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Folly Beach family session
Posted on March 28, 2013
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The weather’s been a bit flaky lately. (Wimps, the lot of us. We Lowcountry dwellers really prefer daytime temps that don’t dip below 70, or 60, at least.)
I’ve had a few beach photography sessions this month that haven’t really turned out as warm as we anticipated back when we scheduled them.
But my clients are troopers, I’m telling you.
Nicki and her fun, sweet family were visiting from Arkansas, and we had a wonderful time, despite the chilly wind.
Doesn’t Collin have the sweetest little face? Such an adorable boy. His grandfather definitely won the “get natural smiles out of him” contest.
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What I did on my morning break, by Sally Watts
Posted on March 13, 2013
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I took a little break from my glamorous edit and laundry schedule and took this morning off to play.
After I dropped my youngest off at school, I met my pal Leigh Webber at Starbucks to look at some of her amazingly cool film scans from her trip to Morocco. We saw Amy Kay and Jennings King there as well. Girl photographer power, taking over the place!
Speaking of Leigh, generally when people mention social media outside of Facebook, I put my hands over my ears and sing “lalalalalalaaaaaaaa!!” I don’t trust myself to manage my online time efficiently. But she’s got me hooked on Instagram now, and it’s so much fun.
Here’s my feed if you’d like to follow along! I love following my past and future clients as well.
Then I did a little shopping until it was time to pick up May. I noticed that there’s the cutest little candy and specialty shop in South Windermere called Sweet Gourmet, and knew I had to take her back in.
Here’s our combined bounty:
1) I really wanted the pink snakeskin version of those loafers. Like, realllllly, really. But I was sensible and bought the neutral pair. I told myself I’d buy them if I book a family session or wedding within the next week.
2) If you don’t know about Nicole’s Nutty Goodness, you have to try it. There aren’t many easily portable meals that are filling and healthful. I always keep one in my bag on wedding days.
3) I drink a lot of green tea. I want to like Stevia, but I just don’t. I’d heard about agave nectar as a natural sweetener and I picked up some today. Hoping I like it.
We check on our fledgling garden (tomatoes, cilantro, basil, broccoli, assorted lettuces, spinach, and strawberries). Looks pretty good! The frame is repurposed from a sandbox.
A lickety-split lollipopcentric photo shoot:
And then I returned to finishing up this adorable family’s session.
Still haven’t done any laundry. But it was worth it!
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Looking back over 2012
Posted on January 22, 2013
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Last year was a good year.
I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats!
At a 2012 wedding, I was walking past a groom who was waiting in an alcove for his wedding ceremony to start, in mere minutes. He was a little verklempt, and I raised my camera, then paused, looked at him, and said,
“Is this OK? Or would you prefer privacy?”
And he said, “No, stay. I want the truth. Well… I want the truth, maybe just a little bit more beautiful.”
Yep. That’s why I do this.
The truth, maybe just a little bit more beautiful.
With that philosophy in mind, here’s a look back at some of the sessions and weddings I shot over the year– a good mixture of both candid and posed and/or planned shots.
My goal for 2013 is to shoot candid moments with more intention and purpose, so that I produce single images that can stand alone and tell stories.
Here’s what we did in 2012:
Hung 0ut in the good light
Kissed a little
Got up offa that thang
Held hands
Primped
Showcased the Lowcountry
Walked around
Modelled for Mom
Goofed off
And called it a wrap!
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Seabrook Island family portraits
Posted on October 2, 2012
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I met up with the Parrot and Hopkins family last month at Seabrook. They were celebrating their parents’ anniversary, and were such lovely people.
I know I say that about all the families I photograph on the beach. Of course they’re wonderful-they’re on vacation, having a great time!
But this family was particularly warm and fun. I had a great time with all of them.
Escapees!
If your young children do this at your beach photo session, no need be embarrassed. ALL kids do this.
Probably not a surprise to mention that this ended badly. But it was fun to capture anyway. I love boys being boys!
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Folly beach family portraits
Posted on August 14, 2012
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I photographed Sarah and her extended family last month out at Folly. When Sarah, who handcrafts fanciful, customized wedding cake toppers, contacted me, I checked out her blog and saw that the bar was set high. They’ve been shot by some awesome photographers!
Hopefully I did their wonderful family justice. I know I had fun.
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Folly Beach Family portraits
Posted on July 25, 2012
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I met the Thompson family on Memorial Day at Folly Beach. They were a super laid-back crowd. I really enjoyed meeting their mother, who introduced herself as the family matriarch and told me that her four children now lived in four different time zones. She had great stories about her kids in their younger days. Honestly, that’s one of my favorite parts about doing extended family shoots. I generally have one person who kind of briefs me about everyone else; their relationships, the last time they saw each other, whether they fought when they were little kids, what their talents were, where they went to college, etc. It’s fun to get somebackground info. 
I love this one. It says Folly to me. Someone in a pretty dress, someone flying through the air, and someone drinking a beer.
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Blog Circle
Posted on July 12, 2012
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So this is our second installment of the blog circle.
This month, the assignment was to shoot at f8.
F8 is considered sort of an old skool aperture. I can’t remember the last time I shot over 5.6, unless I was trying to take in as much of a scene’s depth as possible, like with a landscape or sunset or something.
But these days we can get way too dependent on shallow depth of field. It’s a good challenge, and good practice, to be able to shoot a different way. Besides, in photography, old skool is generally good. See: the film resurgence, and having respect for our forebears who were focusing with a manual split screen and hanging out in the darkroom.
(Do not see: Glamour Shots at the mall. Some trends are best off dead and buried forever.)
I wandered into the (freshly rained-upon; hooray!) yard this morning to complete this assignment. Our back yard is giant. The downside is that it takes forever to mow and maintain. The upside is that, in its own organic way, it’s a whole little world back there. Kind of cool.
Took a few minutes to defog the lens. It’s *humid* out there, y’all!
Also, he’s thrilled about the wet grass. See how thrilled?
Hubby’s burn barrel. Apparently it offers an atavistic sense of accomplishment; the burning.
Miller, aka Millie, the Millinator, Milli Vanilli.
Last summer I’d do a load of laundry every morning first thing and then baby girl and I would hang it out. (We have a privacy fence, so you couldn’t see it from the road.) It made me feel all environmentally virtuous and at one with nature and all that, until I read that I was only saving like $50 a year or something like that. Then, one of my climbing rose bushes got a little aggressive and the thorns tore one my my favorite dresses, and that was the end of my short-lived career as laundress of the land.
I planted seeds in a little plot and I don’t remember what vegetable it was. Every year I do this. Every single year. I never learn. I know what’s in my container garden, but the plot’s always a mystery. Last year we got okra and a few watermelons. The year before, beans. I have no idea what this is.
And now, head to the opposite side of the world to see the fabulous Xanthe’s take on the theme. http://xanthe.com.au/f8-is-great/
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Blackberries {Charleston family photographer}
Posted on June 13, 2012
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Taking a quick break from wediting (editing a wedding) to report that blackberries (or “lots of tiny blueberries allllllll together”, as she calls them) are apparently a big hit.
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Blog Circle {Charleston portrait photographer}
Posted on June 8, 2012
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So a group of online photographer friends around the country and the world decided it would be fun to create our own blog circle.
I’ve seen several examples around the ‘net and I love seeing personal life through all different sorts of perspectives and styles. I want to be able to view not only what people are doing in their homes, but how they choose to depict it. (OK, that sounds stalkerish, but you know what I mean.)
This month, our assignment is a square crop. There are several of us participating while we get it off the ground, and then we’ll add more participants each month.
(Confession: I didn’t actually measure out a square crop. I eyeballed it.)
(Confession II: There may be some wonky links this first day/month. I mean, we’re not neurophysicists, here, people.)
This is May, this morning, still in her pajamas.
She’s not feeling awesome.
This is freelensed.
This is Tallulah. She’s not feeling very well either, in the Cone of Shame. She lost a skirmish with the neighbor’s cat.
Mantle. As far as I know it feels fine. I snapped this last night for no reason, and just threw it in here today. The bowl under the candle is full of Starbucks coffee grounds. I was hoping the candle heat would infuse and waft the coffee aroma, but I’m not sure it works. (Even though Pinterest assured me that it would!)
I got the carved wood blocks for like $4 at a garage sale and I adore them. My daughter Jane did the zebra in art last year. I love him.
For the next stop in the circle, please go to Atlanta wedding photographer Zachary Long :
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Haircut! {Charleston portrait photographer}
Posted on June 7, 2012
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May is 3, and can be accordingly quirky. We’ve been growing her bangs out for-what-8 months?
They were just tucking behind her ear, but she doesn’t like to wear it that way. She’s also not big on the whole thing where we brush it, wash it, style it, make it not look like a rat’s nest.
Rather than deal with daily negotiations and painful rubber bands and howling, fat-fist-shaking recriminations, and after a lot of wishy washy thought (seriously, it’s ridiculous, how long I contemplated the bangs-or-no-bangs thing) I granted her request for “Dora hair.”
And I think she rocks it.
(C.R. and I got summer cuts too but I haven’t taken pictures yet. Plus my hair pretty much looks the same no matter what.)
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Before
(After helping herself to my makeup bag. Asking for permission= feh.)
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After
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[...] Next person in circle is Charleston Wedding Photographer Sally Watts. [...]