Murrells Inlet photographer takes international focus in Miss Universe Iceland photo shoot

Clayton Stairs cstairs@southstrandnews.com  @SouthStrandNews

• Thursday, October 6, 2016

Leifsdottir gives a sultry pose for a headshot photo during the session.

Photos

A Murrells Inlet photographer, who has worked with dozens of beauty pageant contestants through the years, recently had a unique experience — a photo shoot with Miss Universe Iceland.

Jonathan Carter, owner of Carter Studios, and his staff welcomed Hildur Maria Leifsdottir for a 12-hour photography session in September. He said it was an honor to work with a pageant titleholder from so far away.

“We’ve been working with the Miss Universe organization for about 10 years now, but we’ve never worked outside the country, so this is a big opportunity for us,” Carter said.

Leifsdottir came to Carter Studios for a variety of headshots, including natural light shots and casual wear, for the Miss Universe Pageant set to take place in the Philippines in January.

“I think it is just fantastic to be traveling around the states,” Leifsdottir said, “and it is a lot of fun to be here and to meet all of these people.”

She said the photos she saw were very good.

“I think the photos are coming out great,” she said. “I have just seen a few of them, but I think they are amazing. (Jonathan) knows what he is doing.”

Jorge Esteban, director for Miss Universe Iceland, organized the shoot for Leifsdottir. He has known Carter for five years and has worked with him before.

“I have a company called Pageant Smart, which helps young women prepare for the interview and communications part of a pageant, whether it is a personal interview, onstage questions or use of body language,” Esteban said. ”When I became the director for Miss Universe Iceland, these are the people I trusted to do her headshots, to make sure her portfolio of her photography is where it needs to be.”

Esteban said Leifsdottir won the Miss Universe Iceland title because the judges liked her spark and her presence on stage.

“Hilder had an amazing interview with the judges and she really connected with them on different levels,” he said. “She is beautiful and she has a sporty side, being a handball player and snowboarder, and a world traveler, working as a flight attendant for a major Icelandic airline.”

Esteban and Leifsdottir had other stops in the U.S., including Mt. Airy, Maryland, where they visited one of her wardrobe sponsors, and Clarksburg, West Virgnia, where a sponsor is creating her evening gown for the pageant. After the shoot in Murrells Inlet, they were headed to Charleston to meet with her nutrition sponsor, then on to Miami, Florida, to meet with hair and makeup sponsors.

“We are trying to get in as much as we can,” Esteban said. “It is going to be about three weeks total that we are going to be on the road.”

He said then the two will head back to Iceland, where Leifsdottir will start her philanthropy work and get ready for the Miss Universe Pageant.

“So far we have her working with a children’s hospital in Reykjavik, Iceland,” he said. “Then we are also looking to get her involved with helping the elderly.”

Carter, a former student of Socastee High School in Myrtle Beach, spent most of his youth in New York and came back to live in the Murrells Inlet area in 1995. He and his wife, Heather, opened Carter Studios in Myrtle Beach and then, five years ago, at its current location on U.S. Highway 17 Business in Murrells Inlet.

Carter, who is a self-taught photographer, said he has worked with Miss America state titleholders all over the country, as well as doing commercial work, portrait work, senior photos and wedding photography.

“I was the official photographer for Miss USA and we worked with the current Miss USA, Deshauna Barber, before she won,” Carter said. “She was Miss Washington, D.C.”

He shot all of the titleholders’ headshots at the pageant for the program book and for the show. He said it will be interesting to see Miss USA compete with Miss Universe Iceland in the upcoming pageant since he has worked with both.

“Deshauna is the only Miss Universe titleholder I’ve worked with other than Miss Universe Iceland,” he said. “We will see what happens.”

For more information about Carter Studios, visit the website at www.carterstudios.com.

http://www.southstrandnews.com/20161006/161009937/murrells-inlet-photographer-takes-international-focus-in-miss-universe-iceland-photo-shoot