The Lowcountry isn’t foreign to incredibly creative individuals. In fact, some might say that talented artists with an adoration for nature seem to flock to this corner of the coast. Before Nurnberg Photography moved into it’s current location in the city of Beaufort, the neighboring town of Port Royal was home to the studio for seven years. I recently had the good fortune of crossing paths with internationally known abstract painter, Jennifer Jones, who now has her studio in Port Royal, coincidentally, just one block from where mine used to sit.

One of the portrait images I photographed of Jennifer using my drone.

Jennifer reached out to me on referral from a mutual friend and I happened to love her work. We became fast friends and I began to photograph her artwork before the pieces were shipped out to clients and galleries across the nation. Later we discovered that we had a second common thread; a mutual friend and internationally recognized fine art photographer who had shared an exhibit with Jennifer in Europe!

A few portraits of Jennifer we made during the photo shoot for Beaufort Lifestyle Magazine.

When I suggested to Beaufort Lifestyle Magazine, a regional publication that I photograph for quite often, that they use Jennifer for their artist feature they were thrilled with the idea. Ms. Jones and I were both happy to spend a sunny morning at Port Royal’s Sands Beach and around her studio photographing for the May issue. With her studio so close to such a serene location, Jennifer often finds herself going on walks to the observation tower to soak up the inspiration that comes with Lowcountry living. Now that I am an FAA certified commercial drone pilot, I thought a few portraits using my drone with Jennifer perched atop the observation tower would be a fun way to showcase this beautiful place. By looking at the above photographs taken with my drone of the marsh and, below, at Jennifer’s impressive paintings, one can see how the textures and colors of nature inspire her creations.

Some of the photographs that I took with my drone are seen above.

Jennifer’s work is beautiful, as you can see in the images here, although these small images can’t quite do these pieces justice. Stand before one of these four to six foot large format paintings in person and the word ‘exquisite’ will surely come to mind.

Examples of four of Jennifer’s larger format paintings

It was a lot of fun watching her creative process and witnessing these fantastic pieces of art come to life. Jennifer is just an all around fun person to be near and I felt honored that she was willing to not only let me share images of her paintings, but that she invited me into her process and allowed me to photograph her as she created.

Jennifer at work in her Port Royal, SC studio.

My assistant, and talented photographer, Charlotte Berkeley, made these fun behind the scenes images of me photographing and working with Jennifer during our editorial shoot, including a few of me piloting my drone.

If you’d like to find out more about Jennifer and her artwork you can find more on her website: http://jenniferjljones.com/

The magazine article can be seen here:  http://www.beaufortlifestyle.com/brushstrokes-of-the-lowcountry/

And a special thank you to my good friend Morgan Ellis for the copy-writing help!

Some people ask so here are some technical details. The main camera I used is a Canon 5D mark IV, a 24 – 105 mm IS L lens, and a 24- 70 mm 2.8 L lens. In the studio I used an Aileen Bee mono light to add a bit of fill to the existing light. Also a California Sunbounce reflector. The sUAVs ( drone) I used for this is a DJI Phantom 4 with an iPad as screen on the controller.