Black and White Thursday – Images Here and On Monochromia

Surprise!  I have images here today as well as on Monochromia.  The images below are from a recent senior portrait session.

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?

Refinement

ss 1/60 f 3.8 ISO 1600

In the history and language of flowers one of the things the Orchid represents is Refinement.

re·fine·ment
noun
the process of removing impurities or unwanted elements from a substance.

the improvement or clarification of something by the making of small changes.

cultured elegance in behavior or manner.

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, or worn. It is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace & gratitude.”  ~ Denis Waitley

I loved this quote for the image above as all of our attitudes need refining from time to time ~ to live every minute with love, grace and gratitude instead of caving into the daily pressures of life, social media, work, and relationships.

Calla Lily

I recently received an email from a gentleman named Theo who works at Art Sy, a website that promotes artists and sells art.   Theo reached out to me because the site has a Robert Mapplethorpe page.  You might ask what I have to do with Robert Mapplethorpe.   Well, nothing, really, other than an appreciation for his work.  But, in the fall of 2013 I did a Calla Lilly series on the blog and quoted Robert Mapplethorpe in several of the posts.  Theo found me when doing research on Mapplethorpe.

During my correspondence with Theo he asked if I would add a link to Art Sy and the Mapplethorpe page to my original posts.  As the posts are two years old now, I thought I should just write a new post and present a couple of new black and white Calla Lily images.  These images are quite different from the images in the original series because the lilies are note pure white, but pink or purple and white.   To give you a point of reference of the original series, I am adding the links below.

Exhilarated Beauty

Trio of Modest Beauty

Magnificence of Beauty

Modesty Fortified

Calla Lily V

Calla Lily VI

I would love to hear your thoughts on the original series as well as the new pictures.  Which is your favorite?