state park

Bride looking into the eyes of the groom behind the castle - Atalaya Castle - Huntington Beach State Park

Rainy summer wedding day at the Atalaya Castle in Huntington Beach State Park

by

It’s great to be getting back into wedding season in the Myrtle Beach area. I was a little worried that work would be very slow this year. This summer has been jam-packed with family beach pictures and even small weddings. It seems like most of my weddings, for the rest of the year, will take place with just some social distancing modifications. Some have had to reduce the number of guests, and some have moved the receptions outside to comply with venue requirements. So far, all my weddings have taken place without any issues. For Rylan and Sarah’s wedding, the …

View post

She said yes - Myrtle Beach State Park

Surprise engagement proposal on a beautiful winter evening in Myrtle Beach

by

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 …

View post

Fun with sparklers and steel wool - Springmaid Beach

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

by

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 …

View post

Dipping girl back in front of the ocean

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

by

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 …

View post

Putting on the engagement ring in front of the pier

Engagement pictures with an emotional marriage proposal on the beach

by

I had another fun couple that hired me for their engagement pictures and a marriage proposal on the beach. This one was a bit different than my last couple of proposals because his girlfriend knew that he was going to propose. This made it a bit easier for me because I didn’t have to try and be sneaky with my pictures of the proposal.  I also got to set the position of the couple up a little bit so there wouldn’t be people in the background.  We started doing my typical style engagement pictures around the oak trees and sea …

View post

High contrast black and white under the pier

Secret pictures of an engagement proposal again!

by

I recently had another chance to do pictures of a wedding proposal along with engagement pictures after. This client saw my last blog post and wanted to do something similar, so I guess people do sometimes read my blog. Something cool about being a photographer is you can count all your camera gadgets as a business expense, which, if you are like me, is where a lot of money goes anyway. I mentioned before that I recently got a small Olympus OM-D mirrorless micro four-thirds camera, mainly to take hiking and for fun, but I’ve been able to incorporate it …

View post

Beautiful engagement portrait girl looking up at guy backlit by sunset - Myrtle Beach State Park

Two couples doing sunset engagement pictures at the Myrtle Beach State Park

by

I recently had some nice-looking and fun couples for engagement pictures at Myrtle Beach State Park. I’ve wanted to put up a new blog post for a while, but I don’t have time right now to post many pictures. I just made a quick post from two of my sessions below. This time of the year, I like how the sun hits the sea oats in this one place at the State Park. Some spots in the winter look cool but don’t work in the summer because of the sun’s direction and vice versa. I never thought about in the …

View post

Couple touching noses with the background of the Myrtle Beach State Park

Engagement pictures for a couple and their dog on a cloudy day at the Myrtle Beach State Park

by

I had another nice couple for engagement portraits at the Myrtle Beach State Park this past week. I’ve got their wedding coming up later this year. This couple brought along their baby for the moment, their little dog. I can’t remember what it was exactly. I know it was a poodle mix of some kind. I have two poodles myself. They are very sweet dogs as long as they are used to being around people. My dogs love it when clients come by to discuss a wedding, I tell them people are coming, and they will wait by the window. You have to …

View post

Fun large family with colorful outfits doing portraits at the Myrtle Beach State Park

by

I keep having some great families for pictures recently. It’s so nice when everyone in the family is in a really good mood and ready to have fun with the pictures. The family I’m highlighting was a larger group I took to Myrtle Beach State Park.  When photographing a large group, I usually don’t go to the oak trees but just take them down to a more secluded area of the park on the far side of the pier. This was a cloudy, not very nice-looking evening. When the sky is overcast like this, you get clean, less harsh lighting …

View post

Another fun couple doing engagement pictures at the Myrtle Beach State Park

by

I met this couple for the first time on Friday to discuss photographing their upcoming wedding. While they were in the area, we decided to do some last-minute engagement pictures on Monday at the state park in Myrtle Beach. I’ve said it a lot of times before, but doing engagement pictures is the best way to get to know a couple and for them to get to know you as the photographer. If they like what you do during the engagement portraits, they will also like you at the wedding. Pictures of the couple after the wedding are pretty much …

View post