My father-in-law Paul Hopkins treated our family to a Christmas Eve morning ride on Myrtle Beach’s Sky Wheel.

It was a surprise for the kids and a hard one to keep during the ride downtown.

rlh

After leaving the newspaper, one of the things I missed most was shooting sports. There is something vital to photographers when you are able to become part of the action and work through the time lag between when you hit the shutter and when the shutter trips.

Tuesday night I photographed the CCU-LSU basketball game for the sports information department at CCU. I was able to help them get images for their website and to post them immediately after the game.

Best of all I got paid for doing something I love.

It was cool when I first saw my name tag on the press table noted as “Randall Hill Photography” instead of the normal “Photographer / The Sun News”. This more than anything gave me pride that I was on the road to Independence and I could make it on my own.

rlh

I just finished upgrading both my websites with a new feature that expands the images to the size monitor the sites are being viewed on. This is in anticipation that folks are moving to web viewing on the road via their phones or Ipads and at home via large screen TV that are web enabled.

Please feel free to check out the new sites and let me know what you think.

www.randallhillphoto.com is my editorial site filled with images and video from work I do for media and magazine outlets.

www.randallhillweddings.com is my wedding and portrait site.

rlh

Saturday I was honored to cover the Native American wedding service for Scott and Betty Lawrence of Myrtle Beach. Thirty-five years have passed for Scott and Betty since they were first childhood sweethearts in West Virginia in the mid-1970s. In a ceremony mixed with Cherokee and Christian beliefs, the two finally got a chance to come together after other relationships kept them apart.

Lead by Rev. Dr. Craig Talbot and Mother Earth Beat, (an all-female Native drum circle) Betty and Scott took their vows on a remote farm outside of Conway. I hope my photos tell the story of the day and give an indication of how great a ceremony it was.

Click here to see more photos and to view my gallery.

Also if you get a chance check out my new facebook page and give me a “like”

rlh

For our first wedding anniversary, Chris and I traveled to New York City and I got the opportunity to do a little city street shooting. Check out my gallery of images from the trip.

New York City/Sept. 2011

rlh

Last Sunday I did a portrait session at the Myrtle Beach Train Depot for Betty Mathews and her kids visiting for the summer vacation. Her daughter Jamie had beautiful brown eyes and a warm spirit. We spent an hour taking various photos of Betty and the kids and the best part was I was asked to include their cool hats.

rlh

Today I finally went live with my weddings site www.randallhillweddings.com. Please check it out and keep me in mind for any friends or family that might need my services for the summer season.

Also for those that might need my services for editorial and music photography and video, that site is at

www.randallhillphoto.com

Randall

Sunday I visited my temple the Wat Carolina in Bolivia, N.C., for the last day of the 27th monk conference of the Dhammayut order of Buddhism in America. Just under 100 monks from all over the world attended the conference. It was the most monks I’ve encountered in one room including my trip to Thailand in 2004.

The energy level at the temple was high and one could see the pride on the face of our Abbot Chao Khun. I was excited to get a chance to visit with many former resident monks who have since moved to other temples after their stay in North Carolina.

Click here to see a gallery of my images from Sunday.

Randall

Today I’d like to announce a new website. www.randallhillphoto.com

Over the last two weeks I’ve been gathering, sorting, laughing, crying, over my massive collection of images taken throughout my career. In the end I chose the photos and videos I thought would help me get work in my new endeavor as an independent editorial and wedding photographer. I will wear many hats in this new role but I hope you will enjoy looking over the images and spreading the word.

Randall Hill

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The latest Common Chords highlights father and daughter Duke Tinnes and Sista Otis.

I met Duke recently at a local jam session and was impressed by his talent and warm personality. He is a man who wears his heart on his sleeve.

From the start of any encounter with Duke the conversation will quickly turn to the pride he has in his daughter and her music career. He is very proud of the success she has gained since she hit the road with guitar in hand at the age of 19.

Click here to go to my Common Chords blog to see more videos about the musicians.

rlh