Senior Tranquility

Senior pictures are one of my favorite things to shoot.  There are so many different options as far as location, outfits, poses, etc.  However, I have found that seniors are typically more comfortable in a natural setting or an urban one.  We always try both, but there's usually one where a teenager really feels at home.

Last year, I had the pleasure to meet Holly and do her senior shoot and she was definitely an urban girl!  This year, I met her sister Heidi.  Hudson Springs Park was her comfort zone!!  Shots with water were her number one priority and I feel like this one captured her entirely.  She looked calm, reflective and 100% comfortable.  I kept coming back to this image and falling in love with it over and over again

 Heidi, it was a pleasure to meet you and capture your infectious smile!  Best of luck in all your future endeavors!

 

Graduating With Honors

Meet Allie.  She is most fabulous!  This beautiful graduating senior is a rare gem.  She attended the University of Akron's Summit College and so she will be starting her freshman year at Washington & Jefferson with college credits already under her belt!

Allie has a special place in our family's heart because she has been a wonderful babysitter for our girls.  We're blessed with fabulous neighbors in our development and Allie is just one of the lucky teens that have been able to hang out with our daughters so that my husband and I can have a break!  They love her and enjoy spending evenings with her!

Congratulations to you, Allie!!!  I look forward to hearing about all your future accomplishments.  I know they will be plentiful.

Holly's Senior Pictures

I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Holly in downtown Cuyahoga Falls to do some senior portraits this fall.  She was so fun and photogenic!!  We had a blast

Urban Dude

I got the wonderful opportunity this afternoon to try my hand at Senior Portrait photography.
My good friends Beth and Mark (whose daughter Chloe has appeared multiple times in my blog) have a nephew named Brandon who is graduating high school tomorrow!  They asked me a while back if I might be able to take a few shots of him.  I figured it would be a wonderful experience, so I agreed.

This morning I was a bundle of nerves.  I'd never attempted anything like this before and I was shooting someone whom I'd never met!  I had Beth give me an overall "description" of Brandon before the shoot, but I was still going in blind.  At least I knew that he would be able to take direction since he was a teenager (something my 2 year old seems to have trouble with at times - go figure!)

We settled on 2 locations for the pictures - Valley Vista Park in Cuyahoga Falls, and downtown at the Falls River Square.  The rationale was to include both "naturey" pictures as well as a few urban ones.

Hit the park first...first thing I noticed about Brandon was that he has truly beautiful eyes. 

I shot about 150 RAW images at Valley Vista and Brandon and I looked at one another and said, "ehhh....I think I've had enough nature - let's go downtown"  Nothing at the park really wowed me, there were lots of people that kept getting in my shots and we had to work hard to avoid parked cars and the electric grid in the background.

Turns out Brandon is not a "Park Dude".  He is an "Urban Dude" through and through.  Once we hit downtown, his personality came out and I got more than just 2 basic expressions from him.

Who says you can't have fun in a parking garage?

Brandon looked at me like I was nuts when I told him to go to the top of the ramp and then come toward me while running and jumping in the air, but I think it made for some pretty fun shots!

Brandon's Mom was not a fan of me asking him to jump off ledges.  I told her not to look.

Like I said - Don't look, Mom ;)

I told you this kid had gorgeous eyes

Falls River Square has great splashes of color everywhere

I'm pretty sure this is my favorite shot of the day - reminds me of a movie star pose and expression

Congratulations, Brandon.  Best of luck to you.  It was a pleasure to meet you today!