Table Rock Engagement Photos | Jillian and Vincenzo

Vincenzo left Italy to come work at his uncle’s restaurant in Greenville.  That’s where he first met Jillian!  After they’d been dating a while, they visited Pretty Place Chapel, where Vincenzo proposed.  Even though he was so nervous that he opened the ring box upside down, Jillian said yes! 

Jillian saw my photos in a South Carolina hiking group on Facebook and reached out to me about her engagement photos. I saw she was also a Clemson alumna, so that’s always exciting! She told me she wanted her engagement photos to be in the mountains. I was so excited that someone around here was as excited about pictures in the mountains as I am! We discussed possible places, but we had to hold off on choosing a location and setting a date since a lot of places were closed with the stay-at-home order. We talked about going to the Blue Ridge Parkway, but it would be hard to know what was open until we got there.  When the state parks opened back up, we decided to go to Table Rock on a Thursday to avoid the park reaching capacity.

I think there were more geese than people on the day we had our session!  We also found some ducks, a large snake, and the biggest snail I’ve ever seen.  Even though we couldn’t do the session in the spring, we still got cool weather for June!  The three of us took a trail where we found a few pretty waterfalls. We had so much fun talking about Italy, South Carolina, the mountains, and their wedding plans!  As the sun started to go down, we went towards the lodge, where there was a beautiful view of Table Rock right next to Pinnacle Lake.  The water even glowed orange from the colors in the sky!

Check out my photos of this awesome couple in one of my favorite places in the whole state! 

Looking for a wedding photographer who supports your non-traditional ideas? Click here to read more about me and what I do, and click here to get in touch!

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Clemson Graduation Photos | Class of 2020

I’ve had lots of graduation sessions at Clemson in the last few years, but the class of 2020 will forever stand out to me. My first 2020 graduate was moved earlier to avoid having to cancel later, and the next two were pushed back indefinitely. Since they didn’t have a graduation ceremony, this session in their graduation regalia is extra special for them. This post will be updated throughout 2020 as more seniors come back to the place they called home for the past few years.

Caroline

Caroline’s session was in March, on an empty campus with the first few spring trees. Within a few days, campus closed to the public. She celebrated graduation at home with her family. She graduated with a degree in marketing. Don’t you love her tiger earrings and her tiger outfit?

Anna Kate

We planned for a session for when the tree blooms were at their peak, but the world had other plans. We ended up getting some beautiful weather for her session in June! The garden in front of Tillman had the purple and orange plants that they usually have in the summer, which added some school spirit to her photos. Anna Kate’s parents were there, since she didn’t have a graduation ceremony for them to attend. Her dad, who also graduated from the school of business, turned her ring during our session.

Jacky

Jacky and her family were in town for the weekend in November for her graduation, which was postponed from May. That means she got much nicer weather, her diploma frame, and the last of this year’s foliage!

Ready for your own Clemson portraits?

Check out some of my options for portraits here and then send me a message to tell me what you have in mind so far!

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Thinking about having photos done at Clemson? Read more about me and what I offer, then send me a message with what you have in mind so far!

Photos with your Dog

The idea for this blog post may or may not have come from wanting to blog the first photos I took of Athena. Although I worked in a kennel in college and I’ve had plenty of people bring dogs to their sessions, I don’t have any experience in actual pet photography, so taking pictures of Athena was a new challenge for me. If you want to include your dog in your photos, here are a few tips!

Have realistic expectations. Most of the pictures will either have your dog sitting, standing, or walking. The pictures you saw on Pinterest where the dog is posing with your or holding a sign might not be feasible for a puppy or for an easily excited dog.

These photos were taken when Athena was 8 weeks old and we’d only had her for a few days. She was really excited to be out in an open area, and I was lucky to even have a few pictures of her sitting still.

Bring a helper. There will be photos that don’t include your dog, and there aren’t always places in sight to tie a leash. Your dog might not want to stick around the entire time either, so your helper can take the dog home. 

Keep the dog on the leash. This might even be a rule for certain locations. Having your dog on a leash minimizes the chance of running into a dangerous situation or an unpleasant encounter with another human or animal in the area. I know Athena isn’t on a leash in some of these photos—there was absolutely nobody around and we were far away from the woods or the road, so she couldn’t run anywhere unsafe before we could catch her.

Choose a time and place where you would be unlikely to encounter other people or animals. For example, a session at Clemson on a weekday in June would be safer than the Friday before the homecoming game. This ties back into #3: the dog is less likely to be distracted or have an unpleasant interaction with someone. Even if your dog is friendly, whoever your dog approaches might not be. 

Bring doggy bags. Nothing ruins the moment like realizing what you just stepped in. It’s something Athena likes to eat right now, which means I have to get it out of her mouth with my hands, and it drives me crazy! As new puppy owners, we’re also learning about how not picking up after your dog can spread all kinds of awful things to other animals. Keep the ground clean for us and for whoever comes through afterward. 

Bring water. Athena is really good about drinking water, but if she can’t get to her bowl, she gets squirmy and whiny. Keep your dog comfortable! 

Check yourselves and your dog for ticks afterwards. A tip I learned from the kennel is to keep a Dixie cup of rubbing alcohol next to you and drop the ticks into it as you pull them off. Otherwise, they could run away and you risk having them come back to you. 

Dogs, as well as any animal who’s close to your heart, are always welcome as long as they’re supervised and they won’t harm anyone or anything. I’ve had one session with a chicken and one with a snake, and I’m up for pretty much anything else! Click here to contact me about setting up a session!

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Vintage Portraits with Lauren at Furman

Who else loves all things vintage?  I love the clothes, the music, the hair and makeup, the movies, and any combination of them all.  I chose my wedding dress because it reminded me of Grace Kelly’s dress in Rear Window, and I used a picture of Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina for my makeup.  Lauren posted on Instagram about how much she loves Old Hollywood, and I don’t know a lot of people who are as enthusiastic about that as I am. She specifically mentioned Singin’ in the Rain, which happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time. We just had to pick the perfect vintage outfits and go hang on lamp posts like Gene Kelly. I love spinny dresses and black and white, but Lauren paired it with yellow pumps and a dark pink scarf (which we almost forgot to use).

We set a date to go to Furman and it happened to have cooled off quite a bit after a long stretch of unbearable heat. Lauren had never been to Furman’s campus before, but I had shot there a few times and knew it had so many beautiful spots to offer. From the fountains to the lake to the gazebo in the rose garden, it did not disappoint. The sun gave the prettiest glow in all the right places too!

At the last minute, I thought it would be cool to bring my grandpa’s camera. It would just be a prop because I don’t have the right film for it right now, but looking through it makes everything look like old film photos. I looked up his cameras that I had to figure out which one would have been around in the 50s. I found out that this one happens to be the same model that Colin Creevey has in Harry Potter! 

We had so much fun with these photos and we hope you love them too!  Check out Lauren’s photography and art at Art à la Lauren.  Also, if you’re interested in dressing up like Old Hollywood stars and taking pictures, I’m so down, so let’s set a date.

Want photos like these?