QPSC Takes Charleston!

Charleston, SC is a city that I love to visit.  Not only is it beautiful and filled with lots of culture and history, but the food is amazing!  Half the reason for visiting is to get some good, authentic seafood.  So when I heard there was a photography meetup happening in the holy city I wanted to be a part of it.  The ladies of QPSC (The Queen Photographers of South Carolina) teamed up with Sirena White of Aneris Photography to put together a weekend filled with workshops, styled shoots and fellowship.  To say this weekend was magical was an understatement!

We kicked things off with a styled elopement shoot at the Folly Beach Lighthouse Inlet.  We had a chance to fellowship over breakfast and get to know one another while the models were getting beautified by Addie J of Addie J MUA.  Once moving to our shoot location we broke off into teams of two and began to create beautiful works of art.  A breeze was going, the sun was shining and the day could not have been more perfect.

We followed up our session with lunch and a workshop at Launchpad Charleston.  This space was absolutely amazing!  If you’ve never heard of Launchpad it’s an office space that creatives share.  You can rent out actual offices, boardrooms or a co-working unit.  And because it’s shared by creatives the artwork is so inspiring!  Walking the halls there was always something new to discover.  My favorite discovery was probably the wine on tap courtesy of Boxxle.

During our workshop we heard from speakers like Michiel Perry of Black Southern Belle who gave us tips on how to get published, Somaya Murphy of LivLane Events who created gorgeous customized stemless wine glasses for each of us and I even got a chance to talk about blogging and how to do it well.

Once the workshop ended we began to prepare for our evening of fellowship, food and wine!  We had a wonderful meal at Muse Restaurant + Wine Bar located in the heart of downtown Charleston.  We networked, talked about the adventures of the day, upcoming projects and so much more.  After taking a moment to visit Mother Emanuel Church and reflect on the tragic events that occurred there not even one year ago, we finally headed to bed to get some much needed rest.

Sunday morning found us back at Launchpad for breakfast (I probably shouldn’t mention that my breakfast consisted of a Cupcrazed cupcake early that morning before setting out for the day), a few quick tips by Sirena on how to be the best entrepreneur we can be followed by a styled elopement shoot at The Battery.

We shot throughout the park and then finally made our way into the narrow streets for a photo walk with one of our models (and fellow photograpHER), Sierra.

This entire trip was more than any of us could’ve even thought to imagine.  I’m so grateful to Latoya Dixon and Sierra Collins (who created this great behind the scenes video of our weekend together) for creating QPSC which allowed all of us to come together in the first place.  And to Sirena White for putting together this entire workshop from beginning to end!  She truly outdid herself.  Stay tuned for the next couple of blog posts featuring the styled shoots.  I promise you the photos are worth the wait!