Heather & Noel's Engagement Portraits

We love to hike. One of the reasons we escaped sunny (read "HOT") Florida was for the beautiful mountain hikes all around this area. Well, we got our fix of it this weekend with Heather and Noel. They also like to hike and so we went to Dupont State Forest for their engagement shoot. We had heard about a covered bridge there but had never been so we decided to be adventurous and check it out along with High Falls. Long story short, all the recent rain made High Falls impossible to traverse which forced us to hike ALL the way down to Triple Falls, then ALL the way back up to the bridge and our cars. It's a good thing everyone wore hiking shoes because we probably covered 3 or 4 miles roundtrip! Despite the detour and unexpected extra walking, we had a great time and the weather was perfect for hiking.



Heather and Noel brought their "little ones" along. We enjoyed meeting Shadow, Nikita and Georgia.















After the hike was over, we headed to Ceaser's Head for some sunset shots.





Heather & Noel,

Thank you for hanging in there and walking your buns off! We think it was totally worth it. At least for your wedding day we'll get mountain views without the hike ;)



Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Kyla & Jimmy in Charleston

We have really been getting around lately. Last weekend we headed down to Charleston, SC to meet up with Kyla and Jimmy for their engagement shoot. They got engaged last September on Sullivan's Island and we were thrilled to be able to photograph in the place where it all began! And Jimmy deserves a lot of credit for planning a very romantic and picturesque proposal. Kyla is the sister of one of our 2006 brides, and after seeing her as a bridesmaid on a couple occasions, we can't wait to see her as a BRIDE :)

The entire day was filled with good luck:

-The weather on Sunday was beautiful. You never would have known that torrential rain and tornadoes came through the day before.

-Despite the wonderful weather, the beach actually wasn't crowded. It felt like we had the sun and sand all to ourselves.

-The houses and streets by the Battery have so much character and we knew we wanted to capture some of it. Jimmy was our trailblazer and led the search in finding the perfect cobblestone street for us to use! And while we were searching, we found the neatest little alley with an ivy-covered wall. Sometimes the best spots are the ones you just stumble upon.









Gotta love that hair light!





















Sunset along the battery was beautiful.



Kyla & Jimmy,

Thank you for inviting us down to Charleston and giving us a tour of the house. We had so much fun and can't wait for your wedding!


Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Jen & Wes' Engagement Portraits

While we were down in Clearwater, FL, we also had a chance to get to know Jen and Wes a little better. Jen is the sister of the same awesome couple from last year, Kelli and Matt, that led us to meet Kara and John as well. It really is a small world when you think about it. Jen made a great maid of honor for Kelli and come October, they'll get to switch roles and see what it's like to walk in the other's shoes!

Jen and Wes are a really fun and laid back couple that we could tell just love each other to bits. From their chance meeting at a friend's wedding, to the text message that started it all, to Wes moving from Kansas City to Clearwater to be with the love of his life, we heard the whole scoop! We absolutely loved spending the whole day with them and the weather was beautiful, albeit a bit gale-force windy, but sunny nonetheless.

Here are some of our favs from the day with a slideshow to boot!


We started off with a little swingin'. Acting like a kid again always helps people loosen up.






Jen and Wes love the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (of course) and had these jerseys custom made with their soon-to-be-shared last name and wedding date, 10-4. How cute is that!



They knew of this great little pub called the "World of Beers". Jen's Blueberry beer smelled almost good enough to eat.









The name is no joke, this place had beers from practically every country. The colorful bottles drew our eyes immediately.



This shot makes us miss living near the beach. But we still wouldn't trade our mountain views...yet ;)



What a cute couple!



Even without the colors sunsets can be amazing backdrops!



Love this one. Even though the tide took the "I", it still looks awesome.

CLICK HERE FOR THE SLIDESHOW!!!

Jen & Wes,

You guys rock! We had a great time getting to know you and having fun. Thank you for braving the hurricane winds and for inviting us out to dinner with the rest of the fam. We loved catching up with Kelli and Matt (and meeting lil' Zoe) and seeing Mom and Dad again. We love your family and can't wait for your wedding this fall! Then we'll see who can put away more chips and salsa... ha ha ;)


Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Kara & John's Engagement Portraits

One year from today, Kara and John will be getting married! Talk about the perfect day to write a post about their engagement shoot :) They are friends of one our awesome couples from last year, Kelli and Matt. They loved what they saw and gave us a call even though they are all the way down in Clearwater, Florida. We first met with them over the holidays last year while down there visiting family. We could tell right away that they are really fun and LOOOOOOOOVE pictures!

We love going to new places to photograph because we get inspired by different surroundings and trying new ideas. Even though Clearwater is not technically new to us since we lived near there for several years, it is still great to have a change of pace.

While the weather wasn't terribly cooperative, Kara and John were great and we had a lot of fun. Because there were so many images that we loved, here's a slideshow. Enjoy!


UPDATED! Now with bigger, badder images!

CLICK HERE FOR THE SLIDESHOW!!!

They get our vote for the next Miami Vice duo!









Who says railroad tracks can't be sexy!



Hot couple!



These guys got some great air time.












Kara & John,

Thank you so much for your incredible hospitality! Next time we're down there we'll definitely take you up on that offer to spend a day out on the boat!


Emily & Curtis
Kismet Photography

Danielle & Troy's Engagement Portraits

And the spree of engagement shoots continues. We are having a blast getting to know all of our wonderful couples and trying out new things. Before we headed to Florida for a couple other sessions, we met up with Danielle and Troy for theirs. They're from Greenwood, SC but wanted to come to downtown Greenville for a change of scenery. We had a lot of fun and found some private spots despite there being hordes of people.

The real fun though, began when we headed off to a football field for some pigskin pics! Troy, a football coach for Greenwood High, had the great idea to don jerseys and toss a ball around. Although there did seem to be more goofing around than actual tossing, which was fine by us!













Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Kristy & Jeremy's Engagement Portraits

We always find it to be a tremendous compliment when couples choose us to photograph their wedding before even meeting us. Kristy and Jeremy did just that and we are so happy they did. We got to meet them for the first time this past weekend when they drove down from Charlotte. While they were in the area we decided to have their engagement session the same day and we had a great time getting to know them.

Kristy's ring was so unique and gorgeous. The center stone is an enormous aquamarine, her birthstone, surrounded by sparkling diamonds. We love different and seeing people put unique touches on engagement rings is so refreshing.

We can't wait for their wedding at beautiful Homewood in Asheville, NC.


Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Going Green!

We try to be as earth friendly as possible in our personal lives. And this year we challenged ourselves to do the same for our business. Over the last few weeks, we've converted most of our documents (except contracts) into paperless PDFs that we can email to clients. We've also changed all the light bulbs in our office to compact fluorescents which use a lot less energy. Once we figure out how to get Ruby (our cat) to run on a wheel to power our PowerMac G5 computer we'll be all set :)

While searching for ways to be more green, we stumbled across this website that has a wedding carbon footprint calculator. We plugged in the figures from our wedding and our total was 25,750 lbs CO2.

That sounds like a lot especially since our wedding had less than 50 guests. If you ever wondered what kind of impact your wedding will have on the earth, go ahead and plug in your figures. The point here is not to start crossing people off your guest list....but if you would like to make your wedding more earth friendly and offset it's carbon footprint, here are some ideas we found online:

-Buy wine from a nearby vineyard or beer from a neighborhood brewery. Get your wedding cake from a local bakery, and use seasonal flowers, not imports.

-Anything you do to make your wedding a little more modest—from wearing a borrowed wedding dress to choosing recycled paper or a website for your invitations—will lower its contribution to carbon emissions.

-Buy 100% PCW recycled invitations that are processed without chlorine. Encourage guests to recycle their invitations, or have seeds embedded in the paper so that guests can plant the invitations and enjoy the flowers that grow from them.

If anyone has any other ideas, we'd love to hear them!


Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Oscar Night 2008

This weekend we appeared on stage at the Peace Center in downtown Greenville, SC for a one night only performance. Sadly, we were not the stars of a new Broadway play but instead were there to photograph all the glitz and glamour of the Junior League of Greenville's annual Oscar Night America party.

This was our third year donating our services to the charity event. We braved the freezing cold to play paparazzi and get shots of the well-dressed event-goers as they walked the "red carpet". Several local restaurants provided wonderful food and tons of area businesses donated items for the silent auction, including us.

Here are a couple shots from the evening.







Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography