Highlights from the last few weeks and the importance of a good DJ

I haven’t made a wedding-specific blog post recently, and I’ve wanted to put up something new. I always get so busy in the summer. So I just decided to quickly pull out of my collection a few shots I liked from the last few weeks of August. These come from family beach pictures at the Myrtle Beach State Park, the mother of a bride I had last year getting married at the Grande Dunes Member’s Club, a wedding for a military groom at Brunswick Plantation in NC, and a wedding reception in Florence, SC. There is a lot in this one …

View post

Ethiopian wedding at the Dunes Club in Myrtle Beach

I always like it when I get to do a wedding with a different cultural style. This was my first Ethiopian-style wedding at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club up in Myrtle Beach. This wedding was typical, but they had some exciting customs at the reception.  The dancing was different from what I’m used to. It got all the family involved and made for some good pictures. The only problem we had was that the wedding was running almost an hour late, so by the time I got to take the couple’s pictures, we had very little time left.  I …

View post

Wedding and reception on Bald Head Island, NC

This was an exciting wedding for me, this was my first time to Bald Head Island, NC and it is a very beautiful area. If you are unfamiliar, the island is an almost 2-hour trip north of Myrtle Beach. To get onto the island you have to park and leave your car and take about a half-hour ferry ride out. There are no cars on the island, just a lot of golf carts, bikes, and shuttles. The actual area of the wedding ceremony was called the old baldy lighthouse.  That is where you see that shot of the bride in …

View post

After reception trash the dress at a wedding in Ocean Isle Beach

I had a lot of fun after the wedding reception with this couple.  They planned it so they could go to the reception for a couple of hours, then do a trash-the-dress session at sunset before leaving for the evening.  I’ve never had a bride and groom get completely in the ocean like they did.  The only problem we had was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, but I don’t let anything stop me when I was shooting.  The poor bride in the first picture below had scratches that I had to Photoshop out on her arms because of getting bitten. …

View post

Wedding ceremony at the Conway River Walk

I’m going to try something a little different with my blog posts.  Instead of just posting the same pictures I post in my galleries and Facebook, I will post a lot more here, although many of them won’t have any Photoshop work or touchups like pictures in my main gallery. I had a hectic couple of weeks with 5 weddings; the beginning of May seems to be everyone’s favorite time to get married.  I wanted to highlight this wedding at the Conway River Walk because it’s a location I haven’t done a wedding before.  I’ve been to this area several …

View post

After wedding pictures at the Myrtle Beach State Park

Now that things have slowed down some, I’m going to try and go back and blog about some of my previous weddings and events.  This couple was married the day before and just wanted to do some portraits of the two of them.  The Myrtle Beach State Park is a great place for pictures because of the options, like the oak trees, the pier, and the nice dunes, all in the same location.  Also, it’s out of the Myrtle Beach city limits, so you don’t get in trouble for taking pictures there.  The only thing is, you have to be …

View post

Really cool black and white images

A lot of people don’t have a clear understanding of how black-and-white images are done with modern digital cameras.  It’s not like with film, where you choose to use either b&w or color film.  Even if your digital camera has a black-and-white setting, it takes a color picture inside the camera and then converts it to black and white.  With the nicer cameras, you take your pictures in a raw color format and then adjust and do what you want with an image later in the software.  There is no such thing as taking a black-and-white image anymore, so in …

View post

Wedding reception at the Conway River Walk

I had a fun wedding reception a couple of weeks ago in the Conway River Walk area, specifically at the Peanut Warehouse.  The Conway area is a small historic town about 20 minutes away from Myrtle Beach.  Conway has a really pretty area on the river, with some nearby railroad tracks that are no longer used, which makes for a great photo location.  This couple already had their wedding ceremony in Italy. They were having a second reception for the family and friends that were not able to make the trip.  I wouldn’t normally want just to photograph a reception …

View post

Highlights from the first half of May 2011

This is such a busy time of the year I can’t really post about each wedding on my blog, I just don’t have time.  But I wanted to highlight a few pictures from the last couple of weeks.  One was a wedding in Andrews, SC, of the same bride featured in my previous blog post.  I’ve also included a few family and engagement portraits from Myrtle Beach State Park.  I discovered a new spot for pictures I really like at the park, at least the way the light is now.  It’s the drainage area for land runoff into the ocean.  …

View post

Beautiful spot for a wedding - Holiday cottage walkway at Brookgreen Gardens

Another beautiful wedding at Brookgreen Gardens

I had another wedding at the Holliday Cottage area in Brookgreen Gardens.  This ceremony was at the iron gates at the end of the Live Oak Allee. I always love going there. You just can’t beat the background and lighting that you get with lots of trees and a garden.  The weather had been so nice that several flowers were in bloom. This is always great in the background of a picture.  This wedding was for the bride that I recently did the fun bridal portraits for, you can read about that a couple of blog posts down from here.  …

View post