Grandma’s Wild Ride

My Grandma or G-ma is quite a spit-fire. She told me in 2008 that she wanted to ride in a motorcycle sidecar for her next birthday. (She also told me not to tell anybody).

So a little birdie told my mom who told my uncle who had a friend, etc  Long story short, my uncle found someone who was kind enough to grant my G-ma’s birthday wish.

The slightly overcast and rainy day did NOT stop my determined G-ma from her wild ride. After her short jaunt, we arrived at the Golden Corral parking lot for a family dinner. G-ma’s choice as it was her birthday. Before we could get inside the building, a stranger stopped us, hugged my G-ma, and said, “You do it, girl!”

So here’s a taste of just how hard-core my G-ma is.  Check out more photos on her webshow:  http://www.charlestonportrait.com/#/grandma92/

Charleston Harborfest’s Tall Ships!

View the slideshow of ALL of the pics here: http://charlestonportrait.com/#/harborfest09/

On Sunday, I was invited on board the Mircea, the Romanian tall ship, with my good friend Marilena. While we were at the festival, we were also invited to take a deck tour of the US Coastguard’s tall ship, the Eagle.

While on the Mircea, Marilena and I were invited into the Captain’s “saloon” below deck to meet the Captain and several of the officers. It was such a neat experience to hang out with them and hear about all the places they have seen while sailing the tall ship around the world!

Before I left the Mircea, I was asked by a few of the officers to come back to their ship at 8 a.m. and take a group photo of all 190 of their crew. HMM….even though I am NOT a morning person, I could NOT pass up the opportunity to photograph the 183 men and 7 women of the Romanian Navy’s Mircea crew all in one picture! It was an early morning, but it was worth it!

Here are a few of my favorites…in these pics you will see me, my friend Marilena with the Captiain, and officers Liviu and Dmitry!

Val & Mari on the Eagle

Val “steering” the Eagle!

me and the Romanian Navy ship’s Captain!

me and Liviu

the bell on board of the Mircea, photo taken at 9am

The WHOLE Romanian Navy crew of the Mircea of 190+

The Family Circle Cup on Daniel Island!

It’s April…time again for the Family Circle Cup at the Family Circle Tennis Center on Daniel Island!

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending Day 1 of the qualifying rounds for the tournament. It was such a beautiful day to be outdoors!

Here are a few of the many photos I snapped for fun while sitting in the stands with my Canon 5D, 16-35 f./2.8 and 70-200 f/2.8 IS:

Click here to view the slideshow of ALL of the pictures!

Mashona Washington on the Gibson Court under I-526

Alison Riske

Abigail Spears

Mashona Washington

Last but not least, one of me!
(photo taken by my friend Doug Aumont)

The tournament will continue now through Sunday, April the 19th.
Still to come are matches with champions Elena Dementieva, Venus Williams, Vera Zvonareva, Nadia Petrova & many others!

For more information, visit http://familycirclecup.com/

The Cast and Crew of the Clemente Players!

I had the pleasure of photographing  the cast and crew of the Werewolf’s Curse, Hair today Gone Tomorrow.  They are currently in rehearsal for their performances the first weekend in April.  They are the Clemente Players, directed by Dr. Sharon Willis (pictured in the front).  All proceeds of the play go to benefit the Clemente Class, which is a pioneering educational experiment for the most needy of our society designed to fight the cycle of poverty by providing higher humanities education to those who would never otherwise have that opportunity.  Click here to see the larger picture!

The Clemente Players!

Vegas or Bust!

It is time for me (Valerie), Nathan, and Mell to say GOODBYE to Charleston for a week and say HELLO to Las Vegas for the annual WPPI conference!

WPPI  is the largest professional photographers’ event in the country, and it is held in Vegas every year.

After yeeeeeeears of attending WPPI being only a *sigh* “maybe one day” kind of dream….this year it will be REALITY! Words cannot express how excited I am (we all are!!!!)

So tonight, while we wish you all a very Happy Valentine’s Day….we are packing our bags and counting down the minutes.

Here are a three pics I took while touring Vegas about this time last year:
 
 

 

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Southern Bridal Expo….

 

 

If you are going to be attending the wedding show tomorrow at the Charleston Convention Center….come by our booth and say hi!  We will all be there with bells on!

Nathan, Mell and I will be leaving directly from the show to the airport for Vegas.

And if you call or visit our studio this week, be sure to send all your extra kudos to Steve for holding down the fort for us!!!!

Everyone sing Happy Birthday to Damien…

 Ladies, meet Damien. He’s 5′ 11” and enjoys long walks on the beach and good Italian food………just kidding. (But only sort of!)

Aaaaaaanyway, Sunday was my good friend Damien’s birthday,  and of all things, I was able to talk  him into letting me take his goodlookin self out for a photo shoot!

We had lots of fun and took pictures all over the downtown area! We had WAY too many good ones to choose from by the end of the evening, but I guess that’s nothing to complain about! Damien was so much fun to photograph…he’s easygoing and relaxed…and c’mon girls you gotta admit he’s also easy on the eyes!

So now I need your help picking the overall favorite!  (There is a poll at the end of this post so go vote!)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7. 
I can’t decide if I like it better in color or black & white!
What do you think?

   

 

If you are viewing this post on Facebook, you can click on the poll here: http://richardbellphotography.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/everyone-sing-happy-birthday-to-damien/

Jay Clifford concert at the Music Farm!

Last Saturday night, I (Valerie) attended the last show of Jay Clifford’s recent tour, here in Charleston at the good ol’ Music Farm!

The only thing was…the concert didn’t allow ANYONE in with cameras (and my giant Canon 5D isn’t exactly easily hidden in a pocket!) But no worries, Jay knows me and made a special request that I be made an exception to do photography for the band!

Jay’s voice is still as awesome as ever!
http://www.myspace.com/jaycliffordmusic

Owen Beverly opened the show…and was fabulous, as always. I’ve been following Owen’s career since, eeh, about 2001 I think? He’s just got an amazing voice! (Owen Beverly’s myspace here: http://www.myspace.com/owenbeverly - you can check out his music on his myspace. I own his recent CD “Shooting the Bull” and I highly recommend it!)

Owen:

The 2nd opening band was Crowfield. Crowfield is seriously one of this area’s newest up and coming bands. They rock it out up there and are really talented!  This was my 2nd time seeing them perform. (I saw them back in June when they opened for Will Hoge at the Windjammer.) They were great then too, so I was super excited to get to hear them rock again! Crowfield’s myspace: http://www.myspace.com/crowfieldmusic

Crowfield:

The Music Farm is definitely Charleston’s best venue.
It’s like none other! Here are my 2 fav’s that show off the venue:

And from up above, here’s the back part of the venue, including the bar and the merch area. (Also, Kip’s booth in the back! –Karson Photography– It’s always fun running into other Charleston photographers, and Kip is way cool so I had a good time hanging out with him in the back for a bit before the show started!)

Ok, so without further adieu, here are more of my favorite shots from JAY CLIFFORD!

From “upstairs”…

At the very  end, Jay did something really amazing…he came into the audience and sang Cathedrals! There were a lot of tears in the audience. It really was special.

Jay rocks, even without a microphone! I felt really honored to be the one to get to capture this moment!

Late-Night Album Design Moral Support? Meow!

My cat, Penny Lane, is the sweetest little thing…always loving, always kind, always well-behaved…

Tonight, I am up late working on an album design for Lourdes & William’s wedding. About 20 minutes ago, Penny climbed up on my shoulders and just settled on in to stay. She’s been purring away ever since, happy as can be!

It’s semi-uncomfortable for me, but I’m so touched by her sweetness that I don’t have the heart to shoo her off.

I just took a pic because I HAD to share!

Election Day!

Well, I stood in line from 1:35 till 4:05 at the Daniel Island precinct in the drizzling rain…but I voted! (Mell and Nathan said they stood in line for a similar amount of time in the morning hours over in North Charleston.)

How long did you stand in line today?

Here’s a pic of me being silly…showing my sentiments about the lines. :-þ