Common Questions & Answers

I am located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I photograph all over the Grand strand from Little River to Georgetown. I do travel as well to Charleston SC, Lake City FL,  Bloomington IL & Willmington NC for an extra fee.

Absolutely, I love to travel. Contact me for travel inquiries and rates.

Upon your reservation, you will fill out a booking form that will have a variety of locations you can choose from to capture your special moments. From there we can either choose Sunrise or an hour before Sunset. Most ppl choose Sunset Golden Hour for their photography session.  If you choose one of the Beach Locations there is a fee to enter the State Park if you are not a member. That fee is currently $8 adults/ $5 SC Seniors (ages 65 & older) $4 (Child ages 6-15) 

Free for children 5 & younger.

I am a natural light, on-location lifestyle portrait photographer. I love using nature as my backdrop to capture memories. There is just something about nature's light from the sunlight that just makes some really beautiful imagery. I like to edit the images in a variety of ways from a Natural Style with very few editing adjustments to a Dark & Moody Style, to a Matte Finish Style, & lastly a Bright & Airy Style. In short, the best way to explain it is my style is a clean fine art film-inspired look. My goal is to deliver posed & candid portraits that look & feel like you.   It really depends on my subject, the type of shoot we are doing and the location. 

Most sessions generally start at $450 & can vary based on location, session length, how many people are in the photographs, and how many final edited & retouched images you'd like. If you love my style but have a smaller budget I do also offer a Mini Sample Session. 

All of my portrait packages include a private online gallery for your viewing with each image in your gallery being handpicked and artfully edited by me. The gallery and images are accessible and downloadable from any computer or mobile device and are easy to share via e-mail or social media with your friends and family. You will have access to both High Resolution and Low-Resolution images. 

I request a $175 deposit which is deducted from your total to hold the date. This can be paid via Zelle, Venmo, Paypal, or Check. The final payment is due the day of our session before the session begins or can be paid anytime before our reservation date if you wish to pay earlier.

Fortunately, we are on the east coast and near the ocean so the wind is a factor. Please have reasonable expectations at your shoot and realize that there can be a lot of wind and various lighting conditions.  I do try my very best to let my subjects know "hey do this with your hair" or I will try to position the hair so that it looks better for our photos. I also carry new poney tails for clients if we need them. I will also do my very best in the editing room to remove any flyaways that we may have. If you are concerned about your hair moving a lot I would recommend a location that is NOT on the Beach or Huntington Beach where we have other areas to choose from other than the Beach! There are no refunds for any shoot. But I will try my very best to make sure you are happy with your images. 

 I do work with photoshop & will touch up your images to some degree. All images will be edited in multiple software programs I use. Family Sessions are done more on a natural scale unless you want the Airbrush finish look. My style is a clean fine art film-inspired look. My goal is to deliver posed & candid portraits that look & feel like you. I do offer Airbrush Finish look as an added-on service. 

For family portraits: I recommend choosing colors that complement each other look unified. 

What I typically tell my clients is to coordinate together with colors & patterns. Coordinating is very different from matching. When you match, everyone wears blues, blacks, whites, etc. When you coordinate, you choose a few colors that go well together for example navy, yellow & brown, and mix those up with different patterns, solids, jewelry, etc.

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For Beach: Our Signature colors are Shades or Pinks, Blush & Ivory, Neutral Colors & Pastel Shades. But a very popular standard look for beach photos is white, black, or blue shirts & khaki or Jeans. That is a very coordinated look.  

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For Fall: Burgundy, brown & cream. Throw in a jacket and scarf for the girl and maybe a plaid shirt for the male. 

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I edit all my sessions differently. When a couple wears bold colors, I edit with more bold contrasts & vibrance. If a couple wears light, soft colors, I tend to edit with less contrast and more “airy” tones. Every couple & session is unique, so I edit accordingly.

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First, consider what kind of style you would like to reflect in your images. Next, think about your location. Are you going downtown where there will be a lot of walls with bold colors? Are you going to a field or outdoor space with a lot of light & earthy tones? What time of the year is it? It’s always great to reflect on your location and how the scenery will look that time of year with what you’re wearing.

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—BOLD & BRIGHT

Dressing in bright colors is a great way to make the image more vibrant and alive, regardless of your background/location. Wearing black is okay but can sometimes be a harsh color against some backgrounds. It also is difficult to make out the detail in black or dark navy outfits when the image is in black & white and can appear dramatically dark against the rest of the image.

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—SOFT & AIRY

Don’t want to be that vibrant & colorful in your photos? Dress in neutrals! If you’re worried that look will be boring, put on a yellow shoe, coral necklace, red lipstick, or something to spice your lookup.

I love when the sunlight is perfect at that golden hour and the couple is wearing light colors. It can create an ethereal setting that just cannot be matched when the couple is in dark colors. Examples: Cream & Tan, Light pinks & peaches, etc.

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—STYLE

Casual or dressy? This is a common question. What represents you as a couple or family best? If both do in different settings, wear some of each! For a 2-hour session, I would recommend bringing 2-3 outfits for more variety.

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A great example of a couple who switched their style up in three different outfits.

#1- Button-up, lace dress & a red heel for a pop of color.

#2- Sundress & sandals for the female & a V-neck & jeans for the male.

#3- Casual jeans for both, patterned V-neck for the male & for the female bring in another smaller pattern with a scarf

The finished images are ready for you to view and download 2-4 weeks after your session. Your photos are delivered in an online gallery that can be shared with family and friends. 

All sessions come with a gallery of high-resolution images that have been handpicked and artistically edited for you to download, share and print.  The number of images that come in a collection gallery is based on the collection you have chosen.

For example, our most popular family collection The Classic Collection comes with 50 images. So when you open your online gallery you will have 50 finally edited images to download, share and print.

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You can always choose to upgrade your collection to the next collection I offer or you can purchase the whole collection.

I know that some photographers may allow this but that is not my policy. My feeling is that if you have seen my work and you have chosen me to photograph your session then you should trust that I will provide you with images that you will love and cherish forever. 

After your images are edited, I will remove raw files from memory cards and my computer within one month after your gallery has been delivered and viewed. I hold onto all edited images for 3 months for photos sessions. When you receive your digital images, it is important that you back up your files, more than once if possible. I shoot thousands of images a week and need to make sure that I have space available for all sessions which is why I have to remove files after a certain

duration of time has passed. 

You can always choose to upgrade and purchase the whole collection!

The session will start with group shots and then we will do all of the poses with the kids. (Before we lose their attention!) Next, we'll focus on individual family photos, kids, siblings, couples, etc. After that, we'll move on to some fun candid photos! Kids running around, parents playing with the kids, etc. We will have fun, I promise! Family session pricing is for families of 4 or less. For each additional person, it is a $25.

I DO!!! I am not only the photographer. But I am a licensed cosmetologist & graduated from Paul Mitchell in 2007. I offer hair and makeup services as well as sell the cosmetics I will be using on you. However, you are more than welcome to bring your own makeup as well. I do recommend a pre-trail on the makeup application. So we can make sure the colors and everything match with your skintone. 

f you live in the state of SC I have to collect sales tax on your purchases just like if you were to buy something in a physical store. If you live outside of SC and I am shipping your items out of state you are responsible for paying sales tax on your purchases to your own state and I don’t collect this from you.

In most states like SC, photography service is considered part of the “fabrication process”. The product you are receiving could be a physical album, a few prints, or it could be a DVD with digital copies of the pictures. Or even a website that you download the digital files.  Even digital copies on a flash drive etc. of pictures are considered a product, eventually you will print or share them, and all the work that goes into that product is taxable as well. 

You may find a photographer that doesn’t charge sales tax or that separates cost. However if they are audited, they could be driven out of business all together with the cost of back taxes. I make sure I do everything correctly by collecting proper SC sales tax.

All sessions require a signed online contract with a $150 retainer to hold your date(s). The remaining balance is due the day of the session and I typically send out the final invoices on Sundays for the week and touch base with clients 12-24 hours before their session to discuss final details and any concerns about the weather. Tips are not expected but are certainly appreciated for great service. Tips can be added to your final payment when you check out or can be sent via Venmo @Southern_Bell4u via Friends and Family and not as a service.

As a client, you will have access to download the high resolution images from your session to save on your computer or external device. You do have the option to print your images from any print vendor of your choice even though the gallery is linked to a professional print vendor.

However, the "rights" of the images as it pertains to the copyright is retained by myself, the photographer. This means that you cannot use your images for things like self-advertising, commercial advertising, or sell the image to any other company for use or profit. These images are for you and your family to enjoy personally, not for resale. 

Non-beach/local sessions- your deposit is applied to a rescheduled date and time. Beach/vacationers- We will keep a backup rain date and time. This might be a sunrise time if that is all I have available. If all attempts have been made to reschedule and it still rains, the vendor will refund the deposit. If the client refuses any date and time offered to attempt to reschedule then the deposit is not refundable.

We do not offer refunds of any kind. You are paying for my skills and talents and I highly suggest you look at my portfolio before contacting me to make sure what you are looking for matches my style of photography & editing. There are a million photographers out there and we all have our very own style of photography & editing. Make sure you find the perfect one for you!