Jordan is my niece and I love her dearly.  She has the best imagination of any child I have ever been around.  The stories she tells can be outlandish but almost believable at times because she has so much conviction when telling them.  When it came time for her 5th birthday my sister asked me to do a photo shoot for her.  Well knowing in advance how imaginative she is I told my sister lets let her dress up and live out a fairy tale.

She has always loved being a princess and loves princess and fairy stories so it was logical to dress her up like one and make it magical. What she didn’t know is that I planned on editing one with a few animal friends and surprising her with it.   My sister called and said she talked about it all night before bed when she showed it to her. Of course she had a story to tell about it.  Telling her mom that the animals must have came by when she was singing because they loved it.   She then asked why was it that she didn’t notice them at the time.

Fairy Princess

Another photo I wanted to do was with some fairy dust.  Jordan had so much fun blowing the dust towards my camera.  All the while being nervous about falling back off the small retaining wall we sat her on.

Fairy Dust

I saw previously the kids had a cool teepee in their playroom, and I had the idea of taking that teepee into the woods behind their house and creating a pocahontus scene.  The part that I didn’t expect is how she started posing without direction. She is a model in waiting for sure.

Little Pocahontas

building a fire

Such as fun day with my niece getting to shoot something thats fun for her, and makes her happy. We created a book for her so she can always pull it off the shelf and remember the fun we had on that chilly day.   After the staged shots were done she wanted to play and that is always some of my favorites as thats when you catch a child in pure innocent enjoyment.

Swing Set

Dancing Fairy

Until next time Jordan. Keep telling those great stories, dancing, singing, and being the sweet girl you are.

So you have taken years and years of  photos from your cellphone or other camera of trips, birthdays, precious kids growing up, vacations, etc. but what do you do with your digital photos.  They are all special moments in life you don’t want to forget.  But what happens to those photos?  Perhaps they are either saved on your computer’s hard drive, a thumb drive, an SD Card, or maybe even a portable hard drive.  I am sure, many of them you have uploaded to Facebook or Google+,  so at least some are in the cloud safe you hope.   But how often do you go back to look at those photos or share them with friends and family after the initial share.

Family Vacation Photo

One thing I noticed recently is when I visited my Grandmother at Christmas is how every year the family reaches for this photo book that resides on the coffee table.  They all get together on the couch and go through the old photos of their parents childhoods in amazement of the photos laughing, and in amazement of all of the old cars, the old Charles Chip potato chip container, and the wonderful hairdo’s of the past.  It happens every year!  Today most of us do not print our photos like we used to.

Digital finally replaced film around the mid 90’s  but before then photos had to be processed/printed to be seen, and now with digital we have instant gratification.   Thats great but the issue I see with that instant gratification is that  the majority of photos taken today are not printed, and or rarely viewed more than a few times.   Sure we can share them on social media platforms to share with family and friends but how often are they truly viewed again other than that first share? How many families are sitting around a computer screen, or ipad every holiday reflecting on the past , or even with the advent of smart and connectible tv’s are even sitting in their living room viewing them on the TV?  I suspect very few families are.   But, place a printed a family album  on the coffee table and sit back and watch the magic.   Families get closer to view the album, they laugh, they ahhhh, it’s really a special moment.

One last item to consider is what happens when your digital storage medium fails? It’s not if it fails it is when it fails.  trust me I have had drives fail, I have seen it at home and work, and guess what normally its at the worst time, and most of the time you can not recover all of your data.   A recent study was done by a company  Backblaze that studied hard drive failures and determined that 11.8% of all hard drives will fail within 4 years. and 5.1% fail within 1 year.

BackBlaze Hard Drive Failure Report Chart

I have redundancy on my hard drives because I am in the photo business but many households do not.   Once it happens you will wish you would have printed those photos.  I often hear by those that this has happened to always say ” I meant to get them printed one day”.  How about make that day today! Don’t let your memories fade into the digital abyss.  Consider creating memories that last and bring families together.

Hard Cover Photo book

Peachtree offers printed hard cover title engraved lay flat photo books for as low as $35.00 of special moments in time for your family to enjoy for years to come. Even if you need help creating your album with your photos give me a call 803-517-6639 or use the contact me link to email me.

I had the chance to test my recent back surgery take some photos near Christmas at the 2014 York Christmas parade.  I love the atmosphere of a southern downtown with it’s nostalgic small town charm.

Parade Start

I feel York’s downtown is just gorgeous and decided to capture some moments in  black and white as I felt it fit he atmosphere.

Parade atmosphere

The weather was great and with the sun setting behind the buildings was fading fast which I knew it would be difficult to capture without a flash later during the parade.   It was a great evening and really showed the Christmas spirit of downtown York.

Little Parade Queen

ROTC at York Parade

York Band at Parade

Recently had a trip to Daytona Florida and was able to take some photos for my sister and her family for her vow renewals.  It was a wonderful trip and allowed me to get some great photos of the her family, the beach, sunrises, and local hangouts.  I enjoyed getting up early to catch the sunrises every morning.  It is amazing to see God’s glory over the ocean as every sunrise is different, and provides interesting views of the sun coming up over the horizon.

In the afternoons after playing in the pool with my nephew I enjoyed capturing the pelicans as they  flew by our 17th story balcony.  It was fun watching catching their shadows first and then locating the majestic birds in flight.

Pelicans Flying by Daytona Beach Florida

The evenings were special as they brought out the beautiful lights in the town, especially around the docks.  Night photography can be so beautiful especially on the water.

Daytona Beach Pier at River Grille

Daytona Beach Docks at night

The wedding vow photos were fun however challenging with a 2 year old and 4 year old who just want to play.   We managed to get some good action shots though as sitting still managed to be a tough sell.

Kids playing Daytona Beach

Daytona Beach Vow Renawal

Daytona Beach Family

The trip was wonderful and if you ever get a chance to visit Daytona Beach Florida I believe you will love it.