Senior Portraits

Growing up in the mid-west, high school senior portraits were a BIG deal.  It was a given that Mom and Dad had a budget line item for the fall of your senior year.  The portrait session took place, either in a studio or in an agreed upon beautiful location, or both. Mom and Dad then placed their order for prints, books, etc. to “show-off” their child.   The portraits captured us in our true essence.  We weren’t just posed in a drape for a composite portrait, the photographer photographed us with the intention of capturing  who we were at that pivotal time in our lives.

Now living on the East Coast and being a photographer I am baffled by how many people use the school composite photos not only for the year book, but for wall portraits, graduation announcements, etc.

When I work with my high school senior portrait students I learn about them, discover who they are, what their interests are and then work with them to capture their personality in a unique way.  The result is their family has portrait wall art to proudly display for years to come.

Below are a few images from a recent senior portrait session I did.  This young man requested a salvage yard as the location for his portrait session.  Can I tell you that this was one of the most fun shoots I’ve done?  So fun!

This shoot was an all natural light shoot.  The salvage yard was large and was surrounded by trees and farm land so the light varied depending on where we were in the yard.  The light was so fun to work with.  I hope you enjoy the images.

Do you have senior portrait memories to share?

Wild Child

“She’s a wild child
Got a rebel soul with a whole lot of gypsy wild style
She can’t be tied down but for a while
I’ll be falling free and so alive
Might break my heart but God she drives me wild child” ~ Kenny Chesney ~ “Wild Child”

Puppy Love

A portrait of a girl and her puppy at sunset.

This was a fabulously funny shoot.  The puppy, who for the past two days since arriving in his new home had spent a lot of time sleeping.  He found his energy during the shoot and we all experienced a lot of laughs and a lot of chasing!  To view this image in black and white please visit Monochromia for my Thursday post.

SS 1/125 f 3.2 ISO 400

Natural light, back lighting, at sunset.  I shot low to high to capture the summer haze.

 

“My Funeral, My Way”

“Part of building and maintaining a strong on-line presence is having a professional head shot.   Your head shot is the first impression for people looking at your website or social media pages. A professional head shot is your opportunity to prove to your clients and potential clients that you care about quality and have quality products and/or services to offer.” – Robyn Graham

After hearing me say these words in a presentation at a Business and Marketing Jam Session for Women Entrepreneurs, Angela hired me to take her head shots so that she could improve her on-line appearance and hopefully sell more books.

It was a joy working with this beautiful, creative, talented author and entrepreneur.  I believe in her book and am thrilled that she now has nice photographs to represent both her and her book on-line.

About the book:  Let’s face it, no one wants to think about their own death or funeral, but it will some day be a reality.  We can’t avoid it.  If you have been to a funeral recently you’ll be able to relate to Angela’s concept and desire to publish the funeral planning journal.  With that in mind, the journal will help ensure that you have the funeral you hope for and alleviate a lot of planning stress for your loved ones.

Author of “My Funeral, My Way” – Angela De Simone  (Two of my favorite head shots from the shoot with Angela.)

“My Funeral, My Way”

 

 

Lucid Dreaming – A Portrait

Lucid Dreaming

“Lucid dreaming has considerable potential for promoting personal growth and self-development, enhancing self-confidence, improving mental and physical health, facilitating creative problem solving and helping you to progress on the path to self-mastery.” – Stephen LaBerge

Taylored To You

Meet Taylor

The image above is of my niece, Taylor!  I adore her and she is absolutely, hands down, my most favorite model to work with!  The image above was taken last summer when she came for a visit.  I am writing about her today to introduce you to her new blog…TayloredToYou.  Be sure and stop by and give her a hardy WordPress welcome!  If you enjoy fashion advice and adventure, I suggest you follow her blog too!  You won’t be disappointed, unless of course, there is a time-lapse between her posts!

 

Coco and the Angle of Incidence

Coco in Thought

Regal Coco

When photographing Coco, my sister’s dog, over Thanksgiving I played with the angle of incidence – the angle of the light coming into my lens.  If you compare the two images above you’ll notice that when I was above Coco the light was not entering my lens in a direct way, therefore the light was not hazy, and she was not as blown out.  When shooting from below Coco, the angle allowed for more flare or haze as the light came directly into the lens.  This is a perfect example of how photographers should move around, above, or below, their subjects in order to capture the subject in the most pleasing light.   The most pleasing light may be softer, more blown-out light with haze and/or flare, or it may be more direct light allowing for details of the subject to be more definitive.

An easy way to experiment with the angle of incidence is to place a subject such as a vase of flowers in front of a window or door and shoot at different angles.  Once you upload the files, compare the way the light hit your subject based on the angle of the light coming into your lens.

The light being used for the photographs of Coco was hard, direct, and warm light.  The character of the light being used will also influence the final lighting of your subject, but the angle of the light entering your lens is what will result in the differences you see above.

Have fun experimenting and if you would like to share your images with me you can tag me in your post, or send me the link to your post!

A Moment in Time…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the garden.

 

“I grow plants for many reasons: to please my eye or to please my soul, to challenge the elements or to challenge my patience, for novelty or for nostalgia, but mostly for the joy in seeing them grow.” – David Hobson

Personality, Eyes, and Skin…

 

I loved working with this family a couple of weeks ago… A mom and her three girls!  Is there anything more beautiful than a woman with the loves of her life in their natural state?   I’m thinking Dad/Husband will be thrilled with his surprise gift!  What do you think?

Bliss

Baby Bliss

“It is the nature of babies to be in bliss.” – Deepak Chopra