Cole's 5th Birthday...

Even though Cole has been sick for a week we had a Spiderman cake to celebrate his birthday. He still is not feeling well but hopefully he will take a turn for the better after seeing the doctor today.

Busy, Busy...

The last couple of weeks have been really busy and my blog has suffered for this. I have had several family shoots and weddings along with picking up 4 clients who need web pages. We have our last wedding of the year this Saturday then Kirstin, the boys and I will be heading to Florida for Christmas. Not to mention our youngest son has his birthday this Friday....whew...

Hopefully I will be able to get a few shots up before we head out...

On the Way to Bishopville...

Mike and I found this place on the way to Bishopville on Saturday and had to stop for a few shots...

McKenzie Comes Over..

Kirstin and I got to see McKenzie today and my has she grown so fast!! I got a couple of shots of her with Kirstin before she left:

Mike Frys a Turkey...

Mike, Rach, and the kids came over for Thanksgiving yesterday. I had never seen Mike do any type of manual labor so I had to snap a few shots of him frying a turkey. I must say he did a great job!

Filling the needle with cajun butter...

Looking for just the right spots...

I do not know why he had that look so I left at this point...

AWANA Pinewood Derby...

This year Logan had an Air Force themed pinewood care for the AWANA derby. This car was much faster than last year's car. While he did not place he is much closer and hopefully will have it down for next year!

Logan's is in the middle..

Mommy and Cole...

Logan watching intently...

Two Local Vendors...

You have probably seen me blog about two local vendors here in Charleston that we use a bunch. One is Seaside Gift Baskets and the other is Breathe Soy Candles.

Seaside Gift Baskets just added their holiday section so swing by there to check out all the great things you can send to family and friends...most baskets have a Charleston flair to them which makes it even better!

Breathe Soy Candles just added new scents and new holders...My favorites are the Charleston Sweetgrass and CoCo.

13th Anniversary...

Kirstin and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary on November 11th. Over the last 2 years or so Kirstin has been very hard on her iPod...it was thrown away accidentally, has been dropped, fell into water and kicked. I sent it off to be fixed and the estimate was not worth it. Instead of getting a regular iPod I decided to get her one of the new Nanos...Man this thing is small and light! It has 8 gigs of memory and comes in several new colors. Kirstin wanted purple. If you order one online they will engrave it for free..

Team One...

We got our team together to take a few photos at Patriots Point. Credit for the photographs go out to Ray Haupt who was gracious enough to take these for us:

Here the team was fighting the no see 'ems

Mistaken for a Bartender...

So Mike and I photographed a wedding on Sunday that was a total blast. Everything went well and everyone was great to work with. Now at the reception I took a moment to sneak over to where the drinks were to pour myself a nice cup of Diet Coke. As I poured my drink a guest pushes three cups towards me and asks me to please fill her cups with ice. I know I had a confused look on my face which was unintentional, but I obliged and found the ice for her. Something funny like that seems to happen at every wedding we go to. Sorta like the time Mike got pulled over...

;-)

Voted Today...

My voting experience today was pretty good. I stood in line for about 2 hours which was not too terribly bad. 2 of the 8 voting machines were broken at my precinct but the poll workers were courteous and helpful. A couple of people in line were complaining about time in line, why are workers not doing more, where is the coffee, etc...I come to expect anymore.

If you have not voted yet get off your duff and do so ;-) It seems that this election is going to be closer than people expected.

A Long Time in the Making...

Today was a banner day for Kirstin and I...well this weekend was. Saturday we had Mike and Rachel over for dinner and photography talk. Kirstin made potato soup and chocolate chip cookies. Then today Kirstin sang in the choir while I played bass guitar in church. That was a first for us! Hopefully it was the first of many more to come! We both have been praying for her health to improve for years and I think God has sent us a miracle. Her health has improved more in the past 3 weeks than I have seen in the last 3 years. I pray that this trend continues!

This trial has been a very exhausting one but God has seen me through and sustained me when I felt as if I could continue no more. I don't know why storms enter our lives...but two good friends of mine explained it to me this way: "There are people out there watching how you handle this Chip. God is using this to speak to someone...you just do not know who is watching who may come to know Him as a result of you holding steadfast". Those words have helped me get through the tough times and I hope they can help anyone else facing a storm as well. Trust in God and when a miracle happens give him the credit ;-) In our fast paced society we sometimes lose site of the miracles He performs everyday.

Awesome Gift Baskets...

I found a Charleston based gift basket store online the other day and I must tell you that they have some awesome stuff! The website is http://www.seasidegiftbaskets.com/. They have baskets for every occasion like a new baby, girlfriend/wife, weddings, etc. They are reasonably price too! You can not order online just yet but you can view their inventory and make a call to the owner to place your order. Check out the Taste of Charleston section while you are there!

And the Winner is...

Shawn Bacote! Thanks to everyone who participated.

Shawn has graciously decided to step aside and allow our second place finisher to have the prize so that means Chris Darling will receive the cards. Chris came in second by a mere 17 minutes.

Anyone else who still needs Christmas cards check out my earlier post below..we are still running the 25% off special through the end of October.

25 Free Christmas Cards...

For those of you in the Crossroads Community Church Worship Team: The first person to email me the secret phrase gets 25 free Christmas Cards and a 30 min. photo session. The template you win is the one pictured here. It is a 4x5.5 flat card with a front and back. Good luck.

cgooge@gmail.com
Phrase "Calms the Storm"

Picking Out Pumpkins..

We made to Knightsville today and picked out several pumpkins for us to carve out. Above Cole picked out a small one...

Logan also wanted a small one..

At Yesterday's Wedding...

Mike and I had some time before yesterday's wedding to get a few shots of us. This rarely happens but I think we got some pretty good stuff. I'll post some more later but here is one of Mike on the church steps...looking pretty sexy (at least that is what he said).

Christmas Cards Discounted...

For those of you who still need to get your Christmas cards ordered we are taking 25% off our normal prices! If you have not had a family session we will do a 20 minute mini session which is included in the price. All cards are printed on high quality, glossy paper. Other options are available. Prices below are for 25 cards:







4x5.5 Folded $60.00

5x7 Folded $67.00 (pictured bottom)

4x5.5 Flat $55.00 (pictured top)

5x7 Flat $65.00

5x5 Tri Fold $80.00

4x5.5 Accordian $90.00

5x7 Folded Wide $95.00


Contact me at chip@tillmanbranch.com for more information and to see the other designs we carry.

Logan Labels his Dresser & McKenzie Visits...

I went upstairs to tuck Logan in last night. Everything seemed normal. I went to get his clothes for the next day and behold...he had labeled his dresser with a black marker. When asked why he would engage in such malfeasance and he stated, "Sometimes I forget"....



We got to watch little McKenzie today although she isn't really little any more. She has started walking and growing and I don't like it ;-)

Shooting Downtown...

Mike and I met Matt and Sarah who are fellow photographers from NY downtown. They are a super nice couple who turn out so awesome shots!

Here is Mike looking for a shot

Matt with one of the super cool models

Sarah with another

Two of the models: