Christmas Photo Session 2014

Meet my friend Beth, and her future husband, Kris. This past weekend I had the pleasure of shooting their Family Photos in BEAUTIFUL Old Fort, North Carolina. 

The photo above was my absolute favorite photo of the day. This one was totally unplanned and they were just sitting there... looking pretty! This is Beth and Ansley. 

The photo below is another unplanned photo. They posed themselves :) This ia Ansley and her brother, Bryson.

The photo below is another one of my favorites. This is Beth, and her son Daniel. 

The photo below is Kris and Beth's 19 month old grandson, Liam. He is super cute!! 

Liam doesn't like to look at the camera. But hey... when you are 19 months old you get to look anywhere you want ;) Below is a photo of Liam and his father, David.

Alexander Stables

I had to go out to s stable a while back in Alexander North Carolina and do an inspection for my day job. While I was there i had the opportunity to get a few shots of the area. The above photo is the carriage that Asheville Horse & Carriage uses to give carriage tours in Downtown Asheville. 

The photo above is the walkway into the upper level of the barn. It had just finished raining, and I thought this was great!  The photo below is the horses that are out in the field. 

Just a few more from Pressley's Senior Shoot. This was SO MUCH FUN! And she is such a beautiful young girl. She just made the photos awesome! 

A Little Senior Portrait Fun!!!

Check out this pretty cool collage that I made out of some of the photos from Pressley's recent photo shoot. Yes- I am still playing with those. What can I say... it was a fun shoot. And she is just so photogenic that I can use her for almost anything :)! I created every bit of this in Photoshop. Feedback is appreciated. 

Playing with HDR

This past weekend I was on a Senior Photo Shoot and got some really great shots. I usually don't do a lot of portraits in HDR because I feel that it makes the faces look funny. Tonight I decided to play around anyway and see what I got.

First up is Pressley and her Jeep Liberty. This one looks kind of like a painting.
 

 The second one is Pressley and Kyle. I have never done a Black and White HDR Photo before. I am in love with the way that it turned out.

USS CLAMAGORE

These photos were taken from the USS Clamagore at Patriots Point near Charleston, South Carolina.

There were lots of Seagulls hanging around that day. I decided to take their photo too :)

The photos below were taken on top of the Submarine. You can't walk on top of the USS Clamagore, but there is a dock that gets you close.

You can go down inside and take a walk through the USS Clamagore. It only takes a few minutes to go through it, and it is very narrow, but there are a lot of nifty things inside!!

Below are a few more photos of the outside. To my understanding, the submarine was added in 1981. That seems like a very long time to be hanging out in the water.

Folly Beach

Below you will find two photos that were taken from the Folly Beach Pier

Dreaming Big!

We found our dream house.....

You are all probably tired of seeing all of my beach posts, but it was truly a beautiful place. I have so many more to go through. The above photo was taken on Isle of Palms. There was a small area where people were fishing right as you get to Isle of Palms. We decided to go down and explore the area. This is another one of those areas that has no swimming signs posted everywhere.The current is too rough. While out exploring, we noticed this house right on the point. Absolutely adorable...   

And it has been decided.... When we win the lottery, we are going to buy it :)

We would have to actually buy a lottery ticket first- but hey... its a great thought, huh?

Some Beach.......Somewhere

Working on more photos tonight from the beach trip to South Carolina. While down in Sullivan's Island, we discovered a little island near Folly Beach. We had heard a rumor that there was another lighthouse over that way, so Eric took us to go find it, Above,you will see a photo of a concrete weight of some sort that was on the edge of the beach. I thought that this photo turned out great!

The two photos above were taken on the pathway to the small island

The two photos above, as well as the one below were taken on the beach itself. This was a very private beach. We only saw 2 other small groups while we were there. You cant swim on this beach due to currents...

More from the beach.....

And finally........

This is the Morris Island Lighthouse. This is the lighthouse that we went looking for. BEAUTIFUL!!

Panoramic Beach

Folly Beach, South Carolina

Tonight I am playing with 5 separate images that were taken on Folly Beach, with the intention of creating a  panoramic photo. These shots were all taken hand held. I haven't done any panoramic playing in YEARS! Used Photoshop CC on this one. Not too bad in my opinion, but I am curious to hear what you think!! Feel free to click on the image to be able to see it better :)

Learning All Over Again...

I have been using the same trusty ol' Dell computer for about 6 or 7 years now. Its had a rough life... The battery stopped holding a charge, and the only way to use it was to be plugged into the wall. Not long after, my old version of Photoshop stopped running. I was still using Photoshop CS4 folks. Very outdated, I know. But if it works... why fix it. Right?

I finally broke down and got a new computer over the weekend. I'm not too sure if I will EVER get used to this Windows 8.1, but I have no choice but to try. All of my photo editing software was very outdated, and wouldn't transfer to the new computer. I finally had to upgrade from Photoshop CS4 to this new Photoshop CC. And the Photomatix that I was using, was still version 3.  We are now on 5..... I have no good excuses to give for never upgrading. I was just really good with what I had, so I never saw the need.

                          

Once I was able to install all of the new versions of my editing software on my new computer, I decided to play with a few photos. Above is a Horseshoe Crab that we saw on the beach during our recent visit to Sullivan's Island. 

Below you will see a beautiful late morning shot of the beach itself. 

These are two different shots of the Lighthouse on Sullivan's Island. I have never had the opportunity of seeing a lighthouse in person before this trip. The first shot was taken at sunset, and I was up next to the lighthouse. The second shot was taken early in the morning from the beach.

Lake James

While i was at Eric's family reunion, I found a few other great photo opportunities at the lake. These two of the lake itself were taken from the picnic area

 This photo of the bridge was taken as you come into the Lake James State Park area. 

The rest of these photos were taken while just walking around the area...