RENATE & BRAIN

Married on June 5th! (wow, it’s been that long… eeekk!)

If you don’t remember Renate and Brian, check out their engagement photos… they were awesome! Despite the rain… We made it happen! AND, not to forget her bridals!! Sigh. Love, love, love them! She is the reason I can’t stand bridals! They turn out so great… yet ‘you’ cannot post them until AFTER the wedding! Ugh… the beauty of secrets right?

Renate and Brian’s wedding day started out with no parking at the hotel, wind that made your hair a whirlwind and humidity that that made you question if it was sweat or not. Ahem, It was a wonderful day to get married… ON THE BEACH! But let me just say… Renate and Brain… YOU ROCKED IT!  They were amazing. And let me drag them EVERYWHERE to get that extra shot… or as I call it, the ‘One more’ shot!

Take a look at their wedding photos. Let us know what you think!

Lets rewind, to 2007, The Day I met Tomme for the first time:  I had emailed Tomme in August of 2007 to shoot my wedding. We made a ‘date’ to meet at Starbucks that September — her signature meeting spot — still hasnt changed. I booked her and did my engagements that November. And it was love at first sight… of my first session, that is! Wink.

For those of you who has never met Tomme, she is one of those people that makes you feel all special and warm and fuzzy. She assures you that her product is the best — which, lets face it — it is!! Insert the fireworks — sparkle sparkle — our personalities meshed! Like an old movie romance. Pshh, who am I kidding. We had discussed work, swapped work and discussed work some more. We decided we liked working with each other. AND it just so happened to be that she was in need of an assistant! So, I asked for the position. Luckily, I was considered! Whoop Whoop.

A year ago this time, we met to stuff our faces in sushi at Wasabi — ahem, I mean — discuss job duties.  She gave me the ‘low down’ on what she was to expect out of me, told me more about her Gallery and what she aspires to be in the future. On my way home from meeting with her, I ended up with a flat tire. Great. Thinking to myself… is this the right decision? Is this a sign? Should I take the ‘position’? What will I gain? etc. All these questions began to run thru my head… all because a flat tire was a sign!? Ugh. BUT, luckily, I did not let the tire sway my decision. I signed the contract and sent it back to her with all smiles. And, since that day… I have loved every minute of it.  Never regretting my decision.
Tomme develops friendships with her clients that last. Our three year relationship has made us great friends and co-workers. I have thourghly enjoyed working for and with her. Tomme has taught me so much as a professional and as a friend. I would not trade my time with her or my learning experiences.

I love you TomTom! Thank you for hiring me on as a part of  your Gallery. I appreciate the time and effort you have put into teaching me become a better assistant to you. Cannot wait to see what we have instore for another year!

Smoooooooch.

xo,

erica

SO, sit back and enjoy the ride! We have lots of things coming to you in the next couple of weeks — from weddings to baby bumps to babies… sigh. The circle of life!

Tonight, I shall blog about my experience with my recent baby affairs. They were a while back, BUT I never got the chance to blog about them on here! So, catch up step one: START.

First: Master Griffin

Mr. Precious Griffin was SUCH a trooper… from the carpet to Mama and Daddy’s arms to kitchen bowls to snuggle time to pianos and fire pits… I think we maxed out on our limit! Griffin was a little over a week old when his mama and daddy decided to do his photo shoot! And lets just say… AMAZING! Griffin was a GREAT baby during his shoot. As we all came to notice, He can just about sleep ANYWHERE!

Last: Miss Lilly (starting with the glass sink bowl)

Baby Lilly was two weeks old and a tiny lil’ thing too! She was only a little over 6lbs. That’s right. Two weeks and 6+lbs! Can you believe it! Sigh. A tiny bundle of joy that did not want to give up her paci! AND her house was just amazing! I could spend days taking photos of Baby Lilly! I sure do hope I get the privilege of taking her 3 month photos! I did get the privilege of designing her baby announcements.

If you are interested in Tomme or I taking photos of your ‘wee wittle won’ — let us know. We would love to be an addition to your new addition! ha. Just email us at gallery.tommehilton@gmail.com

*Please stay tuned as we blog about our recent JUNE wedding extravaganza’s and post our {GUEST BLOGS}

Till next time,

erica.

…

But I’m facing dilemmas I want to try to change. I feel myself most drawn to the personal blogs where the writers speak candidly and freely about their lives.  So in the same ways those writers are able to pull me into their world and embody me with interest – I want to allow myself to be more personalized, which is hard for me. I’ve had to be the strong, silent stable figure for much of my life but this is something that needs to change. I just visited a shaman, of sorts who told me I needed to live an authentic life and this is where I intend to start. Letting some of my fearful walls down. Boy, aren’t you in for a treat?

These writers I love -their words flow freely without fear – for they are who they are, they know themselves — never flinching in the shadows.  They make no excuses – I find that is so refreshing in a world saturated with political correctness and those whom find power sitting behind their computers.  One of the biggest inspirations was a friend I had met on Flickr, Jessica Weiser (http://www.fideliophotography.com/). She used to post these really amazing photographs and then have amazing stories to coincide with them. Which for me, not being as great with the word ADORED the fact that she felt so at ease to write about her life and her hardships throughout her life. I instantly liked and connected with her.  I don’t even think I’ve ever even told her that, but this is a great example in life that you may not ever have any idea that you have an impact on someone – when in all actuality you do. Do you know that person who has inspired you or gave you insight? Do you have that person or one of many people that have shaped you or continue to mold you?  I have many people but Jessica is certainly one of them.  Which this in turn leads me to Ashley.

I will be shooting a wedding with an upcoming photographer, who had some really amazing friends that thought *SO* highly of her – they bought her ME. Ok, let me back that up a bit – that sounds ODD… Ashley loves photography and her friends love HER so much, they wanted to push her and have her learn. She was turned onto my work through a friend of a friend kind of thing and I think she found an affinity and kinship  in my work. They wrote me and hired me to mentor Ashley. When I first met Ashley, we spoke briefly at LaHacienda over a couple margaritas (I instantly liked a fellow margarita lover) and I decided that instead of being much of an instructor in life. I’m a do-er.  I tend to be the verb instead of the noun. So she had her own wedding coming up to shoot. Tomorrow actually that I will be helping with.

It’s always fun to second shoot a wedding and get to tap into your creative self when you find yourself getting stale. I try to get as creative as possible in most situations, but when you get 15 minutes to do photos at a wedding,  you end up pulling out the traditional gotta- haves. That’s not inspiring, but actually stifling to a creative mind wanting to expand and <CREATE>.  So while second shooting, you get to do NOTHING but be CREATIVE. AAaaaah, music to my ears. I do tend to get many brides that will factor in lots of photo time, but there are some weddings that photos get rushed and it makes a world of difference. I will be posting some of these wedding images on here soon.

In trying to figure out what images to blog, I thought I might choose the prom images I did recently. They are fun, and fresh and youthful and it’s that season so here is Vince and Ally’s prom shoot.

In my efforts of tearing down the walls that defined me, I hope not to bore you to tears about my uneventful life. I am pretty sure I had such a traumatic childhood that God & the Angels decided my adulthood should be very mundane. And depending on who you are, maybe it is and maybe it isn’t.

Enjoy! I think my A.D.D. is kicking up — Oh look, something shiny…

XO

It was a really icky day here in Charleston and luckily everyone else thought so too. We basically had the USS Yorktown to ourselves to complete the feel for the shoot.

Next time your couple session seems humdrum or if your fiancee is dreading it, let him have fun planning the shoot to his liking. This will get him involved and actually look forward to it.

Until next time. XO

We’ll see more of Melissa and Davey in October for the BIG DAY!

Our big day took place at The Woodlands. The coordinator, Dale Wherry made sure the day went as planned. It was a GORGEOUS day out. These girls with these Spring weddings have really lucked out with this amazing weather.

I just love clicking with clients right off the bat. Lindsey is the sweetest, kindest and most gracious person you could ever meet. I’m lucky to have met her and Daniel and hopefully you will get to see their story and family unfold before our eyes.

There was not a single dry eye in the house when her and her pops had their first dance. HOLY MOLY! I need dry eyes to see through my viewfinder in the camera and that was not an easy task for any of us.

Daniel happens to be a Carolina fan and Lindsey, on the other hand – Clemson. I love when he found out she had the Clemson garter. His face is pretty priceless.

Enjoy! Until next time. xo

Well, As all weddings tend to never really go as quite as planned, enter Candice and Erich who were to originally nab their nuptials in April. But, Erich, who was working in Cuba got detained and Castro declared… ‘Wedding or not! You’re staying!’ Dictatorship. Get it? ((fizzle!?))

Entering the world of ‘Beebee’ photography is quite the challenge. Not because of the other photographers out there… but because of the skill it involves, PATIENCE. Yes, many believe patience would come with the job. But dealing with adults versus a baby is different. Adults you can communicate verbally what you want them to do (not that they all listen)… but, BeeBees… well, you just have to wait, hope and pray they will work with you… and when you place them into the position you want… they might stay… or they might not. But, all ‘you’ as a photographer can do is wait. And try to make the family as comfortable as possible. Because, the more comfortable the mom is… the easier she can calm the baby. AND that is what you want and need to get great photos!

{Master Jonah experience}

We shot baby Jonah when he was 2 weeks old.  Now most 2 week old baby’s sleep A LOT. Ahem, not Jonah. Jonah apparently started that very day we shot him… with Colic. Yes, Colic. If you dont know what colic is… basically, THEY CRY A LOT! And nothing you can do will calm them… well, hardly nothing. And Poor thing, he was not happy with us. BUT, when his mom got him calmed down… these are the shots we took:

Overall, I think Master Jonah’s photos turned out well (esp. for the crying we went through!) Laugh.

Oh, Beebees. Got to love them!

Until Next time!

tomme and erica