Shelby {Senior Session}

Stacey....Sydney....Sandy....SHELBY! Yes, Shelby.

I don't know what it was about this girl's name that had me sitting in my car right before the session, staring at my phone forcing my brain to memorize it. I'm usually great with names. It's birthdays that I'm bad at. I have to ask my best friend EVERY year what the date of hers is....we've been friends for going on 16 years...yeah, it's that bad :P

Anyways....once I got the name down....(SHELBY!!!)....I got to learn more about this awesome girl and all that she has going for her. I feel like a proud mother as I sit here and brag about her and all of her achievements. But she really is amazing!!

Let's put it this way....

She's a web designer and a race car driver. Cool, huh?

She discovered her passion for graphic design her junior year in a class she took for it at her high school. She decided to take it a step further than the class by joining a club on campus called SkillsUSA, in which students in career and technical training courses can compete in their division regional and state levels. Shelby of course competed in web design and placed gold at the regionals and bronze at the state level. Then went on to place the same rankings her senior year! She mentioned that the web competition involves a 2 person team, creating an entire site for a company in 6.5 hours...from scratch! Talk about intense!!

As for racing, Shelby has been behind the wheel for 5 years. She races 1/4 mile oval tracks and has moved on from smaller cars to full size stock cars(basically what you would see on NASCAR). Not only does she now race against grown men (her youngest opponent is in his late 20's), but she also has made some other triumphs for the ladies, by being the first female to race at either of her hometracks AND by being the first and only female to race there in the full-size stock car division. But don't let this racing business fool ya...she's a total girly girl!

Okay enough talking and onto the photos! Here's some of my favorites of the day :)

Her SkillsUSA medals! :)

She brought her boyfriend along, so I was able to get some fun shots of them together too! :)

She wanted to get some shots that break the Female Racer = Tomboy, stereotype. Like this one!

Shelby's dad came along for the session, in his VW bug, without ever having the intention of use using it for anyshots. However...when I saw it there parked gloriously on the dry lakebed and how well her outfit matched it, I could NOT resist the opportunity...

And last but not least...one for dad!

xoxo

Gianna: Senior Session

I really like this girl! She's beautiful, fun, has a great smile....and she's my cousin. So maybe I'm a little biased, but I think she's great! :) I was soooo excited to shoot her senior portraits, knowing it would be a breeze with how incredibly photogrenic she is.

I love her laugh in all of these photos...how it makes the image so fun and instantly adds life to it. So for future clients: Don't be afraid to laugh in front of my camera!! When I try to get a giggle out of you, let it out!! :)

So here we go, with my favorites from the session....Ahh I love them all!!!

These next two are my absolute FAVORITES of the day!! Can you say Rock Star?!?!

This is about as close as we get to "lush fields" in the desert I live in. However. my clients are surprisingly easy-going when I suggest they lay down in the weeds ;)

xoxo

Monique: Senior Session.

This is Monique. She reminds me a lot of myself when I was a senior. Same school, same extra-curricular activities, same style...a lot of sames :) These similarities especially came in handy, when she was able to use my cap and gown for the session because none of the seniors have gotten theirs yet. I can be pretty useful sometimes ;)

I love senior sessions because I remember so well what it was like to be there(it wasn't too terribly long ago for me!). And it was definitely one of the best times of my life! I love talking to my seniors about their plans for the future, thoughts on their high school years, etc...it's just a really fun age to hang out with! :)

Here are some of my favorite shots from my session with Monique...

This next image totally captures the essence of what I remember feeling like at the end of my senior year and probably what a lot of seniors feel like....free...ready to take on the world! :)

xoxo

Karleigh: c/o 2011 Senior Session.

Last week was funny. When I say funny...I mean frustrating. I had sessions scheduled everyday for a week straight..and ended up having to reschedule all but 3 due to crazyyyyy weather that came out of nowhere. Thanks, mother nature, thaaaaaanks....

But it wasn't all bad. The stormy weather kept me inside and I got a TON done, by means of working on my website, ordering products, editing, etc. AND...the sessions I did end up doing brought a whole new set of challenges for me, that left me prepared for anything that hits me in the future.

For Karleigh's senior session, we had planned from the beginning to shoot at the beach. In my head, I had dreams of glorious sunsets and amazing sun-drenched images. Those dreams were shot down real quick when I saw the forecast for the day. Clear mornings, with rain developing around 3. Being pushed for time already with her graduation being only a couple of months away, we couldn't afford to reschedule. I had no choice but to switch the session to morning.

Now, if you're a photographer, I'm sure you can sympathize with me on why a 10am-12pm shoot is not ideal for lighting. But I was up for the challenge...and things went exceptionally well! In fact there were a lot of great location opportunities we had that wouldn't have been possible if the sun had been lower in the sky. Score!

Anyways...Karleigh is so stinkin' cute. We had so much fun shooting! Especially with her best friend whom she brought along. She was able to help me get lots of laughs out of Karleigh...although I'll really never know what it was she was doing while I was shooting that made Karleigh laugh so hard haha. The outfits Karleigh brought along for the session were to DIE for. I was tempted to offer her a bonus session in trade for the bag of clothes. Seriously.

Here's my favorites of the shots I got of Karleigh!...











BFF's!!! Seriously, who DOESN'T want fun pictures like this with their best friend?!?! I certainly do!

















xoxo