One late afternoon in January, my friend and I decided to take a trip to an old Southern plantation called Redcliffe Plantation located in Beech Island, S.C. It was a beautiful winter day in January. It is a very historic site, completed in 1859. It was once the home of James Henry Hammond and three generations of his descendants as well as numerous enslaved African-American families. Since it was winter this gorgeous oak tree was bare, but due to the lateness of the day, the sun was beginning to go down and the deep shadows of the branches extended across the grass. The white family mansion can be seen overlooking the enslaved quarters. This was a Southern plantation, after all, and there were slaves. Rays of sunlight filtered through the tree branches creating a magical look.
Family Photo Shoot
I went to Brick Pond Park, in North Augusta, to do a photo shoot of a lovely family. I used my AD200 strobe and Flashpoint R2 Transmitter. This family consisted of 4 children, ages 14, 7, 4, and under one year. It was a bit challenging due to the sun still being high in the sky and bright, even at 4 pm. This was still daylight savings time. Luckily, the baby was good most of the time and that helped. We stopped at about 5:30 because the children were tired, had to use the bathroom, and were pretty much done. But I got many great shots along the way. It was a good experience.
Eclipse 2017
I went to South Carolina to see the total eclipse of the sun on August 21, 2017. It was an amazing experience to try to photograph this event. It was not easy and I struggled with finding the sun, with my special glasses and filter on my camera. I had to use the Live View feature on the camera because I could not look through the viewfinder. It was challenging and I didn’t think to remove the filter to capture the totality–it is very dark so I did not need the filter. As a result, I didn’t get that picture–disappointing. However, I did get some and the weather really cooperated that day, although clouds were predicted. Just before the eclipse the sky cleared out. During totality, everything went dark and the crickets started chirping, so weird. I was with very lovely people to make the day one to never forget.