Nicolette's Senior Photos, Part Two

Thankfully the weather cooperated on Sunday to be able to finish Nicolette's senior portrait shoot, after our previous attempt was cut short due to rain.  She brought along a few friends to chat with and put her at ease in front of the camera, and her mom who helped to orchestrate clothing changes in the middle of the park.  We all had a pleasant time together.  One of her friends is a photography enthusiast who snapped her own pictures and documented the occasion (and I'm sure she got a few unflattering images of me at work!).
I don't really remember having my senior pictures taken.  All that I have to remind me are the photos themselves, just your basic studio photos.  They are good pictures, and I like them, but I don't remember the experience really at all.
I guess the point I am trying to make is, I hope that I helped to create a more memorable photography experience for Nicolette.   :)

The Schierberg Boys

Today I had the unique opportunity to do a photo shoot at a marina.  I was a tad nervous about falling in the water, but mostly I was just really stoked to photograph two adorable little boys, for their 2 year and 4 year portraits, in such a fun setting!  We all had a pretty good time, and no one got wet, though I did learn that flip flops are not appropriate footwear for the docks (though luckily not the hard way)! 
Here's a few of my favorites...

10.20.30. Eden Park

So today was my first fully booked 10.20.30. Event Photo Shoot.
Observations from today:  contact information is always important;  you don't need to have bread for geese to think you are going to feed them;  30 minutes is a lot of time- no need to rush; quantity really does lead to quality when it comes to photographs and I really do have enough storage on my memory cards; I scare easily when photographing near water- don't sneak up on me!
It seemed like everyone had a good time, and so did I.  I had quite an assortment of photographs to choose from today.  Here are a few:

Nicolette's Senior Photos, Part One

For most any photo shoot, the first 10 minutes or so is all about getting comfortable and loosened up.  Both for myself and for the people I photograph.  We chit-chat, snap photos, and I get to know their style, they get to know my style.  We hang out.  The photos are almost always tense and awkward the first 10 minutes with forced smiles and stiff poses.  After that, the ice tends to break and with it, true personality can show through and we can work together to achieve really great, natural photos.
So it was really unfortunate that just as Nicolette arrived for her senior portraits photo shoot, the clouds rolled in and thunder grumbled through.  So I rushed to get some photos in before the rain that was sure to come.  I felt bad that I might have come off as impatient or controlling, with this sense of urgency about me- totally NOT my usual approach to a photo shoot!  And what should have been our casual getting-to-know-one-another-time, ended up being our entire shoot for the day.
Yep, we breezed through the first 10 minutes and then the sky opened up and we ran for our cars.
I am definitely looking forward to our rescheduled shoot in a few weeks!  But we did manage to get a few good shots in today.  Here are the ones I liked best:

Little Anna

Had a quick morning photo shoot with 8 month old Anna.  I'm glad we met before noon- I was already sweating within 3 minutes of being outside and my lens was fogging up from the humidity!  Gotta love summertime...
Anna's 3 older brothers were there and you could just see her love for them!  They had her squealing with delight the whole time :D
She is such a doll, I had a really tough time deciding which 10  photos were the best!  Here are a couple of the ones I chose...

Today with the Weatherly Family

It was my privilege to be able to photograph the lovely Weatherly family, to try to freeze time before Jon and Tammie officially become empty-nesters.
We started out with just strolling along the trails of Farbach Werner Nature Preserve, enjoying the weather and each others' company.  Then we lingered in the flower garden and near the barn. Here are a few of my favorites from this afternoon (I had a very hard time trying to narrow it down to just a handful of faves- we got some really great shots, in my opinion!  But, with such a stunning family, I don't think it's possible to take a really bad photo!)