Heart to Heart

The Spencer's: A Family AND a Senior Shoot

I was very excited when Janna contacted me regarding a photo shoot for her family and her Senior son, Taylor.  I've often heard Janna's name and seen her around town, but I've never had the chance to talk to her.  I knew the shoot would be a good opportunity to get to know her a little better and I was not disappointed.  She and her family warmly welcomed me into their beautiful home and it was indeed a lovely afternoon.

If you get a Christmas card from the Spencer Family, then scroll down past the family shots!  Kayla...that's you.

The Spencers are the epitome of Southern hospitality.  They made me feel like I'd known them for a long time.

Now, Taylor is the Senior, but I wanted to be sure sister had a few shots by herself.

Taylor is an avid outdoorsman so he had me tromping in the woods amidst the snakes ( yes we spotted a coral or king snake and I'm sticking to coral) and rendering me with a mild case of poison ivy.  Regardless, it was worth it to get shots that were truly representative of Taylor's interests and personality.

  

I love these weedy shots

and these close up shots

  P.S.  Client emails are sitting in my inbox.  They've been read, but I haven't had a chance to answer them.  If you've sent me an email this week and I've not replied, I promise I'm not forgetting you.  I will answer all pending emails this weekend when I'm not working.  If you need an urgent reply, indicate so in the subject-line and I'll answer ASAP.

Have a great week, Folks.

Lindsey: A Senior Shoot

No, you're not seeing double.  Lindsey and Lacy are twin sisters, but totally unique and equally lovable individuals. 

Lindsey and I met on a totally different day to shoot her senior pictures.  I taught Lindsey when she was just a freshman and she is now embarking "officially" on adulthood.  It is surreal to see her come full circle in her high school career and I have to confess a degree of smugness to see these kids that I taught turn out to be so dang good.  Lord, please forgive my smugness.  I know their greatness is not because of me, but I sure like to be associated with them even if it is just because I taught them words like cognate, infinitive, and conjugation.

She is so kind and gentle and warm.   Her friends and family would agree.

And I had a lightbulb moment when I saw her cool shades.  I really like the look of this shot.

The green is so refreshing.  I love the colors at Mercer this time of year.

And we ran into this fella who also likes Mercer this time of year...

Sorry to add that creepy thing to your post, Linds.  I couldn't help myself.  Love you and Sis!

Lacy: A Senior Shoot

Lacy will be graduating this Spring and attending college on a full scholarship for Volleyball.  Her future is promising, but I can assure you that Lacy's achievements did not come easily.  She has worked very hard for all of her successes.  When I taught Lacy several years ago, she was a young sophomore and devoted to her studies and Volleyball.  She was focused and determined and her efforts were not in vain.

Her shoes are pretty cute, but I'm a little envious of her legs and her nice tan. Might I borrow them?  Your legs.  I promise to be a good steward and wear short shorts and mini skirts.  It would be so lovely to not have my knees hit the dash because I have to sit so close to the steering wheel to reach the pedals. Be nice, Lacy.

And here's a sweet one of Lacy and Dad (who turned out to be a very helpful assistant).

Lacy, I wish you all of the best.  It's hard to believe that you're at this point. 

Michael: A Senior Shoot

Happy Monday!  I hope you all enjoyed a delightful weekend with your loved ones. I'm sad that I'm slowly winding down Senior season, but again feeling so delighted to get to see former students.  Michael was/is the kind of guy that is a friend to all.  I never witnessed Michael being unkind to classmates.  On the contrary, he always showed up to class with a great attitude.  Perhaps, he looked forward to me singing and dancing the preterit verb endings to the tune of 'Old McDonald's Farm.'  Perhaps my rendition of 'Eres Tu' brought him infinite joy.  No.  It was the Rap Song that did it.  Just have yourself a listen.  You'll see why Senora Killion's class was so delightful. Right, Michael?

He's certainly a stylish one...

and by nature, a smiley one...

Don't be fooled by his very convincing 'serious' look.

This is the Michael I know so well:

Dear, Michael.  It was an honor to have played a teeny tiny role in your schooling.  I wish you years of happiness, success, but most of all significance.
  Be significant.

Warren: A Senior Shoot

I felt like I was 'on assignment' for Warren's shoot.  Now, Warren and I are related.  Kind of.  We actually share a nephew, a brother, and a sister.  Are you ready?  His brother married my sister and they had a baby.  And, thus, we all live in the Yellow Submarine or rather the same circle of relatives.  My brother in law, Wallace, came to the rescue with a spectacular location!  We met at Wallace's house, hopped in his boat, and traveled by water to an amazing location.  We walked the trails and the trails opened up to this amazing meadow surrounded by pines and the late afternoon sun fluttering through the breaks in the leaves.  It really was breath-taking.

This next shot was out of focus when I pulled it up, but I so loved the composition so I manage to salvage it with this grainy, vintage post processing.  I think it works.

Warren is an outdoorsman so this location was just perfect for him.  I think he picked the perfect outfits and he didn't even know where we were going until we got there.

And every good country boy is proud of his truck.

I loved this shoot. 

Matt: A Senior Shoot

***  If I hosted a small workshop for 5 to 6 women would you be interested?  This is all in the fledgling stages, but the idea would be to teach moms with cameras aka "MWACs" to get past full auto and learn how to use the creative modes (excluding manual mode).  Let me first say that it will NOT be a class where I will be discussing business matters or any post processing i.e. photoshop.  So many moms own fancy shmancy cameras, but really don't know how to use their cameras and I've gotten quite a few inquiries regarding this type of workshop.  I would prefer to start out with a group of local women for the sake of my comfort and see if/where it goes from there in the future.  Attendees should own a digital SLR.  Anyhow, I won't go into further detail yet.  IF you are interested in something like this shoot me an email, leave me a comment, or call me if your little heart feels so inclined.

UPDATE:  I have received many emails in response to the above workshop.  I definitely have enough for 2 or 3 separate workshops.  Like I said, I would like to keep the groups small and intimate so that we BOTH get the most out of the workshop.  I will be contacting the first 5 that emailed me expressing interest in the next few weeks as I work out the logistics of something like this.  The fee for the workshop will be the same as a photo shoot, $250.  I'm considering the length of the workshop (3 to 4 hours) with plenty of time for a Q&A session.  I also want to clarify that this is a basic workshop and I will not be discussing business matters or photoshop for obvious reasons.  I hope you can understand that this business is my livelihood so I feel entitled to keep some things to myself after endless hours of practice and study.  BUT, I don't see any harm in teaching you how to work your camera to suit your needs with your family.  Thank you again for all of your support.  I look forward to putting a face to some of my blog lurkers!!

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

I never post on the weekends.  BUT, I'm feeling a bit guilty over a promise I made and didn't keep.  I had promised Matt's family that I would have his blog posted on Friday.  As the week progressed, it dawned on me that Friday would be a holiday so I decided to wait and post his pictures on Monday.  Well, I failed to let his family know who was anxiously awaiting the Friday post.  So, I'm posting these now so that Matt's family can enjoy the top blog spot for a few days and perhaps forgive my indiscretion  :)

See this handsome fellow?  I taught him, too.  He's a sweet one and a smart one.  I can hardly take credit for his success, but I am certainly proud that I had the opportunity to teach Matt.

Matt will be attending the University of Texas in Austin next fall.  Don't you know his parents are proud?  We have good kids in Crosby.  I'm so proud of our district, our teachers, our students, and our community.  We're a good district....we are family.  It's good to be a part of a small town.  I started kindergarten in Crosby, graduated from Crosby, went away for 4 years to college, and came back to grow my family in this small town.  I hope that my children will reap the benefits of small-town life the way Matt has.

I was SO excited to find an "M".  Matt didn't quite understand my excitement, but he went with it anyways. teehee.

And because I have so many local readers, I wanted to post this last shot that might mean something to those of you fortunate enough to have graduated on the Cougar field. 

Elliott and Sarah: Take 2

Did you get to check out their first post?  If not, scroll down and you'll see it.

Here are more favorites:

See how easy it was to get them to smile?  No silly songs from me.  No tickle threats.  No chasing involved.  I simply had them look at each other.

The next shot looks neat in color, warm and hazey, but I am really fond of the black and white conversion.

A twist on Grant Wood's American Gothic??

One splash of color really does so much for an image...

And so it ends.  It was a fun adventure.

Elliott and Sarah: A Senior Shoot, A Teen Shoot, A Sibling Shoot.

Oh how I hope this is a glimpse into my future.  I hope one day my son and daughter will be close.  I hope they'll cherish each other and the treasure that is having a sibling.  I really hope they do.  If they don't, I'll be forced to lock them in this house until they're ready to love and appreciate each other.  Their mama needs this to happen.  She won't let them leave her feathered nest until they do. 

I feel armed when I'm with my brother and sister.  I'm the oldest and yet oddly enough I feel that they're the ones that protect me.  Perhaps it is my sensitive demeanor that provokes them to lash out in the face of any human that desires to cross my path in a not-so-nice way.  I love them for this.

I met up with Elliott and Sarah last Friday afternoon and we went on a bit of a scavenger hunt looking for neat spots.  We found plenty.  I thoroughly enjoyed them and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to their banter back and forth.  

Technically this is two separate shoots rolled into one big shoot and so I want to have two proper posts.  Look for another set of images from our session on Thursday.  Tomorrow, I have a special little girl for you to meet.

Back to brother and sister.

Elliott is a Senior this year and his older, brotherly ways were so charming. 

Sister Sarah is a freshman.  She is a freshman already making a name for herself on the Varsity Soccer team.

I knew this would be a good shoot when I received an email from mom stating that she wanted the pictures to be a surprise, but she did want one of them texting as it seems to be a favorite pastime.   I love it when parents are open to out-of-the-box images.  I have found that these are the pictures that mean the most.

Love this next image...

So....is sibling love in the cards for my babies?  You can be the judge, but I certainly hope it is.

Melanie: A Senior Session

So, I met up with Melanie, Mom, and Boyfriend Andrew this past weekend for a Senior shoot and since she's from a different high school, we were able to go to her location of choice.  It was a very sunny morning, but a very windy and cool morning!  We were freezing, but we managed to warm up long enough to wrap up our shoot.

Isn't she beautiful?  I'm a little envious of her youth even though I feel rather content where I'm at.  It's just such a carefree, exciting time.

Melanie was a great subject.  She was a little bit bashful at first and that's the case with most new clients.  But, it doesn't take long to get comfortable.  I didn't have to work too hard to get good pictures of Melanie.  She's a natural beauty.

It was great to finally meet you and mom after weeks of email communications!  And don't worry.  Your photographer secret is safe with me =)

Jered: A Senior Session

So, I'm taking a cue from another photographer and I am going to keep my post titles simple and consistent so I don't stare at the computer blankly for 5 minutes trying to think of a fitting title for a post that I haven't used before.  K? K.

Now, I have to tell you how super fun it has been to photograph all of these seniors.  They've all come to me with unique ideas, unique personalities, and I do believe their shoots have been unique.  Jered is no exception and the location was a great spot for him and his Ford.

I feel very satisfied if I get a backlit shot like this at a photoshoot. 

I kept telling Jered that he looked like Alec Baldwin, but he looks a little like Urban Cowboy John Travolta in the above picture.  Wonder if Jered even knows that movie.  It happens to be a favorite of mine for reasons I don't know.  But, if it's playing on TNT you can bet that I'm watching it.

Again, I pulled out my kit lens for this next shot.  I've really got a hankerin' for a new, expensive lens. 

It's shoots like these that make me really happy that I'm not confined to a studio.  I love outside.  Jered, thanks for a great shoot, great ideas, and a fun afternoon.