Testimonials Sneak Peek, Part 3

Soon I'll be launching a Testimonials page on Noah Dalton Photographs! Woohoo new content!
I wanted to encourage my clients to do some storytelling of their own, so I asked them to choose a favorite image that they returned to again and again, and to tell me about it. I wanted to know why that particular image spoke to them, and I loved reading the results. 

Each week I'll be releasing one photo and the client story that goes with it.
This week, Chris tells me about this favorite image from his intimate Charleston wedding.

Our wedding day was encapsulated with endless amounts of love and pure joy and this photo is a reminder of that. Noah was simply the best photographer we could have asked for. Not only did he produce amazing photos, but he made the whole process fun and effortless. This was a candid shot Noah took as we were waiting for further instructions during our photo shoot. Once the ceremony began everything moved very quickly, and this was our first real moment to share in each other’s happiness. We felt loved and accepted that whole day and for a second we didn’t care about anything else in the world except being with each other. 

Testimonials Sneak Peek, Part 2

Soon I'll be launching a Testimonials page on Noah Dalton Photographs! Woohoo new content!
I wanted to encourage my clients to do some storytelling of their own, so I asked them to choose a favorite image that they returned to again and again, and to tell me about it. I wanted to know why that particular image spoke to them, and I loved reading the results. 

Each week I'll be releasing one photo and the client story that goes with it.
This week, Allison tells me about this image from her maternity shoot.

We really just wanted one.  Just one beautiful memory of my husband and me and our new adventure growing in my belly that we could frame and put in our house.  Noah has been a good friend of ours for years and we knew he was the photographer we wanted for our maternity shoot.  We knew he would know the best locations and make us feel comfortable as we pretended to be models for the afternoon.  And he did just that!  We had a blast hanging out, taking pictures, laughing.  What I didn’t expect is that I wouldn’t get just one.  Literally EVERY. SINGLE. PHOTO. we got back was worthy of framing.  We were squealing every time we clicked next when we got the link to our album.  The very next day we sent photos off to be printed and now they’re strewn throughout the house.  When I look at those photos I can literally feel the joy and anticipation we felt at that time in our lives.  Noah was amazing, and we already have him on the hook to do another session with our family of three.

Newborn Julian

Ok, I'll admit it. 
I used to be one of those people who put babies into two categories. Either your baby looks like a generic human baby or your baby totally looks like an alien. If you managed to have a non-alien baby, it pretty much looked to me like all the other babies in this category. 

But man, was I wrong. Not about the alien thing. That's a real thing. Just about the all other babies looking the same thing.

Marsha and Rob are wonderful parents and just loved participating in the creative process. Julian, for his part, was about as fantastic as a baby could be. He was passed around, licked and nuzzled by the dog, and even put on a giant leaf... and he just kept on chilling. He even smile/laughed for the first time and we caught THAT moment on camera for all time.

I met baby Julian on his 9th day on Earth. At this point I'd like to say for the record that he doesn't look at all like an alien or a raisin or a dried apple. He looks like a perfect, tiny human. Not at all like other babies.
Well done, Marsha and Rob! And Congratulations!

Chris + Shawn

White Point Garden in Charleston, SC. 
Ancient live oaks create dappled light. At the perfect time of day, sunbeams shoot into the gazebo and bounce around, making it glow from the inside. And from almost any point in the park, you have views of gorgeous antebellum mansions AND Charleston Harbor. A backdrop like that could make just about anyone look good... 

But then you get two of the handsomest fellows you've ever seen (this is true), invite their beautiful families and friends, and include their adorable Boston terrier Pearl and you have one stunner of a wedding. We're talking about a nearly overwhelming amount of good-lookingness. I was lucky enough to photograph Chris and Shawn's intimate ceremony on August 6, 2016. The weather was perfect, the music was perfectly suited to Chris and Shawn's vibe, and the hordes of Pokemon Go players seemed to be inexplicably and mercifully absent.
Sorry, Pokemon Go players (not sorry).

Chris is a marine biologist and Shawn is an occupational therapist. They are soft spoken, intelligent, wonderful people and they just could not wait to marry each other. From the looks on their faces as they read their personalized vows, to the unbelievable release of joy at the moment their marriage was made official, it was clear to everyone present how much Chris and Shawn love each other and how much they had been looking forward to this day. 

Is this a good time to mention that the infamous "Gentleman Pirate Stede Bonnet" was hanged in White Point Garden in 1718?
No? Another time then.

Beach Session with the Kinkhabwalas

You know those friends you have who are cool and gorgeous and brilliant? 

Christy and Yunus are those friends for us. They met while in Peace Corps in South Africa and bonded over, among other more glamorous things, unmentionably serious stomach troubles. Kind of in the same way that Rebecca and I met and bonded over similar tummy troubles in Dakar, Senegal. Oh yeah, and we met them in Senegal too! They are both excellent teachers and people and friends, and they now live in upstate New York. They're both doing amazing things, of course, as well as raising two of the most adorable boys in the galaxy. Seriously, just look at these two!

We headed down to Folly Beach for some beach time and documentary-style shooting.
Was the weather less-than-ideal? Yes (misty and gray).
Did the youngest hate the feeling of sand on his feet? Yes (surprise!).
But we did have a lot of fun. And, after all, is there really a bad time to go to the beach with good friends? 

Nope.

Photographer Spotlight: Horace and Mae

Several weeks ago we had the privilege of working with Horace and Mae Photography, on a project that has been in the works for a while: a long overdue wedding portrait session with Rebecca and me. 

Haven't we been married for over two years?
Allow me to explain.

In the months leading up to our wedding in 2013 we took steps so that Rebecca would be able to wear her grandmother's wedding dress. It was a thing of beauty, last worn in 1950, and it was in dire need of some restoration. Being so old, the dress needed to be handled, tried on, and worn with a lot of care. We immediately started planning ways to replicate Rebecca's grandmother's solo wedding portrait, which is now a treasured family heirloom.

On our wedding day, our photographer had a health emergency and was unable to reproduce the wedding portrait. Everything turned out to be fine, but we had this bit of unfinished business in the back of our minds. We moved to Charleston, SC and the dress was moved to Virginia to stay with Rebecca's aunt.

And about two years passed.

Finally, we found the time to drive north, exhume the dress and schedule a shoot. Horace and Jennifer (Mae) brought us to Belvoir, the manor house of Ann Ross Key (Francis Scott Key's grandmother) in Annapolis, MD. The home remains much the same as it was in the 1700's and was the most perfect backdrop imaginable for portraits in the vintage gown. Horace worked primarily with gorgeous old film cameras, while Jennifer shot digital. 

It was a joy to watch these two artists work, and fun to be on the other side of the camera for a while.