Don’t we all wish we could be five again and see the world as one big playground?
Archive for October, 2011
Five Years Old
October 25, 2011Seamus Sings
October 23, 2011
Week 11: The Weeks Pass Slowly but the Year Flew By
October 21, 2011Um, ok…. So this is one of my favorite photos. I love it so much that’s it’s hanging as a 30×40 in my living room and I see it everyday. I’ve found myself focusing in on Seamus’ mouth over the last year + 3 months and I think I could do a whole series of mouth photos.
Carolina Yacht Club Reception {Sally & Taylor}
October 20, 2011Continuing on from Sally & Taylor’s incredible wedding ceremony at First Scots Church here in Charleston, which you saw in my last post, I wanted to show you some of my favorite photographs from their reception!
First of all, how stunning is Sally’s dress? Is it not absolutely stunning or what? The lace halterneck with the cut out in the back is exquisite. The full skirt is an awesome twist as for starters, it’s different from what you see a lot and aesthetically, I love how it flowed and looks in the photos. She found the dress at the Gown Boutique on Daniel Island. Her bridesmaids wore lovely dresses from Bella Bridesmaid here in Charleston.
We took time to photograph Sally & Taylor at First Scots and also out on the dock at the Carolina Yacht Club and the light was perfect! I feel like brides and grooms are always rushed to get to the cocktail party, but it’s well worth the extra 10 minutes or so that we spend taking special shots of the newlyweds.
Kristin Newman Designs and Gathering Event + Floral Design had the Carolina Yacht Club all decked out with lanterns over the dance floor. Ashley Bakery created the sweetgrass basket cakes and the oak tree with Spanish moss, a Southern fave!
At the end of the night Sally and Taylor exited under a shower of flower petals and rode away in a Maybach, an elite German car. (Does Maybach sounds familiar but you don’t know why? Well, if you watched Kim Kardashian’s wedding on E!, you see she was obsessed with the Maybach as well!)
It was an awesome night. Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Hall!
First Scots Wedding {Sally & Taylor}
October 17, 2011You know those days where everything just seems to fall into place? That is how I felt on the day of Sally & Taylor’s wedding. I walked away at the end of the night thinking… I wish every wedding I photograph could unfold just as theirs had. There’s a lot that goes into making the “perfect” wedding day from a photographer’s perspective and I should probably save that for a different blog post. But this one had it all: perfect weather, a well organized schedule, stunning surroundings and most importantly, a confident bride and groom. It was the ease and excitement of Sally and Taylor, along with their wedding party and families, that really made this wedding so wonderful to photograph.
Sally’s sister Amy was married earlier this year, so perhaps that had something to do with how natural and excited everyone was for this wedding. Kristin Newman Designs was at the helm, ensuring a stress free day and Gathering Events + Design created a perfect fall palette of fall flowers and decor.
I had not met Taylor, the groom, before the wedding day. But within minutes of meeting him, I was charmed and loved the fact he had his groomsmen wear cowboy boots along with monogrammed orange and white cummerbunds to support his home team, the Vols.
Sally and her bridesmaids got ready at her parents’ home and there is something very intimate about that. To be surrounded by things that are familiar and special to you makes a difference. Wedding gifts were laid out downstairs and her Cavalier Poo was ready for his moment in the limelight, a portrait with Sally. I took their family portraits on the veranda and the bridesmaids photos in the garden. You can not get any more Charleston than that.
The ceremony took place at First Scots in downtown Charleston. It is one of my favorite churches to photograph in for a wedding as I love the exterior and the pomp with which that church commands. There were two state governors in attendance, Nikki Haley of South Carolina and Bill Haslam of Tennessee.
Enjoy these photos that feature the wedding day up until the ceremony. But stay tuned for part 2, which will carry you through the rest of the evening!
Endlessly creative Gathering Events + Design used a variety of fall toned flowers to create cozy little nooks at the Carolina Yacht Club.
Taylor and his groomsmen looked dapper in preppy monogrammed cummerbunds and cowboy boots!
11 groomsmen on the dock at the Carolina Yacht Club and no one fell in. (I say that in jest!)
A few details from Sally getting ready…
Sally’s sister helps her with the veil.
The Congressional Cookbook was a special gift they received.
I love all of these photos of Sally!!! Classic, timeless and real.
The McKinney family, whom we dubbed “movie stars”.
The ceremony begins at First Scots in downtown Charleston.
Look at these two! A classic father/daughter moment minutes before walking down the aisle. I love it.
More to come!!!
Smitten Magazine: Flower Power!
October 12, 2011One of my favorite projects for this latest issue of Smitten magazine was getting to photograph Stems‘ stems! We had done something before for the Stems website, but the creative minds at Smitten wanted to elaborate on that. They also wanted to know Anne’s “Fall Picks” on the best flowers to use as we transition into Fall.
There’s some great advice in there for those of you planning Autumn weddings and lots of gorgeous stems to choose from!
Charleston Engagement Session {D’Anne and Patrick}
October 11, 2011D’Anne and Patrick took advantage of the long Columbus Day weekend and traveled all the way from Pensacola to Charleston for an engagement session downtown. That’s a long way to drive, but I hope they think it was worth it!
Patrick is a pilot and D’Anne is starting an event company in Pensacola. There’s no better way to learn the ropes than by being a bride yourself! Here are a few of my favorite shots of this sweet and gracious couple. Editing their photos gets me excited to photograph their wedding at Middleton Place next May.
Save the Date {The American Theatre}
October 10, 2011I love this “Save the Date” shot I got for Katie and Christian! Fun stuff!!
Week 9: The Weeks Pass Slowly but the Year Flew By
October 7, 2011I think, if anything, I’ve taught this child to smile. And to look at the camera. Some may think that that’s a bad thing…. I hear echos in my head of people saying things like… “you need to be in the moment, stop living on the outside photographing it.” Well, I beg to differ.
Some of my favorite moments over the past year have been our mini-photo sessions. They are almost always unscripted, spur of the moment and come without any anxiety or pressure. That is because there is no client to please, only myself. And that, in a nutshell, makes all the difference. When I don’t get “the shot”, I might be bummed, but I know that I can try again. I breeze through editing…x,x,x,P,P,x,x,P,x,x,x,x, (You’ll get that bit of garboldy gook if you use Lightroom) and I know I got a good photo if I keep having to pull up the photo on my screen or if I actually send it to my phone so I can look at it in the night. (I suddenly feel like I am revealing waaaayyy too much of myself!)
Back to the point… These spontaneous photo sessions are acts of bonding. They are 30-min. windows during which I sit inside of Seamus’ world and observe every little thing he does. It’s the full attention and observing his movements and predicting what he will do next that builds our trust and relationship. Perhaps it’s embarrassing to admit, but in this digitally fueled world, it isn’t until I’m sitting on the floor with him, a camera between us, that I actually slow down enough to experience the world at his pace. And that, is an epiphany to me.
Smitten Magazine {Rebecca & Yates}
October 5, 2011In honor of “Wedding Wednesday”, I thought I’d post a few spreads out of the latest issue of Smitten of Yates & Rebecca’s incredible mountain wedding! It took place at one of the most stunning and picturesque venues, Claxton Farm. Their ceremony looked out over the Appalachian mountains and there were views for miles.
My friend Jennifer Bearden and I teamed up and photographed their wedding together and we had such a great time. Rebecca is one of those gems that has a million friends and yet every one of them is very special to her. So it is no surprise that she had an excellent crew of friends follow her up from Charleston to help put her wedding weekend together! Hollie Wood Style helped styled the wedding and Stems, of course, did the amazing floral designs. Congratulations you two!
