Chimney Sweep in Westcott, SC

Two weeks of no-excuse-needed early voting kicks off Oct. 24 at more than 100 locations statewide, giving South Carolinians more options than ever for casting a ballot with hopefully little to no wait.

It’s South Carolina’s first general election under a Statehouse law signed by Gov. Henry McMaster in May which directed each county to open up to seven early voting sites for 12 days through the Saturday before Election Day.

All locations must open to voters from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. in all 46 counties from the coast to the mountains.

The exception is Oct. 30, as the law forbids Sunday voting.

Early voters can choose whatever site is most convenient for them within the county where they’re registered, whether that’s close to home, work or shopping. They aren’t limited by their home address.

“Early voting is a big deal for South Carolina,” state Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire said. “It gives a lot more access, more options for busy people to go vote. That’s the biggest benefit.”

It also should reduce stress on poll workers and give them more time to fix problems as they arise, which in turn also benefits voters, he said.

“Whatever line you’ve had before will be better,” Whitmire said.

The 111 early voting sites statewide represent a 35 percent increase from the total that opened before the June primaries, when election officers had less than three weeks to put the new rules into practice.

Nineteen of South Carolina’s rural counties are still offering a single location, usually at their main election office.

Some of the most-populous counties are providing several additional options. For example, Lexington went from one to five. Charleston County, which also offered a single site in June, is among three counties opening the maximum seven.

Greenville and Horry counties are the other two with seven.

Voting sites for every county can be found on the S.C. Election Commission website at scvotes.gov/voters/early-voting. By law, each county election office must also post local locations on its own website.

Voting absentee by mail is also underway. Those who qualify include people who are 65 and older, have physical disabilities, or work a job that doesn’t allow them to vote in person during the two-week early voting window. Applications must be in by Oct. 28. People returning a mailed ballot in person must show identification.

Charleston County, which has opened satellite offices since 2016 under prior law that required an excuse for voting early, has planned since January to open seven once the legislation passed. But when the final version didn’t allow for mobile sites as intended, the county reverted to one, but only for the primaries, said Isaac Cramer, director of the Charleston County Board of Elections.

Local sites for this election include four libraries and two churches spread out from Hollywood to Mount Pleasant, with the largest site being the North Charleston Convention Center. That was a popular spot for voters in November 2020, Cramer said.

Amid the pandemic, legislators passed a temporary law allowing no-excuse-needed in-person absentee voting for that election only. One problem was that access varied widely across the state. Even so, it marked the first time that more South Carolinians voted early than on Election Day.

Two years later under the new law requiring options with standardized hours, Charleston County has added sites on James Island, Johns Island and Hollywood.

“We wanted to expand to areas with population growth and rural areas so people across the county would have shorter distances to travel,” Cramer said.

The more than 150 additional workers hired specifically for early voting began weeklong training sessions Oct. 17. They’re prepared for busy, 12-hour days. They’ll stay on through Election Day at $15 an hour, which becomes $22.50 hourly for required overtime, he said.

In the Upstate, Greenville and Spartanburg counties each hired dozens of additional poll workers for early voting.

Staffing concerns are partly why Spartanburg went with three offerings for its first election with multiple sites, said its elections director, Adam Hammons.

Since turnout is generally lower for midterm elections than in presidential contests, “starting with three early voting centers that are fully staffed and ready for voters was our decision,” he said.

It’s among 10 counties opening three locations.

Others include nearby Pickens County, Dorchester County in the Lowcountry, and York County south of Charlotte, as well as rural Barnwell and Hampton counties along the Georgia line.

Georgetown and Beaufort counties are each operating four sites.

Georgetown officials didn’t see a reason to open the max, said elections director Aphra McCrea.

There was an obvious need for a location in the Waccamaw Neck, a peninsula east of the Waccamaw River that is where most voters live. The county office made sense as it’s already equipped to handle early voting. The other two were put in locations convenient for rural residents, McCrea said.

Lexington and Richland are the only counties offering five locations.

Richland County has had more shakeups at its long-troubled election agency in the last few months, to include the resignation of its director. But interim director Terry Graham, who also submitted a resignation letter before agreeing to stay through the elections, insisted the county is prepared for the election and early voting.

County officials considered expanding to six but decided it lacked sufficient workers and money for an additional site, he said.

“Money always is a deciding factor. If we could do more, we would do more,” he said. “We didn’t want to spread ourselves too thin by adding more people and more locations.”

Spencer Donovan contributed from Greenville. Leah Hincks contributed from Columbia. Mike Woodel contributed from Georgetown. Nicole Ziege contributed from Myrtle Beach.

A few weeks ago, I got my hands on a light modifier I've always wanted to have in our studio. Westcott's brand new Optical Spot is one of the coolest and most useful light modifiers I've ever seen, and in today's video, I'm going to show you why you might want one or two for your photography!

Over the years, I've accumulated a ton of photography gear. Most of it is essentials like cameras, light stands, tripods, and sync cables, but I also have a ton of crazy and quirky light modifiers and gadgets I thought I'd use but wound up never touching. The Optical Snoot by Westcott falls in the essentials category, and I'm already thinking of buying a second or third one because they are so useful.

What is an optical spotlight modifier? An optical spot is a snoot with a lens on the front that allows you to make a narrow beam of light and focus it to create sharp edges. If you've ever tried to create a sharp shadow across your seamless paper or project sharp foliage on your background, you know it's almost impossible to get anything that has a sharp edge. There is an amazingly technical book called Light - Science, and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting that helped me immensely when I first started trying to understand how lighting worked with photography. Without getting too geeky here, as the light leaves your flash and passes by the object you want to project against your background (known as a gobo or go-between), the light refracts and scatters as it hits the final material. This causes the edges to be blurred or out of focus.

The solution to this problem is to focus the light after the Gobo. By focusing the light after your gobo, you can project as soft or sharp as you want. For a system like this to be practical, you are going to need a specific light modifier that uses small gobos and a built-in lens so everything is easily mounted and easy to use. Luckily, there are a few options used by professionals, but many of these, like the Profoto Pro Zoom Spot by Dedolight, are over $1,000 used, and many of them are out of production. Thankfully, fashion photographer Lindsay Adler understood the need for a reasonably affordable alternative and teamed up with Westcott to produce the Optical Spot.

In the video above, I outline many of the features the Optical Spot offers as well as some of my criticisms, but I'll quickly give you an overview here in written form as well.

Advantages

This light modifier is super powerful and the possibilities are limitless. If you are a portrait photographer who wants to control the lighting on your background, the Optical Spot makes it incredibly easy to project any shape onto your canvas, seamless paper, or native wall. If you like shooting fashion photography and want to create strange and quirky lighting effects on your model's face, this thing makes that extremely easy as well. Perhaps you are a product photographer or shoot architecture and love to add specific highlights on your products or interiors. This will allow you to create the effect directly in camera and keep you from having to build it in Photoshop. Unlike large softboxes or tight reflector dishes, the Optical Spot is more than a one-trick pony and can give you a ton of options in a single package.

Disadvantages

Every awesome light modifier comes with a few drawbacks, and this light modifier is not perfect. The main problem is it is designed for strobes with LED modeling lamps to help keep everything running cool. In the video above, I use the Optical Spot with a Profoto D1 that has an incandescent bulb, which is not recommended by Westcott, and the modifier gets extremely hot. Like, grab your oven mittens hot! Another issue I had with this light modifier is something not unique to the Optical Spot but with all modifiers using a lens or fresnel is that you need someone managing the light while you shoot. I found it to be nearly impossible to get the perfect lighting on my subject's face while also maintaining a fluid and organic photoshoot. Having an assistant work with you and your model is going to make your life a lot easier.

Finally, there are a few design choices that I think could be improved upon, like making the Gobo holder a different size, shape, or color to help differentiate it from the four other metal leaves. Also, the mechanism for attaching the gobo holder itself isn't quite as elegant as it could be, and I found myself inserting the holder off-kilter. The mounting isn't something you can do without looking at the modifier; instead, you have to perfectly line everything up, which isn't as easy as you'd think.

Overall, I love this light modifier and think it offers a ton of lighting flexibility and creativity. In the test shoot I did in the studio, I used the light modifier up front and center with some crazy effects lighting my friend Christie Trainer. I think they turned out well, and I'm excited to play around with this style of lighting more in the future. As fun as these fashion-forward shots are, I can easily see myself using this light modifier more subtly by blurring effects on the background or creating dabbled light across a full set. The Optical Spot could also be super handy in lighting video sets where you want a specific pattern, say late day sun shining through trees, to be projected permanently through a modeling light. The possibilities are endless, and if you want to start projecting multiple patterns at the same time, I can easily see myself buying one or two more of these just to give the maximum amount of lighting options on more complex shoots.

Gear Used in This Shoot

Topics:

Fstoppers Originals

Gear

Lighting

Studio

EXTON, Pa., Oct. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Iron Hill Brewery ("Iron Hill" or the "company"), a globally acclaimed craft brewery and scratch kitchen, today announced Chris Westcott will step into the role of its new Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Westcott will continue Iron Hill's growth in new markets throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions and brings with him expertise honed through a long and distinguished career in the restaurant industry.

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"I am honored to be joining such a celebrated, award-winning brand and look forward to partnering with the talented leadership team to continue Iron Hill's legacy of delivering quality food and beverage, alongside unmatched service experiences." said Westcott.

Most recently, Mr. Westcott served as the Chief Executive Officer of Rosa Mexicano, a full-service restaurant offering fresh, contemporary, upscale Mexican cuisine in New York City and other major metropolitan areas. Prior to Rosa Mexicano, he spent over 20 years with McCormick & Schmick's Seafood & Steaks and participated in the brand's growth from 8 to 93 units. Chris's entrepreneurial and creative spirit also led him to open and operate his own restaurants earlier in his career. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Mr. Westcott chose the restaurant industry at an early age, rising through the ranks in various operational roles before moving to the executive level of nationally recognized restaurant brands.

"We are excited to bring someone with Chris's background to the Iron Hill family. His culinary experience is impressive and complements Iron Hill's commitment to both traditional and innovative from scratch cooking," said Kevin Finn, Co-Founder, Chairman of the Board and Acting CEO. "Culturally, I believe Chris brings the same values and commitments to our guests and our employees that I instilled at Iron Hill since the first restaurant opening in 1996."

"As we move forward and continue our expansion into new regions, I look forward to working with Chris to introduce our unique, locally brewed seasonal and signature beers to new guests and to continue exploring new ideas in the craft beer universe," commented Mark Edelson, Co-Founder and Head of Brewery Operations.

"Chris's breadth and depth of experience, leadership style and success winning the hearts and minds of the organizations he has led sets him apart in the industry," said Nathan Myers, Principal with A&M Capital Opportunities, the lead investor in the Company.

Iron Hill serves local communities, brews its own craft beers on-site, and offers a complete food menu made from scratch daily. It prides itself on excellent service and direct engagement with the guest throughout the entire experience. Demonstrative of the company's aggressive expansion plans, Iron Hill opened four locations during the pandemic. They include an Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant in Newtown, PA as well as two locations in the greater Atlanta, GA market (Buckhead and Perimeter). In December 2020, Iron Hill opened its new concept, Iron Hill Brewery TapHouse, an elevated fast casual concept offering a one of kind laid-back vibe foraging innovative fare and award-winning craft beer. The TapHouse also houses the companies first large-scale production brewery with the ability to produce 20,000 barrels of beer annually, about 20 times the amount at one of its restaurants.

About Iron HillFounded in Newark, DE in 1996 by Kevin Finn, Mark Edelson and Kevin Davies, Iron Hill is the most award-winning brewery east of the Mississippi River, and one of the most enduringly successful craft brewery and restaurant concepts in the United States. Now with 20 locations across DE, NJ, PA, SC, and GA, each Iron Hill features an on-site craft brewery and scratch kitchen, pairing the freshest ingredients with the highest quality grains and hops. In 2020, the group expanded with the opening of its first large, full-scale production brewery in Exton, PA to bring the same delicious craft signature beer and seasonal favorites to larger consumer audiences. Iron Hill also unveiled the TapHouse at the Exton brewery, an elevated fast-casual concept offering an upbeat, inviting atmosphere, must try food and award-winning beer. For more information, visit www.IronHillBrewery.com.

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Iron Hill Brewery has laid out “a pretty aggressive growth plan” for the coming years as the Wilmington company looks to ramp up its presence in existing markets while also expanding into new states, CEO Chris Westcott said.

Part of Westcott’s strategy since stepping in as CEO last October has been an emphasis on growing the 20-location brand into additional territories, positioning it to “become a bigger player” in the hospitality industry, he said. Northern Virginia, Maryland and Columbus, Ohio are top of mind.

The goal is to open about five new locations per year for the next five years, he added. The first couple would be full-service restaurants, while the following few would be the company’s more fast-casual TapHouse model that got its start last year in Exton.

Iron Hill Brewery is using “a hub and spoke model” to actualize that growth, Westcott said, meaning the brand plans to enter new territories by opening a full-service restaurant and then “sprinkle in” some of the smaller-version TapHouses in the surrounding area. The idea is to increase brand awareness in a new market with the full-size product before branching out. In already established markets, the brand can dive right in to rolling out new TapHouses.

For example, a few years ago Iron Hill Brewery opened a full-service outpost in Greenville, South Carolina. It’s now looking at several sites in Greenville, Spartanburg and up into Charlotte, North Carolina, for potential TapHouses because the original Greenville outpost “is tucked in close to those other communities,” Westcott said.

Iron Hill Brewery currently has a location under construction in Columbia, South Carolina, and a year after its opening would look to debut TapHouses “in other pocket areas of Columbia,” Westcott said. The same is true in Atlanta, where Iron Hill Brewery currently operates two locations.

The expansion model takes extra planning as the company grapples with ongoing labor shortages and supply chain issues, Westcott said. Items that used to arrive in 12 to 16 weeks now come in 40 to 50 weeks, meaning you have to think a year in advance, he said.

“That just gets costly because you have requirements to open in a certain time from the point where you sign your lease,” said Westcott, who was formerly CEO of restaurant chain Rosa Mexicano. “So it's more stressful, it's more expensive. Cost is out of control.”

Westcott also sees “plenty of room” to build additional TapHouses in Pennsylvania “without cannibalizing” Iron Hill Brewery’s existing full-service restaurants. The brand is similarly eyeing additional space in South Jersey, where Westcott noted liquor licenses can go for three times the cost in Pennsylvania — which is already known to be hefty versus other markets.

New locations will largely begin launching in 2023. While the Covid-19 omicron variant dealt another blow to the hospitality industry at the start of this year, Iron Hill Brewery decided to spend 2022 focusing on revamping its existing fleet, which includes 20 locations throughout Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Georgia.

Special attention is being paid to refreshing Iron Hill Brewery outposts that are at least 15 years old, Westcott said. Many such locations have outdated layouts, including separated dining spaces that date back to former smoking and non-smoking sections.

Investments are ranging from $150,000 to $325,000 for improvements at existing locations, he added.

The Ardmore outpost is on the cheaper end of that scale, for example, while Lancaster is on the upper level because the brand looks to remove separation between dining areas, expand the bar, modernize design while moving away from the “older steakhouse-looking furnishings,” and revamp floor coverings.

Such investments will better bridge the older Iron Hill Brewery locations with the new forthcoming outposts, Westcott said.

As Iron Hill Brewery works to expand its reach, the company is also focusing on finding new ways to connect with customers.

One method is via an upcoming quarterly subscription program dubbed “The Craft Beer Society,” where members would have access to exclusive brews. Membership costs $40 per quarter and includes two 16-ounce cans of four beers.

Iron Hill looks to launch the program in time for Father’s Day.

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Stetson is off to its first 3-0 start since the football program was reborn in 2013 and two area residents had a big hand in the Hatters’ 19-14 victory over Marist last week in the Pioneer League opener for both teams in DeLand.

Running back Jareem Westcott, a Nease graduate, gained 113 yards in 22 carries and linebacker Colby Duncan, a First Coast graduate, had six tackles, two for losses, along a pass break-up and a hurry.

Duncan’s pass break-up couldn’t have come at a better time.

Marist had a fourth-and-goal at the Hatters’ 6 yard line late in the game, and attempted a trick play, with quarterback Mike Husni handing the ball off to running back David Shannon III then drifting into the end zone as a receiver.

Duncan came out of nowhere to bat the ball away and preserve the victory.

“I was squeezing the tackle. I took a few steps and saw the quarterback peel off,” Duncan told the Daytona News-Journal “I just freaked out and tried to sprint back and make a play.”

Stetson took the lead for good on a long drive in the fourth quarter in which Westcott carried the ball six consecutive times for 42 yards. He came out of the game and on the next play Matt Taft scored from the 4 yard line with 8:35 left.

There are several other strong performances by area running backs on Saturday: Jamauri Wakefield (Providence) gained 72 yards on 14 carries in Vanderbilt’s 37-14 loss to South Carolina; De’Sean McNair (Ribault) had 90 yards on 16 carries and two TDs to lead Elon over Charleston Southern 31-22, including the go-ahead score late in the third quarter; and Tee Mitchell (Bolles) had 52 yards and a score in Mercer’s 38-31 loss to The Citadel.

Three area quarterbacks stood out on Saturday, Ivory Dunham (Raines) for Valdosta State, Evan Orth (Fletcher) for South Alabama and Jacob Mezera (Orange Park) for Fort Hays State.

Dunham two two long-distance TD passes for the Blazers, 44 yards to Kenny Benjamin and 51 yards to Reshad Washington in Valdosta’s 52-0 victory over Shorter. Dunham completed six of nine passes for 113 yards and also gained 43 yards on three carries.

Orth was 24 of 32 for 360 yards and three touchdowns, and had a 15-yard run in the Jaguars’ 52-35 loss to Memphis. He threw an 11-yard TD pass to Zac Crosby (Bolles)

Mezera completed 18 of 23 passes for 237 yards and four touchdown passes in a 56-20 victory over Missouri Southern. Mezera threw all of his TD passes in the first half.

FBS

• Linebackers Shaq Quarterman (Oakleaf) had five tackles and Michael Pinckney (Raines) had three in Miami’s 31-17 victory over Florida International. Deejay Dallas (Glynn Academy) gained 28 yards rushing. Tackle Anthony Johnson (Camden County) of FIU had four tackles.

• North Carolina's William Sweet (First Coast) was selected as the ACC's Offensive Lineman of the Week. Sweet graded out at 91 percent in the Tar Heels' 38-35 win over Pittsburgh. He was credited with 10 knockdown blocks.

• Wake Forest linebacker Ryan Smenda (Fleming Island) had three tackles in the Deacons’ 56-27 loss to Notre Dame.

• FSU wide receiver D.J. Matthews (Trinity) caught three passes for 23 yards and returned three punts for 26 yards in the Seminoles’ 37-19 victory over Northern Illinois.

• Tight end Chris Cunningham (Atlantic Coast) caught a 13-yard touchdown pass that enabled Virginia Tech to tie Old Dominion 35-35 with 7:15 left. But ODU scored twice after that to win 49-35.

• Linebacker Victor Alexander (Trinity) and defensive back Lamont Simmons (Raines) have seven tackles each in Georgia Tech’s 45-21 loss to Clemson.

• North Carolina linebacker Dominique Ross had five tackles and a hurry in the Tar Heels’ 38-35 victory over Pittsburgh.

• Central Florida outlasted Florida Atlantic with the help of linebacker Trysten Hill (Suwannee), who had six tackles and half a tackle for loss. Running back Otis Anderson (University Christian) had 15 yards on four carries. FAU wide receiver Willie Wright (Raines) caught six passes for 58 yards.

• Strong safety Nick Roberts (Oakleaf) had five solo tackles and eighth in all to help South Florida stay unbeaten with a 20-13 victory over East Carolina. ECU got 40 yards rushing from Hussein Howe (University) and tight end Anthony Watley (Atlantic Coast) caught two passes for 13 yards.

• Free safety Javon Hagan (Trinity) led Ohio University with 11 tackles in a 34-30 loss to Cincinnati.

• The aptly-named cornerback Hasan Defense (Atlantic Coast) had eight tackles, one for a loss, for Kansas in a 26-7 loss to Baylor.

• Marshall hung tough before losing 37-20 to N.C. State and cornerback Jaylon McClain-Sapp (First Coast) had four solo tackles and broke up a pass.

• Cornerback Roger Cray (Columbia) had five tackles in the Hilltoppers’ 28-20 victory over Ball State.

• Wide receiver D.J. Stubbs (University) caught six passes for 95 yards in Liberty’s 47-7 loss to North Texas. Cornerback Jeremy Peters (Clay) had nine tackles.

• Ole Miss strong safety Zedrick Woods (Columbia) had seven tackles and broke up a pass in a 38-17 victory over Kent.

• Tyler Murray (Baldwin) continues to make big plays for Troy. He broke up two passes and had a hurry in the Trojans’ 35-27 victory over Louisiana-Monroe.

• Coastal Carolina beat Louisiana 30-28 with the help of two key players on defense. Safety Brayden Matts (Sandalwood) had six tackles and a sack and linebacker Laqavious Paul (Columbia) had five tackles, two for losses.

FCS

• Cole Loden (Camden) blocked a punt that was returned for a touchdown as Kennesaw routed Clark 70-13.

• Princeton overwhelmed Monmouth 51-9 and safety T.J. Floyd (Bolles) had five tackles, a half-sack and an interception.

• Wide receiver Bishop Bonnett (Raines) caught two passes for 70 yards and a touchdown in Florida A&M’s 31-13 victory over Savannah State. Rashad Saxton (Atlantic Coast) had 30 yards rushing and caught two passes for 24 yards for Savannah and Jaylen McCloud (Bolles) had 24 yards on the ground with a touchdown.

• Defensive end Darrell Johnson (Camden) had a strong overall game in North Carolina A&T’s 16-13 loss to Morgan State. Johnson had four tackles, two for losses, a sack and broke up a pass.

• Chattanooga beat Samford 27-20, with defensive back D.J. Jackson (Fort White) making six tackles, one for a loss, with an interception and a hurry.

• Defensive tackle Darrell Henderson (Duval Charter) had four tackles, a sack and broke up a pass in Alcorn’s 56-20 victory over Mississippi Valley State.

NCAA Division II and below

• Linebacker Joe Harris (Fletcher) had six tackles and recovered a fumble in St. Augustine’s (N.C.) 32-22 loss to Bowie State.

• Defensive back Tevin Hall (Camden) had 10 tackles in Southwest Baptist’s 28-13 loss to Lincoln (Mo.).

• West Florida best Mississippi College 34-21 with the help of defensive back Derontae Jordan (Columbia) and tackle Austin Dukes (Union County), who had three tackles each.

• Running backs Antonio Wimbush and Demetri Saulsberry (both from Camden) provided the bulk of the offense in Carson-Newman’s 23-3 loss to Newberry. Wimbush had 87 yards on 15 carries and Saulsberry added 21 yards on five attempts.