Every year brings new opportunities, and with those opportunities come new photographs. This year, in addition to my usual wedding and portrait business, I traveled to both Kyrgyzstan and Ethiopia. Both places were eye candy for a photographer, and both places I'd recommend for someone who wants to get unique and stunning photos.

Everyone's idea of what a makes a good photo is different. Some want to follow all the rules of composition, some love good lighting. Some people like a photo for the memories they bring back. The photos I've chosen are a combination of all of these. I know this is a subjective thing, so you might feel differently about some of these. But of all the ten of thousands of photographs I've taken this year, these are 22 of my favorites. There were many more that almost made the list, but you have to stop somewhere. Please enjoy, and let me know what you think. Blessings on the coming year.

I always enjoy when I can put some creativity into the work I'm doing. This goes doubly for portraits. So often, people tell me they don't want any of their wrinkles to show up in the picture, and I understand that. But often that also removes the character and personality from the portrait. So when Mike, who's an author, came along and told me he wanted a dark and moody shot for the bio page on his new book, I was excited.

This portrait was taken with a two light setup. One was to the camera right with a large reflector and diffusor, and the second one was to camera left and behind the subject to illuminate the smoke (yes, there was a smoke machine), and to separate the subject from the background. 

I then processed the image in Adobe Lightroom, bringing down the colors selectively. I think it came out well.

When I got married a long, long time ago, my wife and I didn't know what kind of things should be included in the wedding to make it a more memorable day. What did we know? We were 20 and 22. Now that I'm a wedding photographer, and my wife assists me, we've been to literally hundreds of weddings. I've seen what works and what doesn't work.

Sarah and Kent knew what works. They had tons of details figures out, from the little Catholic chapel where they got married to using a 1942 Ford pickup as a getaway vehicle. As a bonus, they had access to his grandmothers house, which was full of antiques and little details that made the day absolute eye candy for me. Since they live on a boat, they decided to arrive at the reception by boat, which was at the Beaufort Yacht and Sailing Club.

The thing about it though, was that none of it was expensive. They just put a lot of thought into the day. I've shot weddings that had budgets of over $100,000. This one rivaled those in every way, and they'll be able to afford to live afterward.

I got more wonderful photos than I know what to do with from this day, but I'm not going to post all of them. Thanks especially to Renee from RIM photography who was my second shooter. Some of these images are hers. Enjoy, and hopefully this gives you ideas for your own wedding.

To say that the weather was a concern for Kristen and Jason's wedding on Hilton Head was an understatement. Eight months before their wedding, a hurricane hit Hilton Head and downed several hundred thousand trees. These trees were then piled at their original venue. Consequently, their original venue had no choice but to cancel on them. Plan two was to have their wedding at Sea Pines, on the south end of Hilton Head.

I had a conversation with the bride a few days before the wedding, who was watching the wether report for her wedding day with great concern. I tried to reassure her that of the 350 or so weddings I've done, only about three have ever been just completely rained out. Then the day of the wedding came, and it was absolutely pouring. Was I worried about it? No. You see, I've seen enough days like this to know that the pictures are still going to turn out beautiful. Rainy days give beautiful, even lighting. There are always sheltered places to shoot. And eventually, it's going to stop raining, and when that happens, the sky is going to be dramatic. All of that happened. Even though they ended up needing to have the ceremony indoors rather than on the 18th green, their couples pictures turned out awesome. Here are just of few of their pictures, finishing with a shot with the receding storm in the background.

Wollwerth Imagery

Maria and James got married October 30th at a private home on Hilton Head. It was debatable whether it was even going to happen, as Hurricane Matthew hit two weeks before, and the home was right on the ocean. Well, the home survived, and even with the sand dunes gone, it made for a beautiful wedding. I'm not sure why, but there were butterflies all over the beach that day, and they made their way into a number of the pictures. Celebrations Catering and Events did all the setup and catering, and added quite a few details I haven't seen before, including sea glass decorations on the tables.

Maria and James themselves were fantastic. If I could do a wedding like theirs every week, I would. They were there to have fun, and it shows in the pictures. No one was stressed out. They played games during the reception, and were very flexible about getting pictures when the lighting was right. It really goes to show, the less worried you are about the day, the better the pictures turn out. Blessings to you both. It was a pleasure.