Tag Archives: family

HDR of a wedding ceremony on the compass pad at the Marina Inn - Grande Dunes

Wedding of mother with four fun kids at the Marina Inn with reception at Joe’s Crab Shack


April 24th, 2013

This was a really fun recent wedding at the Grande Dunes Marina Inn with a reception after at the Joe’s Crab Shack at Broadway at the Beach. I didn’t really ask, but I would imagine this was a second wedding for both the bride and groom. Those are always fun, because when it’s the second time it’s usually more about just having fun with the family.  Especially when they have great kids with good personalities.  Instead of my most important pictures being about the couple, it’s usually more about the family and having fun with the kids.

I’ve actually never been to Joe’s Crab Shack before, the couple said they just loved the food there and that is why they picked it for the reception. When they brought out the appetizers I actually thought it was the full meal. You know the food must be good when everyone has to wear a bib. It seemed like everyone was having a great time.

There is a shot below with the couple kissing with the kids being silly in the background, it’s probably one of my most popular pictures I’ve put on Facebook. There was some really strong overhead sun during the ceremony, I’ve gotten pretty good now about dealing with that, but it’s never ideal. I took the couple out around sunset time at Broadway to do a few more pictures which turned out nice.  I hope you enjoy these below, please comment if you do!

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Fun large family with colorful outfits doing portraits at the Myrtle Beach State Park


April 16th, 2013

I keep having some really great families for pictures recently. It’s so nice when everyone in the family is in a really good mood and ready to have fun with the pictures. The family I’m highlighting here was a larger size group I took to the Myrtle Beach State Park.  When I’m photographing a large group I usually don’t go to the oak trees, but just take them down to a more secluded area of the park on the far side of the pier.

This was a really cloudy, not very nice looking evening. When the sky is overcast like this you do get a really clean, less harsh lighting on the pictures. You will notice there are no harsh shadows and issues you might get with a clear sky.  Of course, that is why I like to go near sunset, so I can get better control over the shadows when the sky is clear.  Sometimes I have clients worry their pictures aren’t going to look good if the sky is overcast. But that isn’t true at all, you just get a different look.  I would say it’s more like what you get in a studio with softboxes and more controlled lighting. I hope you enjoy the pictures, please comment below if you do!

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Family portraits – three boys and a little sister at the Myrtle Beach State Park


April 5th, 2013

I realized I needed to blog about some family pictures, I really don’t do it often enough. I’ve had a number of really cute families recently, and before things start getting really busy I wanted to highlight a recent one. This was a family with three sons and a little girl that I took pictures of on a cold afternoon at the Myrtle Beach State Park.  Whenever I hear it’s going to be a bunch of boys I worry a bit, sometimes guys can be hard to work with. But if everyone stays in a good mood, and tries to have fun and make the best of it, the pictures always turn out nice. I thought this was a really cute and happy family, I hope you enjoy the pictures below.

Sisters walking together in beautiful sunset

Fall family pictures in North Myrtle Beach and the State Park


January 18th, 2013

During the summer when I’m doing lots of family pictures I don’t have time to blog about them, most of my posts are about weddings and the occasional engagement session. But since it’s my slow time now I thought I would put up a post about a couple of recent family sessions.

The first was a family session I did up in the Cherry Grove area of North Myrtle Beach. They had the idea to bring out a bench which made for some cute shots. It wasn’t the greatest weather that day, but the happy family made the pictures work great anyway. It’s nice when brothers and sisters of that age will have fun with the pictures and not just act like their parents are forcing them. I do my best to make the pictures relaxed and easy, but if everyone in a family can just be positive it sure makes my job easier.

The second session was a cute large family I photographed at the Myrtle Beach State Park. We actually got about a 20 minute late start from when I wanted to begin, so I was in my rapid fire wedding mode where I’m shooting as fast as I can. But we pretty much got everything we needed, and it worked out so some of the last pictures were right at an amazing sunset. It was cold that evening, but this time of the year also brings really beautiful sunsets, you just don’t get anything that looks quite like this in the summer. Let me know if you enjoy the pictures below, getting likes or comments really makes it easier to go through the work of posting.