Tag Archives: romantic

Engagement portraits at Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, SC

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This is my first time visiting the Magnolia Plantation.  It’s a very nice area, it reminds me a lot of Brookgreen Gardens.  Unlike Brookgreen though we were allowed to go wherever we wanted to do the pictures and spend as much time as well.  I had a lot of fun walking around for an hour or so with the couple and finding places to do shots.  The first time to an area takes a bit of experimenting and exploring around.

We had some pretty strong early afternoon sunlight which can be difficult at the beach or in an open area, but being in a nice area with plenty of trees and shade it’s not really a problem.  In fact the strong sun gives some nice Bokeh from the pinpoints of light reflecting off the trees, you can see this especially on the first image.  You can tell if someone has a really good lens not by looking at what is in focus, but by looking at the quality of the out of focus areas.

I really liked the old fence where the horses were as well, you can see a number of shots from that spot below.  The bamboo was really cool as well, but what I really wanted was evening sun showing through the Bamboo, and I couldn’t really get that, I’ll try again at this couple’s wedding in December. It should be very nice and will be later in the day so things should go even better.  Let me know in the comments if you like the pictures.

Kiss on a bridge, shot with 70-200 f2.8 - Magnolia Plantation Charleston

Kiss on a bridge, shot with 70-200 f2.8 - Magnolia Plantation Charleston

Kiss in front of a lake, push process black and white - Magnolia Plantation Charleston

Kiss in front of a lake, push process black and white - Magnolia Plantation Charleston

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Fun wedding at Kingston Plantation in North Myrtle Beach

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Kingston Plantation seems to be one of my usual spots, like the Grand Dunes, that I end up going to frequently.  It’s nice when I get to work at the same location multiple times, I can really get to know all the good photo spots after a while.   It’s also nice because it’s out of the Myrtle Beach city limits so you don’t have to worry about getting fined by trying to take pictures on the beach.  This couple was a lot of fun, I got a lot of just casual, fun shots of them as well as really nice posed shots as well.  I know it’s hard to relax at a wedding, but if you can and just try to act silly and not worry about things too much it makes for a lot better photos.  I tried to pick out some shots to highlight that were more unique to this wedding.  We did a lot of normal poses of course that turned out great, but I tried to highlight some that were more candid or a bit different.  I hope you like them.

First look at the bride - Kingston Plantation - North Myrtle Beach

First look at the bride - Kingston Plantation - North Myrtle Beach

Passing the rings among the family during the ceremony - Kingston Plantation - North Myrtle Beach

Passing the rings among the family during the ceremony - Kingston Plantation - North Myrtle Beach

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Wedding and sunset pictures at Ocean Isle Beach, NC

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Sorry I haven’t posted to the blog in over a month.  The idea was I wanted to put up a blog post after weddings to show pictures from different location and events.  What I realized is in the summer I just don’t have time.  What I’m thinking I will do is during my slower months, I’m going to go back through all my spring and summer weddings, and put up some post about them.  So it should get more regular soon.  Also, sorry about the delays in getting proofs up and orders done, I’ll be getting caught up here in the next few weeks.

I always like doing weddings up at Ocean Isle, it’s such a pretty location.  It’s a lot like the Garden City area where you have the ocean on one side and the marsh area on the other.  The sun was still pretty bright and harsh during the wedding itself, but it turned out fine.  Later I was able to get some pictures of the couple a little while before sunset that I just loved.  I actually tried to get them to go out right when the sun was actually setting, but they were too tired by that point to do it.  I ran out and took just a sunset picture without them because it was so pretty.  I’ll post a few of the pictures below, actually there are lots of pictures from this wedding I loved in addition to these few, but I just don’t have time to post them. Remember you can always see a lot more if you stop by my home office to talk about a wedding.

Almost ready for the ceremony

Almost ready for the ceremony - Ocean Isle Beach, NC

Dad saying goodbye

Dad saying goodbye - Ocean Isle Beach, NC

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Cute engagement portraits at the Myrtle Beach State Park

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I haven’t posted anything to the blog in a while so I decided I better make a post so everyone doesn’t think I’ve stopped working.  Actually, I’ve been extremely busy and it has made it hard to take the time to do this, and of course I’ve been playing with my new iPad 2 a bit as well :)   Being a photographer is a good excuse to tell your wife you need an iPad.  I’ve got some really great bridal portraits I’m going to be posting soon, I just have to wait a few weeks until after the wedding to make sure the groom doesn’t see what the dress looks like.

I thought I would put up some pictures from a recent pre-engagement session as the Myrtle Beach State Park.  This is a young couple that is not actually engaged yet but wanted to do some pictures.  They started out a bit shy and uncomfortable, the guy in the pictures was actually hearing impaired, but could read lips.  I find it amazing that someone can do that, I just had to be careful to speak towards him.  I try to be really easy going and make the pictures as fun as possible, I know it’s not easy trying to be romantic with someone pointing a camera at you.  I thought the pictures ended up being really cute and fun, I hope you enjoy some of them below.  And remember, many clients are nervous about getting pictures done, but it’s really not that bad.  It can actually end up being pretty fun, I hear that from a lot of clients after their appointment.

Pre engagement pictures with a young couple - Myrtle Beach State Park

Pre engagement pictures with a young couple - Myrtle Beach State Park

Sunset light coming through the trees - Myrtle Beach State Park

Sunset light coming through the trees - Myrtle Beach State Park

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Nice smiles at the Myrtle Beach State Park

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My wife and I are both terrible at smiling at the camera, most people really don’t look very natural when they try to smile, so I really feel for clients trying to get their pictures taken. I always try to shoot fast and joke about things to keep it relaxed, the worst type of picture is when someone makes you wait for the shot.  Don’t you hate it when people pull out their point and shoot camera, count to three, then still wait a few second for the shot.  That is a good recipe for getting the worst possible shot.  Still, even with a fast DSLR, most of the time my favorite shots are when the couples are looking at each other or just catching natural smiles when they happen.  This couple though just seemed to have naturally great smiles, that is why I picked to post below a number of pictures where they are looking at the camera.  They were up for anything and seemed to really enjoy the pictures, I’m looking forward to doing their wedding next year.  I hope you enjoy some of the shots below.

Cute couple in the oak trees

Couple laying by the oak trees

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Engagement Pictures from the Myrtle Beach State Park

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I haven’t posted anything on the blog in a while, so I just decided to quickly put up a few of my favorite pictures from the past few weeks.  It seems like I’ve had a number of engagement sessions recently, more than usual.  It’s especially nice if I’m also doing the couple’s wedding, it gives them a bit of practice.  It’s always easier when things are rushed and stressful at a wedding if the couple basically knows what getting their pictures taken is going to be like.  From what I’ve noticed it seems like everyone always has a lot better time than they think they will going into the session.  I hope you enjoy some of the pictures below.

Sunset Engagement Portrait

Sitting by the oak trees

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Wedding in Litchfield on Intracoastal Waterway

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Last week’s wedding was at such a pretty spot. It was a private home right on the waterway in the Litchfield, Pawleys Island area, about 30 minutes south of Myrtle Beach.  It’s too bad this isn’t a regular spot for weddings, although the homeowner did say he has had about 20 weddings there, various family and friends.  I can certainly see why.  Everything went really nice as well, there was the most beautiful sunset over the waterway, you can see below many of my favorite pictures feature that sunset.  The only slight problem was during the ceremony, the brides face was in complete shade, and the grooms was in bright sun.  Thankfully after a few minutes either he or the sun moved enough that it worked out fine.  This however is a good thing to keep in mind when planning your wedding location.  If one person’s face is in the sun, and one in the shade, either one face has to be really dark, or one really blown out and bright.  It’s just the way a camera works.  I can adjust for it some.  But you need to make sure the bride and groom are both in the shade or both in the sun for the best results.  It’s usually best not to have partial sun as well, for example the head in the shade and body in the sun.  Some things to keep in mind.  Of course nothing can be planned perfectly, that is why you’ve got to have a photographer that is used to dealing with this type of thing, if you let a camera decide everything  itself you can really have a mess.  I hope you enjoy some of the pictures below.

Bride looking in mirror, Pawleys Island, SC

Taking pictures of butterflies while waiting for the wedding to begin

Taking pictures of butterflies while waiting for the wedding to begin

Litchfield Wedding

What a pretty spot for a wedding

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Another wedding at the Grande Dunes Ocean Club – Myrtle Beach

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I like going back to a location multiple times, it’s just so much more relaxed going to an area I already know.  This was my second wedding in the actual Ocean Club, that is at the very north end of Myrtle Beach. I’ve had a number of weddings in the Grande Dunes that had their ceremony on the beach behind the club as well.  I don’t know how the pricing compares, but overall the Grande Dunes really is about the nicest place for a wedding and reception I’ve seen.  This week everything went super smoothly.  The videographers, AAA Photography, were great and the ceremony went off without any problems at all.  The only thing about the veranda (I guess is what you call it), is for the amount of people they had at this ceremony it got to be a little tight. The videographers were really squeezed in and it was a little hard to get some angles and shots I like when I have a whole beach to move around on.  Also, the groom was so much taller than the bride, it actually made some of my shots I normally do difficult. They were a great couple, and I thought almost all the pictures tuned out fantastic. My wife seem to think the groom was a little too good looking, I might have to hide the rest of the pictures :)  I hope you enjoy some samples below.

How guys get ready for a wedding - Ocean Club

The girls are going crazy in one room, and we see the guys busy getting ready here.

Bride putting on earings in mirror - Grande Dunes, Ocean Club

Bride in doorway, black and white - Grande Dunes, Ocean Club

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Nighttime wedding at Bay Watch Resort

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I was worried because this ceremony started about 20 minutes before sunset at last weekend’s wedding at the Bay Watch Resort in North Myrtle Beach.  I’ve never tried to do family and couple portraits after dark.  Thanks to the fact that the hotel has some lights out back and my Nikon D700 has amazing low light capabilities, I thought I got some really unique and interesting shots.  It was fun try to push myself doing something different. I don’t want to go into it too much, let’s just say I will never work with Seaside Wedding Chapel again.  They brought their own “photographer” and “videographer”, I’m putting them in quotes.  The videographer, a guy with a camcorder in a bright orange shirt, stood near the front in the middle of the isle.  I tried to get him to move but he wouldn’t.  The officiant, I guess is used to just working with his guys, actually interrupted the ceremony to say I was getting in the way of his videographer.  I also had to try to work with their “photographer”, which the bride asked them not to bring.  Anyway, I’ll just say I can’t go through that again, please brides be careful about hiring all in one packages.  I’m glad everything worked out though overall with the pictures.  I hope you enjoy a few of the pictures below.

Things started out so nice, if I new the stress to come I might have run.

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