Splashing in the ocean  - Huntington Beach State Park

Engagement portraits at the Garden City Pier and Atalaya Castle

These engagement portraits were for a fun couple getting married very soon in August.  I always prefer doing engagement portraits for a couple before I photograph their wedding, that is why I offer a discounted engagement session for wedding clients.  It’s a nice way to get to know each other and make sure that they like my style and I know what they like as well. The Garden City Pier is special to this couple so they wanted to do some of their engagement portraits at the pier. I told them it was going to be crowded and difficult to do …

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I love that bokeh from the sunset through the trees - Mansfield Plantation, Georgetown

Sunset engagement pictures at Mansfield Plantation, Georgetown SC

My recent couple was looking for a plantation type setting for their engagement pictures with a lot of moss and old oak trees. They got a nice quick response from calling Mansfield Plantation in Georgetown. There was a reasonable $160 charge to do engagement pictures on the plantation grounds so they decided to do the session there. I’ve done many engagement sessions in downtown Georgetown, but I’ve never shot portraits at Mansfield Plantation. I’m always excited to try a new location so I was happy to go, even with the long drive from Myrtle Beach. The location is a bit difficult …

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Kiss by the flowers in the Palmetto Garden - Brookgreen Gardens

Surprise marriage proposal in Brookgreen Gardens

I had a lot of fun photographing a recent surprise marriage proposal in Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet. April is a great time of the year for taking pictures in Brookgreen. The springtime flowers are blooming and they also have extended hours until 8pm. Normally the gardens close at 5pm so it would be impossible to get the beautiful light from the sunset filtering through the trees. This man did a great job with keeping the proposal to his girlfriend a surprise. He met his uncle in the bathroom at the entrance to the gardens to get the ring from …

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She said yes - Myrtle Beach State Park

Surprise engagement proposal on a beautiful winter evening in Myrtle Beach

I always love the Myrtle Beach State Park at sunset in the winter. This time of the year the sky just seems clearer and the water is more blue. I don’t know if it’s perhaps the lower humidity or just the difference in the angle of the sunset. We had one of those perfect winter evenings for a surprise engagement proposal with this young couple. His girlfriend thought we were just doing pictures of the two of them for Valentine’s Day. From what she said later in the evening, she thought it would be a long while until he could …

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Man lifting fiance into the air under Live Oaks - Litchfield Plantation

Engagement portraits at Litchfield Plantation in Pawleys Island

It’s been a several years since I did a photography session at Litchfield Plantation in Pawleys Island. My last wedding back in 2011 at Litchfield Plantation was really beautiful with the bride arriving on a horse-drawn carriage. I was told they were no longer booking events and that they were turning the area into a housing development, but I guess that decision was changed. The recently engaged couple featured in this post had family that owned a home inside Litchfield Plantation, so we were able to do the engagement pictures wherever we liked. I notice on their website that anyone can pay …

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Fun with sparklers and steel wool - Springmaid Beach

Having fun with long exposure, flash, steel wool and getting started with the Myrtle Beach season

With the beautiful spring weather in Myrtle Beach, it’s the time of the year my photography business starts really picking up. Of course that also means lots of pollen and traffic at the beach, but you have to take the good with the bad. I thought I would do a quick blog post highlighting my first spring engagement session and some long exposure light painting fun I had this winter. My photography friend Hannah Ruth and I wanted to experiment with some long exposure light painting shots using wedding sparklers. Painting with the light from sparklers can be as simple as putting your camera …

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Couple about to kiss leaning against the pier at state park

Engagement pictures at the Myrtle Beach State Park after the flooding

I’m sure everyone has heard about the severe flooding we had in SC about a month ago. Myrtle Beach wasn’t hit as hard as some areas, but we still had flooding in many locations. You might have heard me complain that in Myrtle Beach state park, they are incredibly particular about photographers getting anywhere near the dunes. They don’t have to worry about it anymore because many of the dunes’ front slopes are completely gone. The dunes are now just cliffs with the roots of sea oats sticking out of the sides. The water must have been so high that …

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Guy getting a really big hug after surprise proposal - Myrtle Beach State Park

Surprise engagement proposal with the whole family at the Myrtle Beach State Park

I’ve been doing a lot of surprise marriage proposals recently. I think it’s because I’ve blogged about it several times, and clients must be seeing my posts. Whatever the reason, I always enjoy doing these, so I hope I keep getting more. I believe this engagement proposal was a real surprise. She was under the impression we were doing portraits of the whole family. I took pictures of the five different couples, including parents and grandparents, up by the oak trees and then by the dunes. When it was the about-to-be-engaged couple’s turn for pictures, he picked up the ring box the family had …

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Couple walking down marsh boardwalk together at sunset

Fun engagement pictures in Garden City on a cold afternoon and Storyboard 3

I haven’t had a chance to blog about engagement portraits recently. Things are getting slow, so I thought I would post pictures from this recent cold weather engagement session down at the southern tip of Garden City Beach. I’ve done many photo sessions in Garden City, but this one was unusual because they live in a private neighborhood where I usually can’t photograph. The southern end of Garden City is beautiful. It’s a short walk from the beach to the boardwalks that go out and over the marsh. I rarely get to shoot on a marsh walkway because most of these are privately …

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Dipping girl back in front of the ocean

Cold and windy day for engagement pictures at the Myrtle Beach State Park

There are always a couple of winter months when no one wants portraits done outdoors or on the beach. During those months, I always have some things to do, like wedding album layouts and catching up with clients about orders from the previous year, but it’s nice to be getting busy taking fresh pictures again. I seem to be getting an early start this year with some engagement sessions and even a wedding this coming weekend. I’m highlighting the engagement session this time for a couple with an upcoming wedding I’m photographing this summer. It was a freezing and windy …

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