Chloe. Senior Portraits.

Miss Chloe needed regular Senior Portraits in addition to her Ballerina Senior Portraits, of course... but I asked her to bring her toe shoes to this session as well! I am learning sooooo much doing these senior sessions. Football, wrestling, basketball, and now ballet. Did you know traditional toes shoes have wood in them and new age toe shoes have plastic!?! Chloe prefers traditional, of course, and during busy dance seasons she can go through a pair every two months (or sooner?). Wow. We also had a visitor in a black & white car with lights on top. He was wondering what kind of mischief we were getting into here in the alley. Lucky for us, he & Chloe recognized each other. He had recently pulled Chloe over! She got off then, and this day he told us to "carry on" with our session! Ahhhh, good times.

She has a rather Mona Lisa-esque expression in this image on the left. And here on the right is how I imagine that most everybody know her: fun to be around and has got spunk & zest for life. Everyone needs a good serious photo (ie. thoughtful, solemn, content, relaxed, etc) of themselves and also a good happy photo (ie. excited, enjoying life, HAPPY!). We all have both sides to us, even if one comes out more than the other. It's good to see both sides.

Stretching out the painted shoes. Lots of shoe shots. We like shoes.

What you can't see in this photo is that the wind was just ripping. We nearly lost the umbrella and even Chloe almost blew away!!

Read more...

Trevor. Senior Portraits.

Trevor's mom scheduled his session. She said, "He'll dress nice and we'll meet you at the golf course." For some reason, I had it pictured in my mind that he would be wearing a suit & tie. I'm not sure why I thought that... because what teenage boy willingly puts on a suit & tie... but I did. He showed up, very nicely dressed, and was even sporting some Ray Bans! I must getting old....

BTW Trevor DOES smile, he just has a handsome "serious" face, and these are my favorites. Oh and for all the ladies out there, Trevor likes soccer and will be attending BYU.

At this point in the session, I was thinking "I need a sailboat!!! This session needs a sailboat!!!" :)

The cross-processed look is very fun, but I don't do it very often, because I feel like I need just the right image to pull it off. I was feeling it on these ones. What do you think??

Read more...

Ballerina Senior Portraits

Chloe has been dancing since she was teeny tiny. She's been on pointe for quite a few years and now teaches at the dance studio that she has grown up in! Her little sister is even one of her dance students. The sibling shots are a good way to bring a tear to your eye, eh? (More sibling images here)

Chloe posed for me a few times and then just started dancing. Wow. Ballet really is quite beautiful, and Chloe has got skills! Not to mention legs!!! And yeah, she's gorgeous. I'll have more of her in a few days.

Read more...

Bleu. Senior Portraits.

Can you believe we are to the end of the year already?!?!? Wow. You've seen Bleu, Mr. Scholar Athlete and State Champion here and here. And we did this last session to round things out. On the way out, he asked how I chose the dry lake bed. Well, with all my portrait sessions, and especially senior portraits, I prefer to tailor them as much to the client's style as I possibly can. My answer was this - about 6 years ago I did his family portrait for the first time. His mom told me "I don't want a waterfall, I don't want pretty green grass, I want the desert. I like the desert!" and so we did the desert! We did their family portraits on a mountainside overlooking Lake Mead. Now a few years later, and one other family session in between, I think I've got a pretty good idea of what his mom likes. :) I was pretty sure Bleu wouldn't mind doing the dry lake bed either. Doing three sessions over the last few months has been really fun and has really given us the opportunity to focus on Bleu and capture the essence of those parts of his life. If you are thinking about senior portraits for next year (2011-12), I totally recommend it!

Bleu, enjoy your last few days (weeks) of high school!!!

There are others, but I don't want to post the same ones that will be on his graduation announcement. :)

Read more...

Mother's Day Gifts

You know.... Sometimes it's hard to buy a gift for your mother. Sometimes, it's because she has everything already, sometimes it's because you don't know what she really wants, and other times it's because she'll tell you all she wants is "a hug and a kiss" like mine always used to say. We've been doing these "cousin portraits" for eight years. Wow. It would be fun if I had scanned in the old ones and could post all eight years, but I didn't, so you can look at past years here and here and here.

For this years, I tried to make it real simple. Wear your favorite outift, I said. Let's meet at the park, I said. Nothing fancy. Nothing "portrait-y". Be yourselves. And you know what my mom said? "I can really see each of their personalities," she said. Mission Accomplished.

Another group of thoughtful children. Their mom is an amazing person, so when the daughter contacted me, I said YES OF COURSE! :) And word is, the younger son was going to scrapbook these images. I can't wait to see the final product!! ;)

Read more...

Peter Pan Dance Recital

Very lovely, Tinkerbell.

My daughter was so excited for the recital. For weeks, she would ask when she was getting her costume, when she was getting her accessories, when the recitals were, when when when! Now she is asking when the DVD will be ready...

Read more...

Jimmy Eat World

Jimmy Eat World. One of my most favorite bands. They are finally coming to Vegas and to the House of Blues, no less! I am so excited for this excellent show! The only problem is... I have two extra tickets. Who wants to take them off my hands??? The concert is Saturday, May 14th and the price is $67 for both tickets ($33.50 for one....)

Read more...