Charleston Tea Plantation

I recently had the opportunity to visit the only tea plantation in North America (the majority of tea is imported from outside countries) and create some images of this unique historical site.  The Charleston Tea Plantation is located in Wadmalaw Island, SC and it features hundreds of thousands of tea bushes growing over 127 acres.  The plantation is owned by the Bigelow Tea Company and the tea is sold under the brand name American Classic Tea and Charleston Tea Plantation.  There is a tea production facility on site, a free trolley ride around the plantation, and a sizeable gift shop where you can taste different teas and purchase souvenirs.

Because the plantation is basically row after row of plants there wasn't much in variety that I could photograph, but the images below will give you an idea of what a working tea plantation looks like.  To show the scale of the fields I have  included several panoramas for you to view. 

My trip to Charleston concluded at the Angel Oak Park which was near the tea plantation.  The park contains the Angel Oak Tree which is estimated to be between 400-500 years old, it towers 66.5 feet high and has a circumference of 28 feet.  (Wished I had a 360 VR camera).  This tree is so OLD and so MASSIVE its size could only be captured with panoramas and then I was not able to get all of it.    

Enjoy!

 

 Tea Harvester

 

 

Charleston Tea Plantation  

 Angel Oak Park

 

 
 Angel Oak Park

 Click images to enlarge and start a slide show.

Use L/R arrows or scroll mouse to see next image.

Camera:  Canon 5D
Lens:  Canon 24-105mm IS

Post:  Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop

Asha Benamon Prom Session

This time of year kicks off hundreds of photography sessions for high school students starting with PROM!  Guys will be sporting their best suit or a tux and the gals will be wearing killer dresses or other fashion outfits.  For Asha Benamon the dress she chose was perfect for her prom night and one that made her photo session a thing of beauty.  

Although I had approximately 45 minutes to create images of Asha before she dashed off with friends to her local prom location, by meeting with her and her parents the day before the session allowed us to worked together in perfect harmony.  In fact, the more I photographed Asha and as the session progressed I kept telling her mom and dad that she needs to get into modeling.  That's just how well Asha posed in front of the camera and the pictures below confirmed my opinion.

Asha...you could be a top model!  Oh, and you look like a princess in that dress.  Thanks for the awesome photo session we created together.  I'm looking forward to creating your senior portraits. I hope you had a blast at the prom.

Enjoy!

Click images to enlarge and start a slide show.

Use L/R arrows or scroll mouse to see next image.

Camera:  Canon 5D
Lens:  Canon 24-105mm IS
Lighting:  Softbox w/550 Flash & Natural

Post:  Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop
Plugin:  Portraiture Professional