Rachel & Ben's Engagement Portraits

This week we got together with Rachel and Ben for their engagement shoot downtown. We first met them over a year ago and now their wedding is less than two months away! Wow time flies! What we really enjoy about Rachel and Ben is they are so down to earth and fun to be around. We're also so happy for them because they just bought their first house! Congrats guys.

After we hit some new spots downtown, we decided to try out a completely new place Emily and I found. Its just a wide open field with tall brown grass (read: weeds) and it's perfect for sunset pictures because the warm sun really brings out the amber colors.

Here are some of our favs from the shoot.

And because there were so many others we loved, here's a slideshow. Enjoy!

Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Holy High ISO Batman!

The last couple of days have been really busy with finalizing some albums and meeting with new couples. We also shared a Valentine's Day dinner with a few friends. Marc and Colleen, from the Wedding Festivals, treated us to a fabulous dinner at their beautiful home, which just happens to be the Gassaway Mansion. Mike and Tammy, from Unforgettable Wedding Video, were also there and since Marc and Mike are photography lovers, we took our new D3 along to show them.

Now that we've finally had a chance to really play with the D3, all we can say is WOW! We knew it was going to be a big step up from our D200s, but we had no idea how big of a step. There are so many great features and improvements that we could go on forever, but for now we'll just show a high ISO comparison. All of these images are straight out of camera using each camera's auto white balance and with just a little sharpening for the web.

Here are a couple quick shots of Ruby, our mascot, in very low light.

D200 ISO 3200

D3 ISO 3200

And here are the same images cropped to 100%. To really show the differences, we cropped on the shadow side so the high ISO noise would be even more apparent. For those who don't know, noise is similar to film grain in digital cameras and too much can introduce nasty color artifacts.

D200 ISO 3200
100% crop

D3 ISO 3200
100% crop

Here's a grab shot of our friend Mike at the Valentine's dinner. This was shot as ISO 6400, which our D200s couldn't even do. The D3 actually goes up to ISO 25,600. Talk about INSANE!

D3 ISO 6400

D3 ISO 6400
100% crop

As you can see there is a tremendous difference in the image quality at these high ISOs. Of course, with our D200s we rarely went beyond 800 or 1000 and used flash to supplement the light if possible. This means with the new D3s we won't be tied down to our flashes nearly as much and will be able to capture beautiful ambient light (or lack there of). This will be great for the candlelight ceremonies we have coming up this year!

We can't wait to try out the D3 at our engagement shoots coming up and will be posting more images soon.


Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Our Baby Has Arrived!!!

After weeks of waiting, and nervous anticipation....our 2.7 pound baby came today! It's our new Nikon D3. We don't want to make the D200's feel jealous, but it's incredible. The 3 inch LCD and incredible low light ISO performance are enough to make us drool. We can't wait for the other one to arrive so we can both shoot with these awesome cameras!

It didn't arrive till late this afternoon, and by the time the battery charged, we didn't get to play with it as much as we wanted to. Tomorrow will be like Christmas and we'll be posting some images then, so stay tuned.


Good Night,
Curtis and Emily
Kismet Photography

The thrill of the Hunt!

As we mentioned in the last post, we recently participated in a photo scavenger hunt with several other wedding photographers and vendors. Our friend Marc Wheeler, who puts on the fabulous Wedding Festival bridal shows with his wife Colleen, organized the hunt. He came up with some pretty interesting and challenging things to look for. For instance, nobody got a shot of a Delorean!

From the looks of it, we may have actually accumulated the most points and might be the winners. We say might because we haven't counted everyone else's points but we are somewhere in the lead. The winners will be announced March 4th and the anticipation is killing us. Win or lose it was just fun to get out and photograph something different.

Here are some of our favorites that we found:



"Bee on a flower"
Nothing too challenging right? Well, understand we did this hunt in November so you would think the bees would be hibernating or something. Thanks to global warming though, we found tons of them swarming flowers at Falls Park.



"Campfire"
This one comes complete with Union soldier sleeping in the background.



"Moving house"
We saw this "house on wheels" on the interstate while driving to an engagement shoot at USC.



"Two-headed anything"
Yeah right! Where are we going to find an animal with two heads? So we got the bright idea of finding a dragon with multiple heads (or a hydra for fellow word nerds).



"Rowboat"
One of our favorites because it looks reminiscent of something you'd see in a quaint fishing village. You would never guess this was in the middle of Greenville.



Here are some shots from our vacation in the Smokey Mountains. We stayed in the Pigeon Forge area which we are convinced is the biggest tourist trap in the world (and we've been to Orlando, FL many times). We've never seen so many "Pancake Houses" in our lives. They must think tourists crave pancakes 24-7. Needless to say we spent most of our time hiking the national forest and seeing waterfalls. We saw otters, turkey, deer and even a bear! If you are ever in the area, you have to drive the Cades Cove loop. We have never seen so many deer in one place before and the scenery is magnificent.








The animals are so used to the cars and people, they just walk right in front of you.


One of the more adventurous things we did was go on an ATV excursion up the side of a mountain.



Here we are looking especially chic in our enormous helmets and goggles.


More fun posts to come!



Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Check out our shiny new website!

How sad it is that our last post was all the way back in 2007! For good reason though because we have been so busy since then and so much has happened that now it's time for a super-sized blog post to catch up.

Aside from the belly-expanding holidays, here is a sampling of some of the things that we've done in the last month or so:


1) Took a couple trips to Florida to see Emily's brand new nephew.

2) Booked a couple of weddings in Clearwater Beach while we were there!

3) Managed to squeeze in a much needed vacation in the Great Smokey Mountains. We'll post some of our favorite photos from the trip here soon. (and yes we took lots)

4) Had a few engagement shoots with some really fun couples. (Posts with images coming soon!)

5)Participated in a photo scavenger hunt in which we won...we think. The winners won't be announced officially until March 4th, but keep your fingers crossed for us!

6) Participated in two Wedding Festival bridal shows and met lots of wonderful brides and grooms and subsequently...

7) Booked more than half of 2008 and a couple for 2009. (Needless to say, more vacations will be necessary)

8) Joined a gym. To shed those holiday pounds and to have a place to jog when it's 40 degrees outside.

9) Ordered some amazing new cameras that will open up lots of creative possibilities. We are practically salivating waiting for them to come. And yes we are dorks that get this excited about new equipment.

10) Attended a photography workshop and got totally inspired for this wedding season, and our personal photography as well. Which made us want our new cameras even more!


All that was a blast and we've had a lot of fun and met a lot of wonderful people in the last month or so. But perhaps one of the biggest announcements is that we designed and created a brand-spankin' new website from scratch! It was a lot of work and a couple late nights spent reading lines and lines of code but it was totally worth it and we think you'll agree. Though it may be a little extra work designing the website ourselves, we love the freedom it allows us to change things up whenever we want and to make it look unique and not like a hundred other photographer's websites. That's what we're all about: being different.

So if you haven't already, go check it out at www.kismetphotography.net. And please feel free to tell us what you think either by sending us an email or leaving a comment to this post. We would love to hear your thoughts and if there is anything we can do to make it an even better viewing experience for you.

With all that said, there will be even more cool things for us to post about in the near future so stay tuned. For now though, we're calling it a night.


Pleasant Dreams,

Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Katryna & Martin's Wedding

Earlier this month we had our last wedding of 2007 and it was the perfect end to a great year. Katryna and Martin planned so many neat little details that there was never a lack of something to photograph. From Go-Kart rides with the guys to a sweet classic car ride to the reception and a carriage ride downtown, we were loving all the photo opportunities!

Orange Krush kept the reception rockin' as always. The newlyweds surprised everyone with a little duet of their own and Martin even surprised Katryna with a serenade of "This Kind of Love". They both did an awesome job and the crowd loved it. We've had a lot of talented couples but very few of them actually show their stuff at their wedding. Our thought is, if you've got a skill or talent, why not share it with all your friends and family on the most important day of your life. Your guests will feel that much more connected with you and be so honored that they could share in your special day.





Emily & Curtis
Kismet Photography

Ashley & Blake's Wedding

A couple weekends ago we were up at the gorgeous Cliffs of Glassy for Ashley and Blake's wedding. The view from the chapel was absolutely amazing, though the winds up there were a bit chilly. Blake's parents have a beautiful house in the community with an amazing view all its own. All the girls had their hair and makeup done there so we had a great backdrop for getting ready and detail pictures.

Ashley's grandparents were so cute. Her grandfather proudly
walked her down the aisle.


























Ashley and Blake live in Florida and just happen to be
HUGE Florida Gator fans, as you can see from the Groom's cake.
In fact, it seemed like practically everyone at the wedding was from
Florida. They all seemed to like that we're former Gators ourselves.






Ashley's sister, Sam, gave a very emotional toast.
It did turn into a bit of a confession though when she started
to reminisce about all the trouble they'd get into without
their parents knowing :)





Blake arises victorious!

Another great wedding in another beautiful location. Many thanks to Ashley and Blake and all their family and friends for making us feel so welcome.


Emily & Curtis
Kismet Photography

Carolyn & Chris' Engagement Portraits

We took a road trip down to Columbia a week ago for Carolyn and Chris' engagement shoot. They live in New York but wanted to have pictures taken at USC since they both went to school there and that's where they met. We hit up the Horseshoe and the Cockabooses for some neat shots. Carolyn & Chris were a lot of fun and told us all about their dream to one day own one of the Cockabooses. We hope their dream comes true so that we can some day document them throwing the tail-gate party of the year!

A long, long time ago, we took a tour of the USC campus because Emily was considering law school. That was the last time we were in Columbia. We're both so glad she opted not to do the law school thing because we both LOVE photography so much. Plus, having a career where we can work together and share our passion is the dream of a lifetime!

Here are some of our favorites from the day!





Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Lindsay & PJ's Wedding

Our last few weddings have been chock full of spectacular views and this one was no different. Lindsay and PJ had their ceremony and reception high atop Crest Mountain at the Crest Center. They were blessed with a sunny day and crystal blue skies as far as the eye could see.

The reception was one giant party and the dance floor was rarely empty. Some of their song choices made it even more fun:

Cake Cutting: "Pour Some Sugar On Me"
Bouquet Toss: "Another One Bites the Dust"

Not to mention seeing our first "YMCA" conga line!





Lindsay & PJ,

We hope the party continues for you in Jamaica. And if you do decide to throw another wedding bash just for fun, we'll be there!


Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Kelli & Matt's Wedding

It was back to Pretty Place for us for this past Sunday. We had so much fun with Kelli and Matt because they were up for anything. What makes a wedding really enjoyable for us is simple: time to get creative and a couple that loves pictures. Although we wish every wedding had ample time to allow us to work our magic, it doesn't always happen that way. Thankfully Kelli and Matt scheduled their reception a couple hours after the ceremony so we had plenty of time to play!

One of our stops on the way back to Greenville was an eclectic gas station complete with year-round Christmas village and an emu and pig farm in the back. Kelli and Matt thought the place was groovy and so did we after seeing it. Pity the dancing chicken wasn't working.

Kelli's family did an amazing job decorating the reception in a beautiful harvest theme. One family member even carved their names into a pumpkin! So cool.

Our favorite quote of the day: "You can Electric Slide to just about anything."





Emily & Curtis
Kismet Photography