Nathan Bell invades my Secret Shooting Spot!

Yesterday evening I was “on walkabout” doing an Engagement photo shoot with one of my favorite couples EVER!  We were just walking along, having a blast, and getting some cool shots…when suddenly on the other side of an old brick wall I could hear a camera clicking away.  I peeked around the corner and who should I see by my good friend and fellow photographer, Nathan Bell of Richard Bell Photography!  Nathan’s a great guy with a wonderful sense of humor…so we both immediately went into mock horror mode…like “hey man, what are YOU doing in MY shooting space?!?”  Then we busted out laughing and introduced our couple to each other, and chit chatted for a few minutes before carrying on our separate ways.  But before Nathan could get out of sight, I enticed his couple into this zany pose with him.  It’s always fun bumping into friends while out shooting.  J 

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Two Front Teeth

Brittany & Mitch…two of the nicest people you could ever meet…were kind enough to let me “play” with their beautiful 9-month old daughter the other day.  She is such a sweetheart!  It seems like just yesterday we were photographing Brittany & Mitch’s wedding.  Now they are the proud parents of this beautiful daughter with the cutest smile!  I love her two front teeth…  J

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Cotton Dock Remote

Last weekend I had the privilege of photographing Heather & Josh’s wedding at Boone Hall Plantation for our good friends Bill & Kelli Nixon.  The ceremony was held at the rustic Cotton Dock.  What a cool venue for a wedding!  I arrived early, as usual, and noticed the decorators were draping these long, silky, white sheets over the huge wooden rafters.  Seeing those rafters gave me the idea to mount a remote camera from one of the rafters to get this cool angle.  In the first photo you can see the D300 with 10.5mm Fisheye super-clamped to the rafter looking strait down.  The second shot is an image from the remote camera, which I fired with a set of PocketWizards.  Fun Stuff!!!

 

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Kim & Michael's Downtown/Folly Beach Shoot

Kim & Michael are a sweet, gentle, amazing couple from Aiken.  For their Engagement Shoot, we did a double-whammy.  As I was driving downtown to meet them for the first part of their shoot, the wind was blowing and the sky looked dark and foreboding.  I was concerned, but soldiered on.  When we met up, I found out they were concerned about the weather too.  But we decided to be adventurous and go for it.  We were rewarded a few minutes later with beautiful light.  By the time we got to Folly Beach for the second session, the sky had turned into this AMAZING backdrop.  WOW!!!  I love how the images turned out.  Many thanks to Kim & Michael for being so much fun to work with and being willing to brave the elements to humor this passionate old chaser of DRAMATIC LIGHT!  J

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Kelly & Aaron's 3-Year Anniversary

This beautiful message from Kelly & Aaron just hit my Facebook page.  HAPPY ANNIVERSARY and THANK YOU for the kind words…you guys are THE BEST!!!

 

Hi Chris, Today is Aaron and I's third anniversary. Can you believe it? I wanted to thank you once again for the memories you captured for us that will last forever. Thank you again for being our wedding photographer! We loved working with you!

 

~ Kelly & Aaron

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Cotton Dock Remote

Last weekend I had the privilege of photographing Heather & Josh’s wedding at Boone Hall Plantation for our good friends Bill & Kelli Nixon.  The ceremony was held at the rustic Cotton Dock.  What a cool venue for a wedding!  I arrived early, as usual, and noticed the decorators were draping these long, silky, white sheets over the huge wooden rafters.  Seeing those rafters gave me the idea to mount a remote camera from one of the rafters to get this cool angle.  In the first photo you can see the D300 with 10.5mm Fisheye super-clamped to the rafter looking strait down.  The second shot is an image from the remote camera, which I fired with a set of PocketWizards.  Fun Stuff!!!

 

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Two Front Teeth

Brittany & Mitch…two of the nicest people you could ever meet…were kind enough to let me “play” with their beautiful 9-month old daughter the other day.  She is such a sweetheart!  It seems like just yesterday we were photographing Brittany & Mitch’s wedding.  Now they are the proud parents of this beautiful daughter with the cutest smile!  I love her two front teeth…  J

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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The Miracle of Vision

My vision is pretty important to me!  So I make sure and get my eyes a thorough checkup every couple years.  Being a photographer, I always ask to have an imaging scan done as well.  It’s truly AMAZING what these medical imaging scanners can see.  My doctor went through in detail and told me all about what every detail of my eye is.  It’s SO COOL!  Truly, the gift of vision that we have is a miracle in itself!!!

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Family Circle Cup Wrap-Up

It’s been over a week since the Family Circle Cup, and I’m FINALLY feeling fully recuperated.  J  This year’s tournament was a AWESOME.

 

Sam Stosur literally CRUSHED Vera Zvonareva to win her second (and biggest) WTA Tour Championship.  She had an amazing 36 winners in the 6-0, 6-3 final that was the fastest in the history of the tournament!  Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova were able to hold on to capture the Family Circle Cup doubles title, beating Vania King and Michaella Krajicek in straight sets.  King & Krajicek were playing together for just their second tournament.  Huber, the #1 doubles player in the world, normally plays with Cara Black.  This was her first time playing with Petrova!

 

Aside from the great tournament action, there were tons of off-site player appearances and VIP parties to photograph.  But most would agree that the Game, Set, Rock event with legends John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, and Anna Kournikova was the big hit of the week! 

 

Mike Saia, Communications Director of the FCC, did a great job keeping all the media organized.  My former colleague, Doug Cunningham, retired last year.  But it was nice to see him come back to assist on some of the VIP events.  The super talented Alice Keeney took his place.  She really stepped up to the plate, did a great job filling some big shoes, and was wonderful to work with.  I’m already excited to see what NEXT YEAR has in store!!!

 

 

 

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Portrait of a Champion

After the final ball was struck, the trophy was raised, the last interview was made, and Samantha Stosur was able to relax for a few minutes…a small group of five photographers was granted an exclusive photo shoot with the Champion on the roof of the Market Pavilion Hotel in downtown Charleston.  We had a beautiful view of the city skyline.  Since the sun was at her back, I used it as her hair light and set up an off-camera SB-800 to my left as the main light and another SB-800 behind her as a kicker or rim light.  Both were fired by an on-camera SB-900 in Commander Mode using RadioPoppers to translate the signal.  I used a Nikon D3 with 70-200 f2.8 for the shot.  Sam was a pleasure to work with.  I wish her all the best and hope she goes on to win many more titles! 

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Family Circle Cup Finals

Well, the Family Circle Cup is over!  But what an AMAZING display of power and domination in the 52-minute final.  Samantha Stosur completely dominated Vera Zvonareva and took the championship match into the record books as the fastest final in the history of the tournament!  I think Vera’s an excellent player.  But Sam was just “in the zone”.

 

"To be able to play that well in a final is a great feeling. You always hope you'll do that, but to actually go and perform that way is very, very pleasing," said Stosur, who has now beaten Zvonareva five straight times.

 

Another fact for the record books is that Sam is now the first Australian to ever win the title!  Up until recently she’s been known as more of a doubles specialist.  But she’s decided to concentrate more on singles and is doing quite well.  This is her second singles title.

 

"The first title I won is always going to be very special. It took me a while to get that," Stosur said. "This is bigger than Osaka though. To do it on clay and playing well all week is just a great feeling. You can't really compare the two, but this is definitely a bigger event and I'm very pleased I was able to play so well."

 

CONGRATULATIONS Samantha! 

 

 

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Family Circle Cup Doubles Champions

Even though the media world doesn’t pay as much attention to doubles as they do singles, I LOVE doubles.  So I decided to cover the doubles final of Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova vs Vania King and Michaella Krajicek.  Fortunately, somebody else thinks doubles is still an important part of the sport as well.  Tennis Magazine used my photo of the four finalists in a nice article on their website.  Click Here to check it out!

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Game, Set, Rock!

“Game, Set, Rock!” was a HUGE success this year at the Family Circle Cup.  The match between John McEnroe and Jim Courier couldn’t have been any better.  With John showing his deft touch and Jim showcasing that raw power, both champions obviously still “have it”!  The match was tightly contested, ending with McEnroe prevailing in the third set tiebreaker.  Following that, Anna Kournikova and Monica Seles joined the boys for some mixed doubles.  At this point they all put on wireless mics and really had fun with it, making jokes and keeping the crowd entertained with their running commentary.  It made for a late night, but I’m glad I got to stay and cover it from my premier seating on the court.  J  (More at www.chrisandcami.com/blog.)

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John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, and Anna Kournikova

Part of the big “Celebrating 10 Years in Charleston” promotion at the Family Circle Cup included special appearances by John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, and Anna Kournikova.  Before they went on court for the “Game, Set, Rock!” event, these four celebrities stopped by a VIP dinner party to say a few words, sign autographs, and allow guests to get portraits with the champions! 

 

Here are a few shots from that event along with a photo showing my setup for it.  Since I was basically rushing from photographing a tennis match to shoot this, then rushing back to cover “Game, Set, Rock!”, my portable wireless lighting setup was the best solution.  I used a pair of 8-foot Bogen Manfrotto stackable lightstands, two SB-800 strobes, each powered by an SD-8a battery pack, and firing through my favorite Westcott 43” collapsible umbrellas.  I used my D3 with 24-70 f2.8 and SB-900 attached.  The SB-900 acted in commander mode only, with the remote strobes set manually to 1/8^th power.  The whole system was triggered by RadioPoppers and gave me a working aperture of f5.6 at 1/100^th.  It took my about 10 minutes to set up and do a test shot, and about 6 or 7 to tear down and get out the door when it was over!

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McEnroe Clinic at the Family Circle Cup

On Semi-final Saturday at the Family Circle Cup, I got to be the exclusive photographer covering John McEnroe’s VIP clinic sponsored by Dunlop.  As a tennis enthusiast, it was pretty exciting being able to just “hang out” with the legend!  More at www.chrisandcami.com, www.familycirclecup.com, and www.wtatour.com.  

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Caroline Wozniacki Twists Ankle in Family Circle Cup

As soon as I got back to the Media Tent after shooting Caroline Wozniacki’s match against Vera Zvonareva in the Quarters at the Family Circle Cup, I was bombarded with “DID YOU GET IT?!?”  Here are the three key frames out of about 10 in the sequence.  I truly feel horrible for Caroline.  She’s such a sweet girl and was definitely my hope for our next Champion.  I hope the injury is minor and she can recover quickly.  I believe she has what it takes to reach number 1 in the world!

 

More images at www.chrisandcami.com, www.familycirclecup.com, and www.wtatour.com....

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