Elizabeth & Kyle Engagement

A few weeks ago I was contacted by this very cute couple Elizabeth and Kyle. We discussed their plans and they really wanted to get engagement images soon. Kyle was set on getting some images at the Pendleton Oil Mill, a local institution in my little town. I was excited about this not just because it's only a block from my house but it is a treasure trove of old-south rustic (in some areas a little too rustic) settings. We got started about two hours before sunset to give us plenty of time but also the best light.

The time was so great, I was able to shoot available light a lot more than I am accustomed. Within a small area of the Oil Mill you can get several different looks and if you are careful to stay in certain areas is perfectly safe.

After a few hours of great shooting, Elizabeth and Kyle never complained and seemed to just keep going and going, we were having a great time. (photographer's note, in the south near dark in the summer, bring bug spray for your clients - and yourself). Even after all this time, the shots two hours into it, they were just as fresh and fun as the first frame.

We took a quick wardrobe change and tried to go to Clemson's Walker Golf Course but it was nearly pitch dark. We did manage to get a dramatic shot that I actually liked.

We later moved over to the reflecting pond in front of the Clemson University Library and I used three off-camera flashes bare for this. There were some focusing issues but I was really happy with some of the shots we got.

For the last segment of the session, I wanted to get a studio look. We found a white concrete wall under a set of stairs. I set up two flashes to blast the background for a clean white background and one flash using my Paul C Buff PLM umbrella to light them. I could've shot this all night, and they would've let me they were so fun.

Congratulations to Elizabeth and Kyle. If they can handle a 4+ hour engagement shoot with this much fun and energy, then they will have a happy life together.

Also a big shout-out to the best assistant I ever had, Rhonda. She knows exactly what to do and never complains even after being bitten by every insect known to man (and I think one or two that haven't been identified) and just smiles and even has some awesome suggestions. I'm a better photographer than her but she just knows people and sees things. An extra set of eyes is so valuable.

Abby and Bryan Engagement

Recently, I was contacted by a couple Abby and Bryan from Erie Pennsylvania who is planning their wedding in Myrtle Beach. Both of them have spent several vacations here, going years back, and it has come to have a special meaning for them. As it turns out, I was going to be nearby during their current family trip and we wanted to get some engagement shots celebrating their planned commitment. 

Abby and Bryan were totally up for anything and wanted me to suggest a good venue. All we really knew was that it needed to be in a place that would express the feeling of the South Carolina coast and them as a couple. One of my favorite places that I have been to many, many times is Huntington Beach State Park just south of Murrell's Inlet. Abby and Bryan were staying where they will be getting married, at The Dunes Resort in Myrtle Beach. I figured a popular resort in June would probably prove difficult to find intimate locations without a lot of lookers-on. The trip to Huntington Beach was a bit of a hike for them but it was totally worth it.

While we were preparing for this session, I knew I wanted to shoot late in the day for the most favorable light and to have some relief from the heat. Based on my experience, the beach area is always  nice and breezy but only a few yards inland, this area can be oppressively humid with vulture-sized mosquitos and other fun things. Little did I know, nature had other plans. When we arrived, there was mild cloud cover, it was 77 degrees and breezy and no bugs - it was perfect. If this is what happens when people from Erie visit, we should pay them to come more often and in larger numbers.

We started out on the beach. One of Huntington Beach's best assets is a pristine beach with beachfront buildings only seen in the distance.

Walking on the dunes is strictly forbidden on any of the costal beaches in South Carolina, but there are a few places you can go to give the illusion that you are in them and surrounded by sea oats.

Just off the beach is the former studio for the artist Anna Hyatt called Atalaya. It's a bit of an odd structure consisting of several small rooms and a large open area in the middle. It was closed by the time we were shooting but the outside provides a great range of colors and textures.

The last thing I wanted to do is to use one of the other beach access paths which is almost completely a wooden boardwalk. Just as we got there (all that we did was within a comfortable walk - Abby was smart enough to bring comfortable shoes) the clouds opened up to provide some of the best golden hour light I've ever shot.

Technical Stuff

Once again I overpacked considering what I ended up using for this shoot. I was using my Nikon D700 and shot about 95% of everything with my Nikon 70-200mm f2.8. I just love how this lens can control the background, the sharpness and compress the composition when needed. 

I did use my Paul C Buff PLM umbrella again as my lighting modifier of choice but there are some warnings for other photographers to be learned here. 

While the conditions where, basically, ideal as far as South Carolina beach settings in June are concerned, there were regular/strong gusts of wind all the time. I'm used to battling wind with an umbrella on a light stand, but no amount of anchoring could prevent the stand not only blowing over but traveling down the beach. We estimated that it could easily reach 20 knots and reach the North Carolina  state line by midnight. I had my favorite assistant with me and she struggled constantly with the huge umbrella in the gusts. I could not have used it on my own, it would have just been to unpredictable and, in some cases, dangerous.

Another aspect is protecting your gear. With the wind blowing, that also meant that dry sand was constantly whipping around. Leaving my Think Tank bag on the ground for just a few minutes meant that it was nearly half-buried. You DO NOT want sand in any of your gear, the only thing worse is water (I guess fire is bad too but not a realistic concern). With my bag zipped, all my critical bits were kept safe, the only things that were exposed were items stored in the outside mesh pockets which were not susceptible to the ravages of sand.

Protect your gear.

Crystal and Nick Engagement Session

This past Saturday I set out with a great couple Crystal and Nick to capture some images celebrating their engagement. The location they decided on was Falls Park in beautiful downtown Greenville. Being a photographer wanting to control light as much as possible, I wanted to shoot as late as possible. The best they could do was at 5pm. Experience tells me that trying to shoot in the late afternoon in June here in the south is asking for trouble with both heat and humidity, nothing could be further from the truth. It was a perfect day which brought its own challenges. The fantastic weather couldn't be kept a secret so we would be competing with everyone else wanting to enjoy the park that day.

Falls Park is a photographer's dream with a wide range of settings in a relatively small, and walkable, area from dark wooded secreted places, urban backdrops and, of course, the falls and the trademark bridge. We intended on taking advantage of as much of it as we could in the short amount of time we had available to us.

We first started in shaded areas of the common area surrounded by beautiful flora with stone paths and stairs carving through them.

Next we moved to one of the bench swings under the bridge and snuck a few nice shots. This was a high-traffic area but people coming through were very accommodating and Crystal and Nick never missed a beat.

After several winning shots here, we strolled away from the crowds and crossed the river to a spot I have wanted to shoot against for some time. Near the Governor's School, there is a tree on a bank with a vast array of exposed roots. I thought we could shoot here unimpeded but traffic on this road turned out to be more than I anticipated. I ended up shooting from across the street with a telephoto and I'm glad I did.

We proceeded further away from the main part of the park into the woods. There are great little paths and bridges along a creek that flows into the Reedy River including a small waterfall.

We finally got that hat off of Nick.

We decided to brave the crowds for a shot of them on the bridge.

Lastly we wanted to get some detail shots of Crystal's ring so we looked for some local plants that mirrored their selected colors.

This last shot is one of my personal favorites. Crystal and Nick were easy to work with and were up for anything I suggested and even had some ideas of their own (as Nick will brag that this last shot was actually his idea).