Allison & Jon's Engagement Portraits in Downtown Greenville & Falls Park

Quick story before we jump into some Engagement Portraits: We've been photographing weddings and engagement portraits in Greenville for about 6 years now but from time to time we still get asked "Have you guys ever photographed around that brick pavilion downtown? You know, the one by the river?" We just have to chuckle to ourselves and say "Yeah, once or twice". ;) The Wyche Pavilion (also referred to as Larkins) is one of the most iconic spots in Greenville, and for good reason! It's got a lot of character and conveys a certain historic charm in the middle of what is becoming a somewhat modern city center. Plus so many of our couples have their weddings or receptions at or near Larkins or, if not, at least want a taste of it for their engagement portraits. Despite having photographed there on many occasions we always strive to make each couple's portraits unique by finding new spots or maybe photographing the usual spots in a new and interesting way.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging...

Allison and Jon happen to be having their reception at Larkin's Cabaret Room in July. Since they love the look of downtown we all decided to photograph around the Wyche Pavilion and Falls Park for their Engagement Portraits.

Here are some of our favorites from their session:




Nothing like a bottle of wine to get a portrait session off to a great start!





Love how you can see a bit of the Greenville skyline in the glass reflection.





Doesn't Allison look amazing!


And Jon's not so bad himself.




And this is what happens when a simple "lift and kiss" goes horribly wrong and turns into a wedgie. Sorry Allison. This was too funny not to post. Please forgive us!



Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Trinity - Baby Portraits in the studio

Before the holidays we had the pleasure of photographing 4 month old baby Trinity and her parents. When it's cold outside we enjoy having the option of photographing inside our studio. Family portraits can also take place at your home or favorite outdoor location!











Her "Tiny Elf" hat was absolutely adorable!


Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Caroline & Kevin's USC Engagement Portraits

Now that it's so cold outside we really appreciate the beautiful weather we had this Fall and what it was like to not have to wear gloves and a jacket while we shoot! This was a really fun Engagement session that took place in October down in Columbia.

Caroline and Kevin, who are getting married next November, wanted to incorporate some team spirit into their Engagement Portraits along with one of their other favorite things, cupcakes! What a combo!









After playing a little catch, we sneakily asked Kevin to "tackle" Caroline. And boy were we surprised when she took off down the field and started running for her life!


But Kevin caught up!










Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

The Growing Belly Series

The Growing Belly Series is the perfect way to visually show the progression of your pregnancy, month by month. We start the Series at your 16th week and continue through week 36. Whether you want to be semi dressed, draped in fabric or nude is up to you. The Series is catered to your comfort level.







Once your little bundle arrives they start growing so fast, so why not remember every tiny feature with a "Baby Bits" Canvas Wrap. This 3-dimensional piece of art is printed on fine art canvas, professionally wrapped around a solid wood stretcher frame and comes ready to hang.



You can even include your baby's birthday stats on both sides to make a keepsake your family will cherish forever.



Call us today to create one for your family!


Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Andrea & Corey's Engagement Portraits Downtown Greenville

Yeah folks, we're still alive! We've had an epically busy summer and this poor blog has suffered the consequences. Well, we finally have a moment to spare to breathe some life back into our little piece of cyberspace.

Here's an oldie but a goodie. Andrea is the daughter of Scott Pilgrim, a local wedding & events DJ with Jumpin Jukebox and of Nobody Entertainment DJ trivia fame, that we've worked with many times over the years and have become good friends. We got to know his family back when we did their awesome Clemson themed Holiday cards a couple years ago. Now Andrea is getting married and we have the extreme pleasure of photographing her and Corey's wedding this coming May!

Here are some from their engagement shoot we did a few months ago.




Corey really knows how to get his lady to smile and laugh. We think that's the mark of a truly great relationship.








Nothing like a little serenade to make a woman swoon (or laugh hysterically in this case).


Talk about a beautiful couple, both inside and out!








And did we mention she just graduated from Clemson, and her whole family bleeds orange?!




We always encourage our couples to incorporate things they love into their engagement portraits. What do Andrea and Corey love (besides each other)?..........BBQ!!! In this case, a little Smoke on the Water deliciousness.



Love how they look like they just got caught! Sorry guys, we couldn't resist. :)


Now that's how you enjoy BBQ!


And that's how you know your soon-to-be-spouse loves you. When they are willing to see past your BBQ sauce-covered face AND help you clean it up!


Can't wait for their wedding!


Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Underwater Bellies

What started out as a crazy dream actually became possible, thanks to my wonderful husband Curtis and his DIY talents! About a month ago we were talking about creative endeavors for the future and since I have been photographing a lot of Maternity portraits lately I started thinking about photographing bellies underwater.

Right away I googled "underwater maternity photography" to get some ideas and came across the most awesome blog post. These images make me want to be pregnant in the summer JUST so I can have shots like these!

The first step was figuring out how to get the high quality images we're used to from our D3's while being underwater and without shelling out $3000+ for a waterproof housing unit.

So we did some tests, well a lot actually! First we tried a disposable underwater film camera. This test proved that the poses we had in mind would look cool and that we could hold our breath and shoot at the same time. Great! However the camera sucked big time and we had no control over the developing process, so it obviously wasn't an option. We determined that we definitely wanted to use our gear but had no idea how we were going to submerge a $5000 camera underwater without something going horribly wrong. So Curtis came up with a genius, yet simple, idea:





Yeah, that's glorified Tupperware. Now the question was how to release the shutter without having my hands inside the container. In comes a wireless shutter release remote to the rescue! We originally got the remote so we could take more photos of ourselves without having to run back and forth to the camera.

After many, many tests to make sure it was completely waterproof we took the plunge and tested it out in an actual pool. After getting over the initial submersion-trepidation and getting comfortable shooting while wearing goggles and a nose plug we scheduled some real sessions.

Check out some of my favorite images from the underwater belly portraits:

























Thank you to Janet & Dawn for giving their time for this fun, learning experience. I only wish I had more time this summer to shoot more of these. Oh well, there's always next summer!


Emily Snyder
Kismet Photography

Ahhh the Facebook love!

Unfortunately we have zero time to post some of the awesome new things we've been doing, much less some of the many weddings and engagement shoots that are waaaay past due. But we do have a quick sec and thought we'd share some of the great things folks are saying about the images we are posting on Facebook. By the way, that's where to go to see all the new stuff as it's posted there first. So go ahead, click on over to our Facebook fan page and "Like" us to see the latest and greatest Kismet imagery. Back to the post at hand...Not many people leave comments on this blog (even though hundreds of people are reading it as evidenced by our web stats) but our Facebook fans and friends of fans are quick to show some love. Check out all the raves one of our couples, the undeniably awesome and fashion-forward Shannon and David, got for their engagement sneak peek we posted. (Names have been blurred to protect the innocent)



As if that wasn't enough of an ego boost for us, the lovely Shannon posted this recently to our fan page:




Doesn't that just make you feel all warm and gooey inside? Well it does for us! A special thanks to everyone who has ever and will ever say nice things about us and our work either to our face or on some form of media or whatever. It's that praise and acknowledgment that lets us know we are accomplishing our number one goal: Make people happy through photography.


With love & thanks,

Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography