Last weekend, I had the pleasure of photographing the rehearsal dinner and wedding for a fellow Hickory girl who was married here in Charleston. I grew up a year behind Brannon and was thrilled when she called to see if I was available to photograph her wedding.I love getting to shoot for my Hickory friends who come to Charleston to get married!

So with Brannon being from Hickory and Jason, her groom, from High Point, they of course met through the furniture and textile business. And after three years of dating, decided to tie the knot.

The rehearsal dinner was held at the Harbour Club last Friday, on one of our first fall days with a perfectly crisp and clear evening. It was a perfect evening to gather outside on the deck, overlooking the city for cocktails and catching up before the big day.

This was was one of my favorite elements of the party, the cupcakes!

Do these look delicious, or what?

Lotus Flower is one of the most amazing and creative florists in town. They did the flower arrangements for the entire weekend.

Brannon and Jason pose for a shot before their guests arrive. I love how their colors coordinate with the surroundings.

This is the view from the rooftop at the Harbour Club.

The Coleman’s.

The Harbor Club at night.

I like how you see the silhouette of St. Phillips in the skyline.

On the Saturday after the great hurricane Hanna, that wasn’t, Mary Frances and Andy were married at Magnolia Plantation. Luckily, Hanna was all hype and the wedding day turned out to be a beautiful sunny day.

What really struck me about Mary Frances and Andy is how down to earth and truly committed these two are to each other. In addition to the traditional wedding vows (Do you Andy, take thee Mary Frances…) they had also written their own set of personalized vows, which they spoke to each other in front of all their guests during the wedding ceremony. It made it a really special ceremony and there was no doubt about whether these two were dedicated to each other.

The ceremony took place in a grove along the trees and next to a river and the cocktail ceremony was held on the veranda of the big house. The party followed under a tent and the big blue sky. Duvall designed the decor with a seating area in a little semi-circle of trees outside the tent. Under the tent, the rockin’ band “Ten Spot” played and they had a photo booth to snap everyone’s photo for the guest book.

Mary Frances had all of her bridesmaids sign her shoes.

This super lovable schnauzer was a gift from Andy to Mary Frances, awww!

I love the “Wedding Bell Booze” cup! It was perfect for all the girls getting ready.

Here is the ring bearer and one of the flower girls. They were all such good sports and totally adorable. The ring bearer was a total ham.

Mary Frances’ father walked her down the aisle.

Andy, the handsome groom in his signature bow tie.

My second shooter, Jebb, took this sequence of shots during the ceremony. I believe this was during the personalized vows that Andy was saying to her.

Duvall whipped up some tasty and refreshing signature drinks for the cocktail hour. Yum! The mason jars are classic.

I love this photo of the two of them sitting in a bench between the trees. Magnolia Platation is just full of beautiful spots and so much history. Every where you look there is a story.

The great tent under the moon. Not a cloud in the sky.

A late night snack of burgers and fries were served to guests. Duvall makes THE best french fries. Period.

This totally cracks me up. Andy and Mary Frances’ father had their photo taken together in the photo booth and write notes to each other in the guest book. How hilarious is that?!

Posted in Weddings | 2 Comments »

Rover

September 24, 2008

This is Rover. He is a full bred Catahoula, otherwise known as a Louisiana Leopard dog. He was adopted earlier this year by a friend who found him through Pet Helpers here in Charleston.

No one really knows Rover’s back story… other than the fact that he was found in the Francis Marion forest, severely malnourished, deaf and blind. In the past few years, he has come a long way and enjoys the good life of a loved dog. He still bumps into a lot of stuff and marks his territory everywhere, in a Hansel and Gretel sort of way (so he can keep track of where he is). But he’s becoming more and more social and interactive with people and dogs.

I saw a sticker on the back of a car today that said, “Find a decent animal and love it.” I couldn’t agree more.

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Chris & Kim Uhland

September 21, 2008

Last weekend, on an amazingly beautiful day, I met Chris and Kim Uhland for portrait session out at Patriot’s Point. These two have been happily married for a year and a half, but decided they wanted to get dressed up and have some new shots taken. I was happy to oblige.We spent the late afternoon with them waltzing acros the gold course and basking in the golden light.

This is one of my favorites… I really love doing silhouette shots!

The light! It was just golden and there were clouds in the sky.

A little dancing along the path.

Chris and Kim brought a bottle of Prosecco to celebrate.

I like this intimate moment between the two of them. I’m always looking for the moment when the bride and groom or subject forgets that I am there, lets their guard down, and the real personalities come out.

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Point7West

September 17, 2008

Last week, I was in Wheeling, West Virginia to shoot stills on a video shoot that was taking place at West Liberty State College (soon to be University). My job as “still photographer” and “behind-the-scenes” photographer was secondary to the job that Point7West was doing of getting various video shots to cut into a couple of commercials for the school.

Though I’ve worked around a lot of videographers, I’ve never worked with any of such a high caliber, both in vision and the final product. Point7West is based out of Palm Springs, CA and travels around the States doing work for a variety of corporate clients. One of my favorite reels of theirs can be seen here in an image spot on The Art Office.

We shot around 8-10 scenes a day and each scene required 4 guys (grips) to set up complex lighting scenarios, build giant reflectors, and roll the numerous carts of equipment around the campus. Steven, the director and founder of Point7West, literally “called the shots” and had the students be the models. I think it is a very rare and admirable trait to be able to direct regular people and make them look and feel like they’re natural actors.

Here are a few shots from the 3-day shoot…

This is Steven Richardson, the vision behind Point7West, manning the camera.

One of many carts of equipment the crew loaded and unloaded and moved all over the West Liberty campus.

Here’s the anatomy lab looking very sci-fi with the beakers and dramatic lighting.

West Liberty has a new media lab, of which they are very proud.

And like every great college, they love their football team.

In addition to shooting stills, I also photographed the campus and its buildings.

The look we were going for was definitely “happy students learning with technology”.

The crew: The 4 lighting grips (on the left) came down from Ohio to set-up and move all the gear. Todd (hidden behind Steve) is the camera assistant, Steve is the director and camera operator and Celia (on the right) was the production coordinator. And I’m taking the photos.

Posted in Other Creative Pursuits, Travel | No Comments »

Photo Booths Rock!!!

September 7, 2008

You know what I love? Photo booths at weddings!

Yesterday, we photographed the wedding of Mary Frances Prosser and Andy Southerland out at Magnolia Plantation. It was an amazingly beautiful day, especially considering that the meteorologists were all freaking out about TS Hanna and predicting rain all weekend. And Mary Frances and Andy are just incredible fun people who have a really strong bond. Photos from their wedding will be up soon….

In the meantime, I had to post a few shots from our trip(s) through their photo booth… The idea is that guests get their photos taken in the booth, and then they put the photo in an album and write a message. It’s an awesome idea. You can find out more at Charleston Photo Booth, and can be rented through Events by Duvall.

This is Jebb (my second shooter and technical guru extraordinaire) and me getting our new PR shots taken.

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Copahe to Capers

September 1, 2008

Over the weekend, I went on a very exhausting, yet invigorating trip. A friend of mine, who happens to have two kayaks and a lot of outdoor knowledge, and I decided to paddle from Copahe Sound out to Capers Island.

Capers is an undeveloped barrier island North of the Isle of Palms. It is about 3 miles from the banks of Mt. Pleasant (up near Six Mile) where we put the boats in the water. (see the map below)

On the way, out, the tide was against us and so was the wind. My arms already ached and I wasn’t sure how much I control I had over the boat. And then there was the International waterway to cross. I had a few moments of “what have I gotten myself into”… but ultimately, there’s something extremely satisfying about self-powering yourself through the water in adverse conditions to get to where you want to go. The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward.

I think that sums life up in a nutshell for me.

Once we were there, we were greeted by other Labor Day revelers, all whom had come by motor boats along with their coolers and dogs and kids who played in pluff mud. We swam, we napped. We walked along the boneyard beach where trees succumb to the water. We got sun burnt. And I felt very much alive.

On the way back, the tide was low and we carelessly floated along the marsh grass, riding the tide home, and listened to the pluff mud “pop”. We saw sharks up close, as they skirted along the oyster beds, eating little fish. We watched egrets and pelicans take flight from several feet away. And we got lost for a few minutes. That’s all in a day’s adventure.

…………

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