ravenel bridge – JWNPhoto.com

Articles Tagged with: ravenel bridge

Pictures of Kayla

Kayla came by for a photo shoot as a gift from her mother. Like most teenage girls, she’s got a busy schedule of school, sports, and family life and it was my job to capture that energy of youth.

We started off in my studio and gave her the model photo shoot experience, fans blowing and all. There’s definitely a dynamic in her set of photos that showcases the many layers of this southern teenager. She’s sweet yet edgy, and I think you can see a different personality in each of these shots.

We headed to the park under the Ravenel Bridge in Mount Pleasant to put a glorious sunset behind her. The shot at the top shows a sensitive girl, yet you wouldn’t realize how bitingly cold it was down there that night from it. Here’s one of my favorite shots of the shoot, she’s got her mom’s coat on and is warming up and I took this shot of here off her guard:

We ended up in downtown charleston and put Kayla in some classic areas, including this shot of her in an alleyway in the French quarter. This is my absolute favorite shot of the session photographically because of the mixed light and the texture. It’s a priceless backdrop 😉

I love the connections photography makes with a family – after this shoot, Kayla’s mom had me shoot her future daughter-in-law’s bridal portraits, which I’ll be able to show you after her big day. It’s those connections with humanity that are the heart of what I love about photography!

The Philbeck Family

I was laying in the dirt for this shot, using my left leg to hold down some of the brush as I composed this shot. My wife Amy was on hand holding the light stand, and I think I may have disturbed an ant hill or two. The sun was falling so I had to be quick! Moments later, I hurried this family to the other side of the bridge into the tall grass.

The race was to get as many family shots off during the falling sun and to ultimately get this sunset silhouette of Allison & Eric:

My wife & I met the Philbecks a couple of years ago while we were on our first cruise. Like us, they were on their first cruise and they also got to leave their kids at home. Needless to say we hit it off! When Eric contacted me about shooting his family, I was more than happy to oblige.

It was interesting to get to meet their children, hopefully next time they make it down, they’ll get to meet our kids 😉

I was happy to give them a little personalized piece of Charleston to take home with them. Taking iconic photos in Charleston is almost cheating when it comes to location shots!

iPhone Photo App Review – 100 Cameras In 1

The Albermarle | Charleston, SC

There are hundreds of good photo manipulation applications in the iTunes App Store for the iPhone, and a lot of them seem to favor the trend of vintage photography – a trend that is exploiting the poorer resolution of mobile phone cameras when compared to today’s full featured cameras to create a comfortable photo of moments or things that are reminiscent of the shots from affordable cameras from the time before digital. “100 Cameras In 1” attempts to separate itself from the Hipstamatics and instagrams that lead the charts by doing two unique things in it’s latest release.

The Albermarle | Charleston, SC

The first thing that sticks out for me in this app is the use of texture blending as an effect. By blending a layer of adjustable translucent texture – from rough surface areas to stones and splatters, you can add a graphical element to your photos that look as though they were printed on recycled paper with expired chemicals and a clumsy hand. This might sound messy, and to the heavy handed photo editor, it can very well be, but it can also make a common image very uncommon. Not that there’s a substitute for composing a good image, but it can force attention to an image that might get overlooked – bringing out the subtleties in a composition through it’s brand of distracting imperfections. One improvement on this would be the ability to add your own custom textures.

Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge | Mt. Pleasant, SC

This photo made while crossing the bridge above was a throw away shot that I made while trying to capture this one. In an effort to prove my point, I took this otherwise ho-hum image and gave it new life with 100 Cameras In 1. While it’s still not my favorite image by any means, it is more interesting to me than the original. The texture and color effects add mystery and intrigue – it almost makes you search for a deeper meaning to the photograph. It tasks you to search for a reason amongst the chaos of imperfection.

The other feature that is new to version 2 is the ability to change each of the 100 presets with a granular slider. Depending on the nature of the effect, “the slider will change the effect of the texture using overlay, hardlight, luminosity, the texture itself, or other methods.” states the developer, Stuck In Customs (AKA Trey Ratcliff). What this does is allow you to add a hint of an effect and combine it with other effects to create something truly original without overdoing it. The results are simply amazing, and it becomes almost too easy to create images that would take a good level of expertise in Photoshop to replicate through more traditional techniques.

The photo above is of my son – I originally took it on New Year’s day to SMS it to our pediatrician because he was swelling up from an infection. I imported the photo into 100 Cameras In 1 and started playing with the effects. I ended up with an overly saturated image using a texture that created a type of effect on his skin reminiscent of Vincent van Gogh’s painting style.

Here’s a promo video from the Stuck In Customs website. They have a page dedicated to information about the app, including a bunch of sample photographs as well as news and tips.

For only $2, you really shouldn’t even think twice about adding this fantastic app to your iPhone arsenal.