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CupcakeCamp Charleston 2012

Listen, I just can’t find any more things to say about CupcakeCamp that I haven’t said here, here, or here. But, you need to understand that it still remains the greatest event ever conceived. Bakers make cupcakes. People eat cupcakes. Nobody loses.

So how could we improve on this experience? Easy, you bake cupcakes for it! That’s exactly what my wife decided to do. She did the research and narrowed it down to two recipes:

Harry Potter themed “Butterbeer” cupcakes

“Sweet Potato Casserole” cupcakes

I’ll tell you what, those Butterbeer cupcakes barely made it onto the display. As soon as I took these pictures, they were snapped up in record time! Don’t mess with the power of Harry Potter.

Here’s some other shots of cupcakes for your enjoyment:

You can check out the gallery of shots in this Facebook album as well. Be sure to tag yourself in any of the shots! See you at CupcakeCamp Summerville on Saturday, April 13, 2013 at 3 pm!

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.

CupcakeCamp Charleston 2011

After a year of patiently waiting, Heaven on Earth has returned to Charleston, SC. Bakers from around the low country freely give away their sugary treats to local cupcake lovers in hopes of winning the title of best tasting, most original, or best Thanksgiving themed cupcake at CupcakeCamp Charleston.

After learning our lesson from last year, we arrived early to the event and jumped on the line outside of Spirit Moves Dance Studio.

Once inside the studio, tables filled with cupcakes lined the walls. Throughout the event cupcakes came and went – what you tasted was based on what was available when it was your turn to go inside. A big improvement was the inclusion of sponsored beverages from Fiery Ron’s Home team BBQ and Coastal Coffee Roasters (who were also sponsors at BarCampCHS).

As I moved down the line, I began to notice a trend in pumpkin flavored cupcakes. At the time, I didn’t realize that there was a Thanksgiving category, so I was perplexed by the amount of pumpkiny variations. The good news is that I love pumpkin flavored stuff.

Just like last year, there was no shortage of happiness. I swear that you could end all wars with free cupcakes. Look at those campers. The bakers and volunteers were also as friendly as can be – nothing but good feelings around the studio.

I had a plate full of cupcakes to taste, and a big cup of milk to wash it down. Here’s a pic of what I got:

While I was snapping away to capture this holy day, I had the pleasure of meeting CupcakeCamp Charleston’s organizer Heather MacKey. It was cool that she recognized me from my post about last year’s event. Of course, I asked her to pose for this picture with sponsor Hazel Rider:

Hey, it’s been a while since I showed a picture of cupcakes. Here’s some more cupcakes!

Local photog and technophile Eugene Mah was on hand wearing an interesting T-Shirt. I snapped this shot of him with the proprietor of Spirit Moves who was sporting some steam punk goggles:

I do not know who won the contests yet, but once again the people in attendance were the real winners because… FREE CUPCAKES!!! My personal favorite was the cupcake that had everyone talking. A banana nut, peanut butter, & bacon cupcake. Yes, I said bacon. It sounds disgusting, but it was a down-home wall-of-sound musical party in my mouth. I’m serious, it was amazing. Look at it. Want it. Love it.

Check out my full set of photos on Flickr. Want some great news? Summerville is hosting their own CupcakeCamp event early next year, so now we don’t have to wait a whole year for this to happen again!

The Fall Is Awesome!

Day 251 - Sullivan's Island Lighthouse Sunset

This is the best time of year to capture sunsets here in the Charleston area. The weather is beautiful and the sky seems to catch on fire for a brief moment. There’s also no shortage of fun stuff coming up, such as corn mazes, haunted house attractions, hayrides, and pumpkin picking. Halloween just might be my favorite holiday ever – it brings people together. What other holiday makes you go out and ring on your neighbor’s doorbell so they can give you treats?

I have a busy month ahead of me as well. One of the highlights include a wedding shoot this weekend on Folly Beach. I’m pretty stoked about getting some sunset portraits of the happy couple. October 22nd is BarCamp! If you remember, I did a session last year on photo editing (you can check out the post about that here). This year I’ve proposed a session called “Off-Camera Flash 101”

If you’ve never been to or heard of BarCamp, it unfortunately has nothing to do with alcohol. It’s a conference where the attendees are the attraction. Basically anybody who attends can pitch a session to teach. It’s really fun and you get a kick-ass T-Shirt. It costs a mere $10 to participate – get a ticket now!

Next up, I’m doing a photo booth for the Summerville Ghost Walk/ Harvest Fest/ Harvest Moon Hayride sponsored by DREAM and Summerville JSL. That’s on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011 from 6:00PM-9:00PM. I’ll be on the side of the Prudential Southern Coast office at 112 W Doty Ave in Summerville, SC. I hear that Mistress Mira will be doing some fortune telling as well 😉

October 27th-November 5th is the return of the Coastal Carolina Fair. Check out my recap rom last year. I just ordered my prints for the Photography Contest. This year they have changed the rules slightly from last year as you can only submit 3 photos now. I guess the contest has grown a bit! You can see the official rules here.

Of course, I’ve saved the best for last. Just read my rundown of last year’s CupcakeCamp event. It was the single most amazing event ever conceived. All you can eat free cupcakes, no questions asked. If you don’t want to go to this, you’re not human. CupcakeCamp will be on November 5, 2011 3:00PM-5:00PM at Spirit Moves. Check out the Facebook event page here. Look at the sweetness:

CupcakeCamp Charleston

Friday night I saw a blurb on Twitter about CupcakeCamp Charleston, and it immediately caught my eye. I didn’t know what it was about, what the point of it was, or who was even doing it – I just knew that my family had to be there. That is how powerful a name like CupcakeCamp is. For all I knew, this could have been the second coming of the Jonestown Massacre, but I was hypnotized by sugary goodness and had to check it out.

We arrived to the Aloft Hotel in North Charleston to a lobby full of the happiest people on earth. Just look at that photo above, there ain’t a single unhappy person in the place. I didn’t know what was going on, but people were sitting around high on cupcakes, and there was a huge line snaked throughout the hotel of people waiting to try more. It was decadent to say the least. Just imagine a G-rated version of Studio 54, with sugar instead of cocaine.

Did I mention that the cupcakes were all 100% free? I’m surprised that the place wasn’t rioting! Do you understand what I’m saying? Dozens upon dozens of exotic cupcake flavors – all you can eat – FREE!! I think we might have died and went to heaven, but instead of fluffy clouds, there was fluffy icing.

I think there was some sort of contest going on, but I couldn’t tell you who won. Who cares? I won – I got to eat carrot cake cupcakes followed by banana pudding ones. Contest??? Who the hell could choose? After 3 cupcakes, you’re stoned on sweetness. It was absolutely crazy. These people below looked like they were officiating something though:

I don’t even know what to make of this. I just hope it happens again… Soon. Like tomorrow. Please, God.