Chris Isham Photography Blog | Wedding Fashion Beauty Lifestyle | Greenville, SC | Atlanta, GA | Charleston, SC | Destination Wedding

engagement: caleigh + jason | north carolina wedding photographer

chris — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:25:52 +0000

I’m so honored for the opportunity to shoot Caleigh + Jason’s wedding this April! Jason has been a good friend of mine for a little while now, and within about 30 seconds of meeting Caleigh, there’s no way she couldn’t have become the same. I just love that feeling of knowing someone for a long time after only spending a couple hours with them. A couple weeks ago, we spent an afternoon up at Camp Greystone just over the state line in North Carolina, and I couldn’t have had more fun with them. Jason chose this location, and I loved it! Such a gorgeous, quiet site tucked away in the foothills of NC. I love when clients choose their location because it’s usually special to them for one reason or another, and it almost guarantees the images will be genuine and beautiful. They are an amazing couple, and I hope you enjoy a few images from their shoot!

I thought I’d end this post with a few frames of film from my Contax, which I’m falling deeply in love with.

miss south carolina usa 2012

chris — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:04:35 +0000

Talk about ending the year with a bang. Last November, my good friend Erika (who has been featured on my blog many times before) won the Miss South Carolina USA pageant, and I couldn’t be more excited for her. Shortly after, she sent me a text saying that her pageant management team wanted me to shoot her official crown/publicity photos that would go on her promo pieces and anything else pageant related. We got a few things together and were shooting a week or so later. I’m thrilled with what we got!

These last three are the images chosen by the Miss SC USA pageant organization for Erika’s promo pieces that should be floating around the state very soon!

Erika will be competing in the national Miss USA 2012 pageant in Las Vegas this coming summer, and I can’t wait to see where this journey takes her! Follow her personally on Twitter here, or her official Miss SC USA Twitter account here.

instagram-ing

chris — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:34:53 +0000

Happy Wednesday everyone! I thought it was time for another installment of Instagram images here on the blog, so here we are. I’m really loving shooting with my iPhone because for one, it’s always with me. But really though, I like figuring out its limitations (fixed lens, no shutter speed control, etc.) and either working within them, or finding ways to break them. Anyways, I hope you enjoy! And if you’re on Instagram, I’d love to connect with you there – my username is “chrisisham”. Hope you’re having an awesome week!

first roll

chris — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:34:06 +0000

I’m a really impatient person, sometimes to a fault. For example, when I buy something online and it comes with the option to track your shipment, you can just about guarantee that I’ll click on that deliciously attractive tracking link at least 3-5 times – per day – until it arrives. Seriously, is knowing the departure & arrival times at the various UPS hubs along the delivery route doing anything at all?? It’s bad I know. But they say the first step to overcoming something is to just admit it, right? Well, I just recently had a business edition of Merry-Christmas-to-me and added a Contax 645 to my camera setup. And as stated, I was checking the shipment tracking multiple times a day until it showed up at the studio. I couldn’t wait to tear the box open and shoot. The only problem with it arriving was that I had no film to put in it yet because the camera and film shipped separately with different arrival times. #Fail. Talk about adding fuel to that fire of impatience by having a new camera and no way to shoot it!

Eventually the stars aligned and I got a few minutes to put a test roll through it this past week with Christine. And much to your surprise I’m sure, I had it processed locally that same afternoon because I just didn’t want to wait on getting this first roll back. I’m really excited about how these came out, and I’m definitely looking forward to shooting this camera a lot more. Hope you enjoy!

engagement: winnie + greg

chris — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:59:12 +0000

I had such a great time getting to know Winnie + Greg during their engagement session last week. We found a day to shoot before Winnie heads back out to Texas A&M from Christmas break to finish up her chemical engineering degree. I’m so not jealous of her! Enjoy a few of my favorites from their shoot!

2011 wedding highlights – portrait edition

chris — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:02:01 +0000

I can’t believe that 2012 is almost here. Brand new concept for you, I know. But seriously, wasn’t 2011 just beginning?? With that in mind, I thought I’d revisit a few portraits from some of my 2011 weddings. My clients are such incredible blessings to me, and I’m so thankful for them all. God has blessed me over and over this past year, and I know He has even greater things in store for next year – so let’s go 2012!

To my 2011 wedding clients, and everyone else I’ve had the opportunity to work with this year – You are such amazing people that I’m so blessed to call friends. You have trusted me with your wedding days, engagements, bridals, and so much more. For that I’m humbled, grateful, and extremely honored. I pray that God would bless 2012 for you in ways you can’t even imagine. And of course, I hope I get to see each of you sometime soon – especially those of you from far far away!

Apps, apps, & more apps.

chris — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:21:23 +0000

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and got to enjoy time with family & friends over the last few days! Some of you may have found a brand new iPad or iPhone under the tree (woohoo!). If you did (or even if you didn’t and already have one of these awesome pieces of magical hardware), you might be wondering what apps to download first. I’ve been asked about good iOS apps a few times recently, so I thought I’d share some of my favorites I use in my work, as well as a few for play. Also, I’m always looking for new apps and I’d love to hear what your favorites are! What are you using to make life easier and better? Leave a comment at the bottom with your favorite app & why, and there just might be a little belated Christmas gift from St. Arbucks in store for you if your app changes my world! Here we go…

iPad:

1 – Evernote. This is hands down the best app for jotting down new shoot ideas, workshop notes, client info, or just about anything else. Evernote is cloud-based so all your information is accessible from any internet-enabled device. As soon as you add/update a note from one device, the change is synced to your account and updated accordingly on all your devices. They have apps for iPad, iPhone, Android, Mac, PC, as well as Evernote.com. – Price: $FREE.

2 – Dropbox. Again, another cloud-based app. Dropbox is amazing for keeping files, documents, photos, or anything else stored and accessible from any device with Dropbox. Also, your account has a public folder that is awesome for sending files too big for email. Anything put in this folder gets assigned a download link that you just copy & paste in an email, iChat message, Facebook message, or anything other text-style message for your recipient to simply click on to download the file. You can also create shared folders with any other Dropbox user to share file access for super easy collaboration. Also available for iPhone. - Price: $FREE

3 – Easy Release. ER is a great app for iPad/iPhone that creates legal model releases for any shoot or project where a release is necessary. Just plug in your model/client’s info and all the legalese is added for you. Have your model sign right on the screen & it’s ready to email to you, them, or whoever! Also available for iPhone. - Price: $9.99

4 – Square. Square is a mobile payment app that I use for taking credit card payments right on my iPad or iPhone (also available for Android). Sign up for a free account on Square.com, and they send you a free card reader that plugs right into the 1/8″ headphone jack on your device! There is no monthly merchant fee & you don’t pay for a subscription of any kind. The only fees are a small percentage per transaction, which is great because you only pay a fee when a transaction is made. Also available for iPhone. - Price: $FREE

5 – PDF Expert. If you’re looking for a do-it-all PDF app, this is the one. There are several apps out there for reading/viewing PDF’s, but this one also allows for completing PDF forms. This app allows me to run an entire client meeting from my iPad, including completing the contracts. I can open any of my PDF contracts with Adobe Acrobat Pro on my computer, create the necessary form fields, and then open it in PDF Expert via Dropbox on my iPad – all ready to complete, sign, and email out! Also available for iPhone. - Price: $9.99

6 – Photos. Yes, I’m talking about the default photo viewing app, and yes, I know this one already comes on the iPad. However, I tried out a few photo portfolio apps at first to show images, and I just kept coming back to this one. The clean look, simplicity, and ability to zoom into an image quickly & easily just kept winning out over the others I tried. – Price: $FREE

7 – AppShopper. Sometimes there’s an awesome app out there that you’d love to have, but it’s a little more money than you’d like to shell out. This is where AppShopper comes in. This app allows you to create your own app wishlist and it will notify you when the price drops! Also available for iPhone. – Price: $FREE

8 – The Weather Channel. Pretty self explanatory. If you’re a photographer (or simply aren’t a hermit), knowing the weather is kinda important. Also available for iPhone. – Price: $FREE

9 – Wunderlist. If you like to make to-do lists and then check things off as you complete them, you’ve come to the right app! Wunderlist is a simple to-do list app that syncs to the cloud and has an app for all devices (iPad, iPhone, Mac, PC, Android) so that no matter where you are, your list is with you. Also available for iPhone. - Price: $FREE

10 – Printer Pro. If you have an AirPrint enabled printer, feel free to ignore this one. If not, then this is your gateway to print from your iPad to any wireless printer. Also available for iPhone. - Price: $6.99

11 – Reeder. Do you follow lots of blogs? Do you usually read them on your Google Reader account? If you answered yes to those questions, then you’ll probably love Reeder. Reeder connects directly to your Google Reader account and beautifully displays your blog content in a simple, easy-to-read format that makes combing through your daily blog feed a piece of cake. After I got this app, I found myself not visiting my Google Reader page as much and just reading everything through Reeder. Also available for iPhone. – Price: $4.99 – (iPad) $2.99 – (iPhone)

12 – Twitter. Last but not least on the iPad list, the Twitter app. If you’re hyped up on Twitter like me, and much of the rest of the world, then the Twitter app is the way to go. Also available for iPhone. – Price: $FREE

13 – NBA Jam. If you’re a child of the 90′s who was ever graced with the presence of a Super Nintendo at some point, you know what I’m talking about. Also available for iPhone. – Price: $4.99

14 – Zite. If you’re a fan of the Pandora music site and you also like to read internet content, you’ll love this. Zite builds a custom internet magazine based on your preferences and topics of choice, gives you the ability to “thumbs up/down” an article, and then learns your preferences over time – just like Pandora. Definitely one of my favorite apps! Also available for iPhone. – Price: $FREE

Honorable mentions (* denotes available for iPhone) – Analytics, YouVersion Bible*, Pandora*, TuneIn Radio*, USA Today*, CNN*, Pilot Winds*, Angry Birds*, Words With Friends*, Oregon Trail, Amazon*, eBay*, ESPN Scorecenter*, Facebook*, Flipboard*, Fandango*, Penultimate, Google Earth, WordPress*, Dictionary*, Wikipanion, Skype (iPad 2 only), CBS Sports*

iPhone:

I’m only listing a handful of iPhone apps since almost all of the iPad apps above are either universal or have an iPhone-specific version.

1 – Instagram. This one was named the App Store’s 2011 iPhone App of The Year. I love sharing iPhone photos here, and it’s a pretty cool social community too. Definitely a favorite! – Price: $FREE

2 – Snapseed. My favorite photo editing app for iPhone. A full range of editing parameters and well worth the price. – Price: $4.99

3 – Sun Seeker. If you’re a photographer or videographer that’s shooting outdoors on a regular basis, this one will rock your world! Scout your locations and know where the sun will be at the exact time you’ll be shooting instead of making guesses. You can also turn on the camera overlay view for the sun’s path and times to be put right on top of your surroundings. Seriously, this is worth every penny. – Price: $5.99

4 – Starbucks. Yes, I’m an addict, and I hear the first step is admitting you have a problem. I’m pretty minimalist when it comes to my wallet, so not having to carry my Starbucks card with me is a definite plus. The app links any of your registered cards and can be scanned to pay for that double venti latte with two extra espresso shots, as well as locate nearby stores and more. – Price: $FREE

5 – Soundhound. If you’ve heard of Shazaam, it’s pretty much the same idea. Use the app to listen to any song and find out the artist and track name, as well as lyrics. I like Soundhound a little better because it seems to find the songs a little quicker. – Price: $FREE

Alright – time for your favorites. Go! (Update: Only comments posted by midnight EST tonight, 12/28/11, will be eligible!)

fashion | lauren

chris — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:38:14 +0000

Finally! I’ve been wanting to post this shoot for weeks now, but sometimes personal shoots get pushed back for other work and that’s just the way things go. A couple months ago, Lauren and I got together to shoot some personal work, and I’m really happy with the final images. Yes, I know – a couple months, but that’s neither here nor there. Personal work is such a great way to create, and it’s quite addicting. I’m excited to have finally finished this shoot. Hope you enjoy! [Hair/makeup by Susan Grant]

wedding: shayan + keith. | atlanta, ga wedding photographer

chris — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:55:06 +0000

Shayan + Keith – It was such an amazing pleasure to share your day with you! You’re both such uniquely amazing people, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to know you and work with you. Congrats on starting this next phase of life together!

Vendors:

Venue: King Plow Gallery – Atlanta, GA

Wedding Planner: Laura Godfrey – Godfrey Wedding Design

Dress: Bridals by Lori – Atlanta, GA

Florals: Gardenia Floral Design

DJ: Eric Anthony

Cake: Stephanie Ordon

couples: allison + kevin.

chris — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:29:52 +0000

Allison has been a good friend of mine for a long time now, and it was a privilege to shoot for her. She’s also a photographer, and you can check out her work here. It’s always flattering to shoot for a colleague, so I hope I came through! Recently, she, her husband Kevin, and their new golden retriever puppy Millie, and I spent the morning together so I hope you enjoy a few of my favorites from their shoot.