Stage Surfing at the Charleston Visitors Center Bus Shed

We shot an event for "The Stray Dog Society" last month. This is a good group of alumni and non-alumni who share a love for all things Citadel, you should check them out. I was told they wanted a photographer to get out there, explore the space and take shots as crazy and fun as the crowd was and it was a fun crowd. They later dubbed us their official photographers.., apparently the images met their criteria. Here is a shot of me, thanks to Liz, surfing the stage which was moving about 6 inches in all directions. Then a couple of what I was shooting.

They are coming to take me away!!!

So today at 1 p.m. the North Charleston Police are throwing me in jail until I raise the $2800 bail for Jerry's Kid and the MDA. If you would like to help bail me out check out the MDA site to drop a few bucks for my freedom. More pictures and info to come. 

Photoshoot with Tom Brokaw

I did a photo-shoot with my friend and fellow photographer Brianna Stello at Gucci in the Charleston Place Hotel. The event was hosted by Roper St. Francis, held in the upper ballroom of the hotel, in appreciation of the generous contributions of all the donors who were attending. The special guest and speaker of the evening was former anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, Tom Brokaw. Mr. Brokaw was a total professional and a trooper, holding out for more than 120 posed shots. Yeah I'm not sure I could have held out that long. You go Tom. Unfortunately I can't show you all the images but I did want to share the setup and one of the personal shots we snuck in with Mr. Brokaw.

Check out the sweet setup for the shoot on the showroom floor of Gucci.

Brianna Stello hangin with Tom Brokaw. Yeah as usual I was stuck behind the camera where I like it.

Digitel.com Debutante Ball

TheDigitel.com debutante ball; old friends, new friends, good times. Check out their site to keep up with Charleston.

Battle of Secessionville

I had the pleasure of being hired to photograph the Battle of Secessionville at Boon Hall this year. These were some of the friendliest and most hospitable people that I have ever met. I went with the idea of spending a few hours covering the event and then heading home later in the afternoon but with five offerers to stay around for lunch and then dinner and then there was a ballroom dance, well I ended up staying until early the next morning. Here are some of the images. (sorry about the music, I only had one good song that would work with the images so it repeats a few times)

"Epiphany" Opera in Park Circle

So I received a call from Mary Gould, of South of Broadway Theatre Company, a few weeks back and she tells me "I just got the call, we have the front page of the Preview on Christmas Day and need a promo shot by noon tomorrow." I love a challenge and in media "noon" means in the a.m. if you want to keep your spot on the front page. We wanted to highlight the upcoming opera "Epiphany" which would be opening on January 31st to bring in the new year as well as introduce the new program Opera Zone, a lecture series held at the Charleston County Public Library. So the next morning we had our coffee, set up some light, and shot this image for the paper. Thank you to Marcus over at the P&C Preview for getting the work out about the thriving art scene here in North Charleston and especially in Park Circle. 

New Years Day Traditions

A lot of my friends who are new to Charleston ask me about all of our southern culinary traditions on New Years day. So I decided to post some picture and descriptions of our traditional New Years dinner.

First we have Hoppin' John, a dish consisting of rice and beans with some onions added for flavor. The rice, which swells up while cooking symbolizes the swelling of your fortune in the year to come. The peas in the dish symbolize coins. The legumes a lot of people put in their Hoppin' John are black-eyed peas but my family uses field peas because well, that is our tradition and we leave the black-eyes for a dish all to themselves. One tradition that our family used to practice but fortunately gave up on is the hiding of a coin in the bowl of Hoppin' John. The person who finds the coin in their dish receives an extra helping of good financial luck which will be necessary to cover all of the medical bills for the treatment of hepatitis or the surgery to remove the coin from your esophagus.

Black-eyed peas are probably the most famous New Years food in the south. Each pea eaten represents a dollar. For the best chance at financial prosperity one needs to eat 365 peas on New Years day, one for each day of the year. Bacon and a ham hock are added for good luck as well as for flavor. 

On New Years one should not eat chicken or turkey since they scratch backwards in the dirt, and one should not eat beef since they just stand around in the field all day, but a pig roots forward looking for its meal so if you want to be prosperous and move forward in the year to come you should eat your fill of ham and barbecue (oh yeah in the south "barbecue" is pork and cooking that is done on the grill is called well, "grilling").  

Cornbread symbolizes gold and hey can't wrong with having a little gold stashed away for a rainy day.

And my favorite Greens. Greens represent green backs, folding money, cash. The greens on the left are a mix of mustard and turnips and the ones on the right are collards. They are all delicious especially when sprinkles with some white vinegar pepper sauce.

You can buy pepper sauce at the store but the best is our home made pepper sauce in a mason jar.

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!! I am excited to see what the new year brings, the first thing it has brought me is some champagne and explosions.

Oooh

Ahhh

Ohhh

Wow

Yeah

Media

Wohoo, so far the show has been mentioned in the "Editors Pics" of the Post and Courier Preview, the Charleston City Paper calendar of events, my park circle calendar of events, and WTMA 1250. Thank you very much for getting the word out everyone.

~Kip

Love My Alma Mater

The students at my alma mater, "College of Charleston," had an impromptu exam week "Rave"in the college's new library. Shush this, library lady. Check it out on You Tube. Check out the story on the digitel.com. By the way the chant is "CofC." Bonus points for displaying school spirit in the midst of anarchy. 

Later, 

Kip