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Articles Tagged with: Charleston

4th of July Fireworks

I was on my way to Folly Beach to catch their fireworks display for the third year in a row when I remembered that I forgot the batteries to my camera in the charger at home! We had a long day – our neighborhood hosted a July 4th picnic and parade which my wife had a huge hand in organizing with the Indigo Women’s Group. It was ridiculously hot today, and there may have been some rum in my sodas.

I was also tasked with shooting the event and taking some portraits. Here’s a shot of my daughter Mackenzie wearing some crazy patriotic hat:

So after the parade, I put the battery in the charger and downloaded all of the pics to my computer (I still haven’t even gone through all of those yet except for the two in this post). I then took a nap before heading to the neighbors house for an Independence Day cookout. I timed my trip to the beach without much room for error as to enjoy maximum grilled bacon-wrapped jalapeno goodness. When the time came, I hopped in my car and got about 10 minutes into my journey when it dawned on me that my battery was still in its charger at home. Damn you sun and rum! I did the math and realized that I wouldn’t be able to make it to the beach in time. I had to come up with a plan B.

I know from history that any family event in Mount Pleasant is always over-populated. If I was going to catch the fireworks over the U.S.S. Yorktown, Waterfront Park in Mount Pleasant has the best view, but also the most people. I was going to take a chance anyway since it was also the closest. I got very lucky in so many ways. 1st, the bridge was still open (they close it during the show). 2nd, I found a place to park within a 5 minute walk to the park. 3rd, I found a relatively people-free spot right on the marshy banks of the Cooper river. The stars had aligned and I was able to capture these:

You can check out all of my shots here on Flickr, and also on my Facebook page.

I was thinking earlier today about one of my favorite things about living in a free country. For all of the bitching and moaning we do about what’s wrong with our government, the fact that we can bitch and moan about our government is something I think we all take for granted. Freedom of speech is something our founders were willing to die for, and it’s something our military, which is a volunteer military, is still willing to die for. It truly is my favorite freedom.

I hope you all had as sunny and bright a day as I did! Happy 4th of July!

Yogi Portrait

Grace, one of the owners of Charleston’s Eco Fitness and Blue Turtle Yoga studios is also a photographer who’s new to studio lighting so she asked me to help her out with a portrait session with Mark, one of her studio’s Yoga instructors. Grace’s idea was to capture some images of her staff members with an item that helps to define them. Above, Mark’s posing with a dragon fruit, and below he’s with his harmonium.

Of course, I needed to shoot Grace. I told her to give me her “sexy librarian” and this is what she gave me:

And here’s Grace in action with Amy assisting. This was a shot of the mirror behind us in the yoga studio.:

These were all shot with my new Nikon D800 with the 85mm 1.8G lens. I cannot stress how amazing this combination is for portraiture. Looking at the full resolution files is just stunning. The clarity is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before from a digital camera. Just tack sharp, amazing contrast, and full of detail. It’s truly a game changer for me. A new camera or lens doesn’t change my style, my lighting, or any of my other abilities. What they do do is expand my ability to capture the images more like the way I actually see them. I can achieve a great look with nothing but my iPhone, but I can’t achieve the level of professional quality that is possible with the D800. Grace was using a kit 18-105 lens with her D7000 (which is another fantastic camera), and then I let her use my 24-70 f/2.8 and the difference in quality was quite obvious even on her camera’s LCD screen. I’m not big on pixel peeping, but when you’re editing portraits in Photoshop with such high resolution files, the quality of lens is obvious – and it makes your job easier as there’s a lot less work to do in post.

Here’s one last shot I want to show you. It’s Amy, who was assisting us on the shoot today. She was very playful in front of the camera, and this was about as serious as I could get her 😉

Walking With The D800

21st Century Photography Group Photo Walk

Warning: Nerdy Photographer Talk Below

After Nikon announced the D800, I started watching for the D700 prices to fall enough to where I felt justified in purchasing a previous generation body. But the day after I rented a D800 from CharlestonAVGear for a wedding I found myself placing an order for Nikon’s newest (and IMO finest) camera.

Then I started reading the various photography forums and panic started to creep in because it appeared that I might not get this camera until August!

I had a delivery estimate from Amazon, and then early last week the estimate vanished and was replaced with “unknown”. Gahh! I started following this thread on NikonRumors because some posters were letting people know when various retailers had stock available. I got lucky on Tuesday morning because someone posted that NikonUSA.com had them listed in stock. I quickly ordered one and moments after I placed my order they were listed as out of stock again. Regardless, on Wednesday morning I had the new camera in hand! The funny thing was that I got a notice from another fine camera retailer, Robertscamera.com, later in the day on Wednesday that they had some in stock, so I shared that info on the Nikonrumors forum that helped me out and some other shooters were able to get D800’s from them. Paying back on the forum that helped you is a good recipe for internet karma. And as of now it seems that a lot of people are getting the camera’s they’ve had on back-order for months, so I am assuming that the supply is reaching the level of demand to some degree.

So, I was itching to go out and use my new tool, since it’s a very different animal than my previous body. The local photography group, the 21st Century Photography Group, was hosting a photo-walk at the College of Charleston on Sunday. A perfect opportunity!

I brought my son Kegan along, who was shooing with my P7000.

Unfortunately it was quite hot and he was not feeling the whole walking part of the photo-walk. He did get a box of crackers to snack on, but even that couldn’t sooth the savage Kegan 😉

I’ve been shooting with a cropped sensor for so long now that switching to a new full-frame sensor is introducing a whole new way for me to approach the things I am used to. The focal lengths are now properly represented, so my 50mm lens is a true 50mm instead of the 80mm equivalent on a cropped sensor camera. This means I’ve got to get closer! That has the effect of decreasing the available depth of field, so focusing properly is crucial. The 36 mega-pixel sensor in the D800 also brings another challenge: The resolution is so high that it is not forgiving at all if you have bad technique hand-holding the camera. You can see the effects of camera shake when you view things at the full resolution. Luckily, most people aren’t viewing your images like that, but I think it’s a valuable thing because it challenges you to improve your technique!

It’s not easy changing the class of bodies either. My D90 is laid out very differently than the D800, so I’m constantly hitting the wrong buttons because they’re not where I’m used to finding them. That’s OK, it’s only a matter of going out and shooting as much as possible that will quickly remedy it. I did have some moments of panic when shooting a wedding with it, but I’ll talk more about that in a future post.

I can’t wait to shoot some studio stuff with this camera. The resolution is so amazing. I’ll be sure to write another post soon about that experience. For now, I’m buried with post-processing from previous shoots. The good news is that my computer seems to be dealing with the giant NEF RAW files from the D800 quite well, so one of my biggest fears has been put to bed. It does take a tremendous amount of time uploading the full resolution jpegs to Flickr though, but that’s something I can happily deal with 😉

On a side note, I checked out one of Apple’s new Retina Display MacBook Pro’s this afternoon. Holy Balls. My D800 photos look even better on that thing than I could have imagined. It looks like I’m going to need to book a bunch of these real soon!

Summer 2012 Senior Portrait Package

Announcing my Senior Portrait Package & Facebook Friends Special!

Here’s the deal, if you book this package for the extremely reasonable price of $399, I will knock it down to $379 if you share the ad shown above on your Facebook wall with your friends! You’ll need to make sure you “Like” my page here. Then you can easily click the “share” button on this image here.

Also, if you book this package and then successfully refer a friend who also books any type of session with me, I’ll give you a 2nd 11×14 print!

Here’s the package details:

On Location Shoot With At Least 4 Different Looks
Digital Copies of Final Edits
High Quality Prints:
1x 11×14
2x 8×10
4x 5×7
6x 4×6

Contact me today and book this package and let’s make a special portrait for your senior.

Father’s Day 2012

Sure I’m posting this a day late, but I just wanted to share some photos here. These were all shot with my old recovered Nikon D40 which is my current back-up body, and the Nikon 55-200 VR lens. This is equipment that can be found on Craigslist or eBay relatively inexpensively, but still enables you to make great photos!

I use this camera as a family camera, for things like going to the beach or day trips – it’s very light but allows you the freedom to enjoy the moment instead of trying to perfectly capture the moment technically like you would with a more professional body. I shot these all as jpegs and did minimal processing in Lightroom as there was not much room for it in these 6MP files.

It’s not a weather sealed camera or lens, it gets it’s fair share of sea-spray and sand, but wiping it down immediately and using some common sense has kept this camera in my life for many years now. The 55-200 lens is such a fantastic performer on this camera. Check this out:

If I didn’t tell you that that was a D40 with a budget lens, not many people would assume it.

The secret to photography is simple at its core. Have an interesting subject matter, find some quality light, and the technical stuff becomes terribly easy after that. Sure, what’s an interesting subject is quite subjective, and finding quality light involves manufacturing it on many occasions. Don’t even get me started on composition! And the technical stuff constantly evolves and changes – but you still can’t trust the camera to get it right 100% of the time so you need to understand the basics of exposure, which can take years of practice to fully understand and execute in real-life situations that require split-second reaction time from you.

STOP!

The moment is more important than anything else.

This moment captures the day perfectly for me because it was a happy Father’s Day:

Krista at CharlestonRIDE

My friend Krista is a spinning instructor at CharlestonRIDE and she asked me to help her make some environmental portraits at their studio in Charleston, SC. I was happy to oblige! We went for several different looks last Friday evening and I think we nailed it.

At the top of this post is an edgier look – very athletic and fierce. Just below it is a more traditional shot with here among the studio’s equipment. This shot is Krista with a bike, looking quite instructorly if I do say so myself:

The view from the windows at CharlestonRIDE are stunning, it’s a very inspiring place to work out! I needed some shots of Krista’s beautiful smile as it doesn’t always come through in a sports themed shot where the subject is usually putting forth a look of determination instead of a happy-go-lucky one. Here she is in front of one of their windows just after the sun went down showing off her happiness:

And here she is, in full on instructor gear at the head of the room:

Her daughter came along for the shoot, so of course…

I love working with awesome people like Krista, you can see the rest of the shots we made that evening here. I’ve also shot Krista before, as you can read about in this post.

Art For Charity Event

Click the poster for the full size version

I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be shooting portraits of the guests at the Art For Charity event at the Michael Mitchel Studio in Charleston, SC on Friday, June 1st, 2012.

First, the details:

-Michael Mitchell Gallery is located at 438 King Street, Charleston, SC 29403
-The events are held from 6 pm to 9 pm.
-A $10 donation would be greatly appreciated
-The event I’ll be shooting will be benefiting the Ryan White Program and Wellness Center

What is Art For Charity?

Art For Charity is a unique gallery event where a portion of profits from sold artwork benefit local, non-profit organizations. This year’s charities include Friends of MUSC Children’s Hospital, Crisis Ministries, Komen Lowcountry, Roper St. Francis Ryan White Program, Charleston Waterkeeper and MUSC Hollings Cancer Center.

The event I’ll be shooting will be benefiting the Ryan White Program and Wellness Center.

Who is Ryan White and what is the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program?

Ryan White and his mom courageously fought AIDS-related discrimination and helped educate the Nation about his disease.
Ryan White was diagnosed with AIDS at age 13. He and his mother Jeanne White Ginder fought for his right to attend school, gaining international attention as a voice of reason about HIV/AIDS. At the age of 18, Ryan White died on April 8, 1990, just months before Congress passed the AIDS bill that bears his name – the Ryan White CARE (Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency) Act. The legislation has been reauthorized four times since – in 1996, 2000, 2006, and 2009 – and is now called the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.

I’m pretty stoked to be a part of this, and I hope to see you there. Heck, just bring $10 to donate at the door, get your photo taken, & check out some art (and possibly buy some since part of the proceeds benefit the charity). I’ll be posting the photos for you to download just like I did for the recent Change For Change Art Show.

Eileen’s Bridal Shoot

Just a few minutes before the shot above was made, it started to drizzle. We were questioning if we would be able to catch a decent sunset or if we were just going to get rained out. I had the shot in mind, and in fact it was going to be the “closer” of Eileen’s bridal shoot. Everything was leading up to getting a sunset shot at the Battery, even though we got enough stuff for her to pick one as her bridal portrait. This shot was purely in the hands of mother nature, and man oh man did she deliver a powerful display in the air on Saturday night!

We started out in the studio to get some close-ups of Eileen’s pretty face. Once I got the shot I wanted, we jumped in my car and headed into Charleston. The first shot I planed was at the Judicial Center on Broad Street, but while we were parking, I drove down Magazine Street and remembered this cool church at the end of the street on Archdale. I pulled over and we quickly made this shot:

Next stop was the Judicial Center. I love to play with the square columns. There’s a lot of fun to be had in this little breezeway. I had Eileen’s matron of honor, we’ll call her VAL (Voice Activated Light-Stand), next to her hiding behind a column holding a softbox on a pole.

Next I wanted to get some classic Charleston going, so we headed to Tradd Street to take some shots.

Up next was a trip down East Bay Street to shoot some portraits at Charleston’s iconic Rainbow Row.

And then it started to rain. Just enough to make us nervous. We were so close and ready to go. As we were driving up the Battery to find a clear spot, the rain let up and the sky lit up. It was amazing. I parked quickly and was running across the street, C-Stand in hand trying to wave off a person who was going to park right where we were setting up. Time was of the essence, and that lady would have to just understand (thankfully she did with no question).

Just a note to all of you dog walkers out there: Can’t you just clean up after your dog? I stepped in doggie droppings while doing this shot, which thankfully was pretty dried up, but still… Gross. Didn’t matter in the end, because we got the shot we wanted and all was right in the world.

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!

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