Thursday, May 10, 2012

charleston

There is honestly too much to say about my time in Charleston.

The time there was inspiring, exciting, magical, exhausting, intense, and overwhelmingly wonderful.

You may or may not remember that I went there to co-teach a workshop with my dear friend, Helene Dujardin.
The workshop was 3-days/4-nights long and took place in a beautiful beach house in the Isle of Palms.
Over those few days, students participated in 5 photo shoots, visited the amazing Charleston Farmers Market, shared a dinner at the delicious restaurant, Lana, bonded over wine and cheese, laughed a lot, and worked their butts off. Everyone arrived as strangers and left as friends. It was an amazing, awesome few days.

Since Helene and I have worked together before, we were both pretty confident that our first joint workshop would go smoothly. That being said, there was still a bit of nervousness on both our parts. Luckily, we had nothing to fear-- the workshop went better than we could have ever hoped.
Not only did we luck out with an incredible group of women as students, we also found our groove as co-teachers and deepened our friendship in the process.

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Meet our AMAZING chef/kitchen manager/food guru, Laura. We could NOT have done this without her!
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Joe and I spent an additional few days in Charleston and were treated to a world-class tour by Helene's husband, Bill, (aka: Joe's new BFF and budding bromance.)
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One of my favorite memories of the trip was walking down to the dock near Helene and Bill's house.
So beautiful.
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For those of you wondering about future workshops, Helene and I have some VERY exciting plans brewing, particularly for 2013. Stay tuned for a lot of new workshop dates.

In the meantime, though, I want to say a heartfelt THANK YOU to Helene and Bill, for welcoming Joe and I into their home, (we LOVE you guys) and to the ladies of the very first Charleston 3-day workshop. We are so grateful for our time with all of you.

I'll leave you with a photo of Nina and her new boyfriend, Bailey.
Like Joe and I, Nina is missing Charleston and cannot wait to go back. :)

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16 comments:

Unknown said...

Beautiful photos Clare.

The Church Cook said...

Your passion for photography and for people was so evident the moment I meant you, Clare. I feel so privileged to call you my friend and teacher. *Thank you*

Winnie said...

Keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to do one of your 2013 workshops. Magical photos.

Lindsay @ Pinch of Yum said...

Amazing photos. Absolutely amazing.

Shannon Yates said...

Love love love that post! I love how you got shots of lots of us checking our camera settings and composing shots. Your photographs of Charleston are gorgeous. I wish I had more time to spend down there roaming around with a camera. I am pretty sure a family trip will be in the works soon to SC b/c I absolutely loved it. And that picture of you and Helene at dinner is awesome. You have a smile that lights up a room. Thanks for an amazing workshop - I loved every minute.

Courtney @ Bake.Eat.Repeat. said...

I am dying over all this candy. What beautiful, beautiful photos. It's also encouraging to see fellow food photographers assuming all sorts of weird positions to get the perfect shot. I thought I was the only one. :)

Monique said...

Clare.....this is magical. I have heard such great things about Charleston. Big article in saturday's WSJ about this south carolina city. I have to comment on the pop shoppe photo ~ my dad was a partner in this company back in the late 70's in richmond, BC. I grew up on the pop. they recycled the bottles and the consumer got a refund. they were way before their time. my friends always complained how bad the soda was(root beer was good) but my parents never served anything but. i always loved the label. i wonder how that bottle ended up in charleston????

Vera said...

Amazing photos of an amazing place! Wish it was so simple to sign up for your class and fly all the way to the US. I envy your students!

Clare said...

Monique, that is so crazy about the soda bottle! Those bottles are Helene's, and I am not sure where she found them. I love the label too!!

Unknown said...

Oh, wow. It just all looks so dreamy. All of those food photographers together...totally understanding each other's obsession with food andphotography! Wonderful photos...I so enjoyed peeking into one of these workshops.

Joan Leonard said...

What amazing photos, Clare. They draw me into the event and I feel I've experienced a bit of Charleston, SC. I love the marketplace - full of people loving what they do; or is it just that you capture people so well. And the photographers> so intent on getting the perfect shot. Beautiful! all of it.

Roberta said...

Lovely photos!
I would love to attend one of your workshop...never planned to come to Italy?

baci
Roberta

Unknown said...

Oh that looks like it was a blast!! I cannot wait until the farm to table session at Whidby Island. **EEKEK**
Speaking of which, can I expect an email or something with details in the next month or so? I'm starting to think about booking flights is all....Thanks Clare :)

Roxanne Cooke said...

Gorgeous photos. Based on all the blog posts I've read about this workshop, it does indeed sound magical! Here's hoping I can attend one of your workshops in the future. :)

Unknown said...

Just beautiful!! I hope some day I will be able to join you both for a workshop! I've always wanted to visit Charleston and now I know I must go there!

Destination Photographer said...

Very interesting subject, thanks for putting up.