Hope
So Hope happens to hold a very special place in my heart. As she should--she is my daughter:) I'm so proud of this girl. She is incredibly kind, smart, hardworking, talented, and responsible. Everything I could want in a daughter. She was certainly busy in high school--keeping up with ballet, figure skating, drama club, choir, and community theatre along with a boatload of AP classes. I am still amazed how she juggled it all and she did it with such grace. Hope is actually the reason I became interested in senior photography. I had some nice studio shots of her taken last summer, but wanted some outdoor natural light portraits as well. So my husband bought me a professional portrait lens for my birthday so I could try my hand at it. I took Hope's photos early this summer, right after her graduation, and now here we are! I had too much fun and didn't want to stop:)
Hope is currently in college happily studying Musical Theatre with plans to dual major in Zoology.
Love you bunches, Hope!
Elliott and Marley
As promised yesterday, here is my blog post dedicated to Elliott the steer and Marley the pig. Both participated in Allaina's photo shoot and I am so glad they did. Gosh what fun! Elliott was a big baby--very sweet and cooperative for the camera. He stood still and posed nicely looking quite handsome in the process. And Marley, well, Marley was quite ornery! What a character. He was attached to a bowling ball of all things--it was like his teddy bear. His bowling ball had to be in the pen with him at all times. But we managed to get him to leave his pen and beloved bowling ball for a few pics. In the first photo of Marley below you will see he was also fond of mini-marshmellows. Allaina had to bribe him with the treat to keep him from running and snorting around once we did get him away from his bowling ball and out of his pen:)
A barn cat happened to make a surprise appearance during the photo shoot as well. I don't know his name. He jumped on Allaina's lap as I was snapping away and I figured he did not want to be left out, so I went ahead and took his picture to make him happy. I talked about Allaina's gorgeous eyes in her blog post yesterday, but that cat sure has gorgeous eyes, too!
Thanks, Allaina and family, for having me over to the farm! It was an absolute blast!
Allaina
Allaina is a competitive figure skater, but she is also a farm girl at heart. So when I found out she wanted her photos taken with a farm setting I jumped at the chance. Her family invited me to come to the most charming farm where she kept her 4-H steer and hog. It was perfection--a white barn, a red barn, sunflowers, and a picturesque pond with windmill beautifully reflected in its still waters. We took many of her photos during the "golden hour" before sunset and the lighting was phenomenal. There was even enough natural light flooding into one of the barns that we got some dreamy shots inside. If it weren't for the sun setting, I could have taken photos for hours and hours more of Allaina. I was totally enchanted with the setting, but oh my goodness what totally got me were Allaina's eyes! Those big brown eyes packed a whole lot of WOW--just stunning. But alas the disappearing sun put an end to our session, though we managed to get a final shot of Allaina in a field with the last glimpse of orange on the horizon.
Stay tuned tomorrow--I am going to share more from our farm session. Photos of Allaina with Elliott the Steer and Marley the Pig deserve their own post!
Josh
Josh did such a terrific job. He was a good sport with all my posing requests and nailed looking confident and cool. Which wasn't easy. It was really warm and humid out! But you wouldn't know by looking at his pics:) Josh runs cross country and track and is an honors student. I don't think posing for pictures is one of his favorite things to do, but photos are pretty important to senior moms and boy did he come through with some great photos for his mom to choose from! I think he looks like he stepped out of a magazine. He brought with him a dressier look with belted khakis and a casual look with shorts and sneakers. Great choices which worked well in creating a bit of variety in his photos. He also did a few photos without his glasses to change things up as well. Options are always good when it comes to senior pics!
I really enjoyed working with Josh and meeting his mom and am so happy and honored to have captured some "forever" moments the summer before his senior year!
Elizabeth
Elizabeth is active in drama club and musical theatre. She shines on the stage (I saw her playing the lead, Emily, in Our Town and she was wonderful!) and she shines in front of the camera, too. She has the most gorgeous glowing complexion that the camera adores. Paired with her dark hair and eyes she reminds me of Snow White:) Love, love, love the yellow shoes she wore for her photo shoot. So cute! We walked by a yellow pole and I had to have her stop to take a photo leaning against it--her shoes matched the pole almost exactly! You might have noticed the pole in my prior blog post but Elizabeth was actually the first I photographed at that very spot, so she helped me discover a new favorite backdrop for senior photos thanks to those yellow shoes. I might not have noticed it otherwise. Elizabeth is planning on studying theatre in college and I wish her much luck as she continues to take the stage! And if there is ever an opportunity for her to audition for the part of Snow White, I think she should totally get the part.
