Happy Birthday, Dad! Enjoy the photos!

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