Event Photography – Page 4

Category: Event Photography

CupcakeCamp Summerville 2012

The third time is a charm they always say. Who the heck are they? I could do this on a weekly basis if I wasn’t afraid of reversing all the dieting I’ve been so hard at work on this year. While this was the first installment of CupcakeCamp for Summerville, it was the third event in the Charleston area. That means 3X the heavenly goodness. If you’ve read this blog before, you know that I’ve gushed about this event here and here.

This time, the venue was previous camp sponsor Coastal Coffee Roasters, which is perfect as there are no better bedfellows with tasty pastries than tasty coffee. People patiently lined up outside on this beautifully perfect spring day to partake in the free indulgences inside.

The theme for this event was “Springtime”, with lot’s of bright colors and fresh tasting ideas flowing, the bakers really did a great job of capturing it. Another theme that was prevalent was coffee!

As I walked into the venue, the sounds of The Pixies and Arcade Fire filled the air, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee tingled my nostrils, and the beauty of the pastries was matched only by the loveliness of the bakers. This all led to a sense of belonging. These are definitely “my people”.

And lets not forget the other stars of the event, the tasters! I commented to a couple of folks inside that along with fire and the wheel, holding an event specifically to give away free cupcakes is among the greatest ideas in human history. Yeah, I probably scared them with my enthusiasm.

The Hannifords were on hand not only as volunteers, but also as bakers!

Hey, it’s been a while since we saw some graphic cupcake porn:

And nobody was happier to me than my own kids, who get to follow me on these cupcake adventures. Happy until the sugar crash at least 😉

I can’t wait until next time, which now that there are two annual events in the Charleston area, wont be very long! Until then, we all can look at this set of photos on Flickr.

Summerville Relay For Life 2012

Last night I volunteered to shoot a “Summerville Superheroes” photo booth at the Summerville Relay for Life event at Summerville High School. For a $1 donation, you got one of these superhero trading cards to post on Facebook! If you were one of the subjects, please head over to this Facebook album to get your photo – Don’t forget to tag your friends as well as yourself in the photos and share our page. If you’re not the Facebooking type, you can also download your photo from here.

My family and I had a blast – A big shout-out to the Sweetgrass Pediatrics team for including us in this special event!

Charleston Fashion Week 2012 (Friday Show)

Friday night was a big night for the Low Country’s style scene, as Charleston Fashion Week had a big sold out show in Marion Square. I was on hand to capture images for Charleston’s TheDigitel.com and their non-stop coverage of all that is Fashion Week.

The photo pit was noticeably more crowded on Friday, and I had the pleasure of not only shooting with photog buddy Robert Donovan, but I also sat next to Paul Zoeller, who’s a local photog I’ve been a fan of for quite a while. He also happens to be a really nice guy! I also made new friends from Charleston Scene, including Marie Rodriquez.

So, you can read the entire rundown of the event in tomorrow’s Digitel article, I’m just going to show you my favorite looks and shots.

In addition to the local showcases (which were Mary Mojo & Gwynne’s of Mt. Pleasant) and the featured designer (which was designer Chris Benz), there were two competitions as well. In the first competition, the models got to duke it out in the “Rock the Runway Model Competition”.

Nikki Jansen took the women’s title and Samuel Roberts took the men’s title.

The Emerging Designer showcase was the most exciting part of the show for me, mainly because the design’s are the equivalent to concept cars you see at the car expo – they’re just far out there and interesting.

Hannah Goff advanced to the finals, which will be held tomorrow. Here’s a couple of her looks:

I was happy to have a different vantage point from Wednesday’s show, I was able to get some more creative shots from this low angle. Thanks to Paul for letting me in his spot for parts of the show!

To wrap it up, here’s a few more random shots. I’ve got a bunch of “red carpet” shots that I’ll be putting up soon, so come back if I took your picture out there! You can view all of my shots from Friday night here, and don’t forget to check out Wednesday’s post here.

Look, it’s Charleston Fashion Week creative director and the style editor for Charleston Magazine, Ayoka Lucas:

That was a lot of fun, I can’t wait to do it again!

Charleston Fashion Week 2012 (Wed. Show)

Last night, I shot my first runway show at Charleston Fashion Week. It was a pretty intense scene, but it was also very light-hearted at the same time. Lots of people dressed to the nines, but no feeling of pretention or fashion snobbery that I saw. It was actually a lot of fun for this fashion show noob!

The festivities kicked off with a musical number by King Sing. The first designer, Tommy Bahama followed.

JLINSNIDER is a local favorite, and the place was buzzing to see what the Charleston designer had to show.

I have to admit, I really liked the cyborg themed stuff:

After a break, the Emerging Designer contest began. Here are some of my favorite shots from them:

Bob & Kris Galmarini took home the people’s choice award, but come on, they might as well of had puppies on stage! How cute are these kids dressed like it’s 1995??

And the winner who’ll move on to Saturday’s finals is Angela Sum (who’s collection is featured at the top of this post):

Prior to this event, I’d searched high and low for a decent picture of what the photographer’s pit looks like at a fashion runway show. I couldn’t find much, so without further ado, here’s the photographer’s pit at Charleston Fashion Week:

I have a ton of photos from nearly every look at the show, you can check those out here. I also have a bunch of candid shots, and I’ll be posting those soon as well. Make sure to follow The Digitel Extra on Twitter for full live coverage of this week’s events. I’m heading back into the pit on Friday night, so hang tight as there is more to come…

The Shaniqua Brown Final Show

The Shaniqua Brown

Last night, I went down to The Pour House in Charleston to catch some loud and sleazy rock n’ roll. It was the last show for the local rock band The Shaniqua Brown and they were pulling no punches. I’d never seen them before, and I’m sad to see them go, but I was happy to be there.

Lead singer Rachel Kate Gillon took the stage with a fury that made you feel like she was fighting for survival and if this was goodbye, she was taking the crowd with her.

CUSSES

This was the second time I shot CUSSES, the last time was at Kulture Klash 7. This three piece band sounds like a wall of crushing sound thanks to guitarist Bryan Harder’s recipe for making one guitar sound like four.

Hailing from Savannah, GA, they’re hot off the release of their debut record. Singer Angel Bond screams out with such power while slithering across the stage, she channels part Mick Jagger and part Iggy Pop in her movement, but she’s got a voice all her own. Let’s not forget that their drummer is a fucking madman, and that’s a good thing.

Bully Pulpit

Bully Pulpit is a fucking heavy blues band from Charleston. Reminiscent of the classic punk rock sound of the Dead Boys and the New York Dolls, I felt like I was back on Bleecker Street as they tore up the stage. I think it’s safe to say that these guys aren’t capable of doing anything quietly. They also have one of the coolest band names I’ve heard in a long time.

Heyrocco

Heyrocco is another local up & coming band. I shot them once before about a year ago at the Change For Change Art Show. In the time since I’ve seen them, they’ve really grown into their sound. I was very impressed to say the least.

They just successfully funded a kickstarter project to release their debut record, which is due to come out very soon. I’m looking forward to hearing what they come up with, because they have a really interesting sound live.

I also got to shoot alongside Tracy Grant, who was on the receiving end of my elbow when I got blindsided by a pit dancer. Pataford was also there taking shots, both from the crowd and with his camera!

I have a full set of photos on Flickr for you to check out. Have a great weekend!

Keeping Up With Morgan

One of the joys in participating in our Help-Portrait MUSC Kids group is learning about some of your subjects afterwards. Morgan Porter was the first girl we shot during our most recent event, and she’s been making the news due to her recent heart transplant. The courage and strength of Morgan & her family is unlike anything I could ever imagine. Please take 5 minutes to watch this video below.

You can also read and watch more about Morgan here.

I know I gush about the doctors and staff at MUSC Children’s hospital, but this is no miracle – it’s raw skill and talent that can pull this kind of operation off. The miracle to me is the will of such a small girl to fight against all of the odds.

Keep fighting Morgan, we’re all rooting for your success!

G. Love & Special Sauce

Last night I was faced with a terrible decision. It was the end of a long day spent working on a project and I was wiped out – I needed to relax for another long day working on the same project. I also knew that G. Love & Special Sauce were playing at the Music Farm in Charleston, SC just at the time I was finishing for the day. Well, you’re reading this now because I made the rock n’ roll choice to go down in flames. You only live once here on earth, best make the most of it.

Opening the show was the Alabama native Kristy Lee.

She dresses like 90’s era Ice Cube, talks like an old southern maid, and sings like it’s her last day on earth and she wants the world to remember exactly who she is. She was amazing – I couldn’t believe just how talented she was live. She got the place going better than most full bands could. She’s like a gospel singer who sings about whiskey instead of God. I loved it.

G. Love & Special Sauce hit the stage like freight train. Timo Shanko was on bass and the Houseman Jeffrey Clemens was on drums as the stripped down trio rocked the Holy City.

It quickly became apparent that God has returned to the earth and has taken the form of G. Love’s bass player. Timo was on fire. The guy is unbelievable.

On Stage right was the Houseman slapping the skins like it’s New Orleans in February and he’s got all the beads. The old school voodoo rhythm keeper kept the funkiness turned to 11.

If Timo’s the God, and Houseman’s the Devil, then G. Love’s the prophet telling us all how it is in the D-Cell slinging streets of Philadelphia. He’s not going back to Jersey ’cause he knows he’s fixin’ to die. He’s taking I76 and his baby’s got sauce, so you better holla.

The last time I saw G. Love, it was about 15 years ago at Tramps in NYC. I always remembered how this guy brought the ladies in – It was about a 10 to 1 ratio of girls to guys then, and they were all smokin’. 15 years later, and the man still has it. The crowd was a great example of Charleston’s reputation of being home to some of the world’s prettiest ladies.

Kristy Lee came back out to sing with the boys:

The band did not waver, and the crowd was bumpin’ and grinding all night long…

I took a lot of shots of the show, so make sure to browse through this set on Flickr. I had a fantastic time, but all things must come to an end, so I leave you with a crowd shot I took before I headed back home to my lady:

Mutts, Music, & More

Today was the 1st 2nd Sunday on King Street for 2012 in Charleston, SC. The weather was perfect for Charleston’s monthly block party. Last time I shot one of these, I decided that I needed to focus on shooting more dogs the next time I go, so today was that next time. Let’s start off with the most interesting dog I saw today, a Toy Australian Shepherd:

Here are some other stand-outs that we saw:

There was also plenty of music courtesy of Shrimp City Slim, Sollie “Puddin” Jenkins, Michael Lindsey, and accordionist Matt Lohan (pictured at the top of this post). Here’s some shots of the musicians on King Street:

Some stores brought their wares out onto the streets…

And restaurants their food…

There were plenty of interesting people from all walks of life enjoying the unseasonably mild weather. It felt more like early fall than early winter.

We had a great Mediterranean lunch at Taziki’s Restaurant, but had to cut our trip a little short with the news that Amy’s cousin gave birth to her daughter over at MUSC. Crystal was the subject of my very first wedding shoot a couple of years ago! Here’s a shot of her with Kegan in the hospital:

Congrats to the proud parents! After we left the hospital, we stopped by my brother-in-law’s house over in James Island to check out his girlfriend’s new chicken coup. While we were there, there was one of those phenomenal Charleston sunsets, and I used my iPhone to capture this shot of the colorful sky through the trees:

Help-Portrait Charleston 2011

I had the pleasure of not only organizing a Help-Portrait event at MUSC Children’s Hospital again this year, but also of volunteering as a shooter for the Charleston Help-Portrait group at the Convoy of Hope event on James Island. I want to share some of my favorite shots from the day.

This was a lot different from the event I organized. I was one of three shooters, we had 2 editors, registration volunteers, and a makeup artist all in one tent!

Here are a couple of shots from my phone of the other two shooters at the event:

Doug DeLong

Hansje Gold-Krueck

I also got to shoot some other event volunteers, such as these mimes who were performing:

As well as the local fire department:

Help-Portrait CHS James Island Fire Department

I shot a lot of families. It can be challenging to get a group to fit within the borders of a portable collapsible background. There was a lot of convincing on my part to get people as close as possible to each other. Luckily, that also usually got people laughing right away.

When shooting kids, I tried to get them to also pose without their parents so they could let their personalities show. Something about taking a picture with adults makes kids squirm, but when they’re with other kids they really seem to open up.

I also shot a little differently than I did with the MUSC event. I shot in JPEG normal to make the file sizes smaller and also let the camera handle the JPEG conversions to speed up the processing. I shot over 54 different subjects – and I was one of 3 photogs! Needless to say the editors were very busy.

The other change I made was to slightly bump up my ISO to 250 to make my flashes work a little less. I worked 7 hours and never had to change the batteries!

I have to say, it’s nice to let someone else worry about leading every once and a while. Being a professional means a lot more than just taking pictures! For this event though, I just had to worry about setting up and making people smile. I still love leading, but it was nice to have a break from the “business” end of things for a change.

All in all it was a really successful event. I had a blast, and the subjects I interacted with were all unique and interesting people from all walks of life. I didn’t get a chance to check out the rest of the event, although we had a stage right next to our tent so we were jamming to lots of gospel music, which I was enjoying to the point of ridiculousness (although that could have been the exhaustion kicking in). Everybody was in such high spirits though that it was hard not to have a sore face from smiling all day long. You can view the rest of my portraits from the event here.

Emily & Joe

Last month I shot a really cool wedding on Folly Beach in South Carolina. The couple was amazing as they were willing to do just about anything – they truly had fun at their wedding and it shows in their pictures. Lets be honest, how many people have a wedding party photo like this?

I did do a lot of more formal portraits such as this (which is probably one of my favorite shots of the day because of that amazing southern sunset):

But I’m sure a shot like this will make them smile pretty wide when they’re old and gray:

Joe & Emily really weren’t your traditional couple, which is a perfect fit for me since I’m not a traditional photographer! I did make sure to cover the basics of wedding photography though, such as capturing the elements of an American wedding.

Here’s the bride getting prepared:

And the first look:

The respective wedding party portraits:

The ceremony:

And the first kiss:

The signing:

And then of course, everybody’s favorite part of the wedding, the reception. Here are some elements of their tables:

The first dance:

I did grab the newlyweds to do some sunset portraits during the reception. Joe didn’t know that he was going to be my movable sandbag for a few shots:

After the sun went down, they partied:

And Joe found the garter and Emily fed him some cake:

I can honestly say that with couples as fun to shoot as this, wedding photography can be a blast. I consider myself lucky to have been their photographer for their special day.

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