Meet Cat, Bella Vista class of 2010.  Cat arrived to her consultation just about every cool outfit available.  Boots, scarves, necklaces, dresses and oh yeah…a black guitar.  So again, off to the woods we went to chase some light.  It was a perfect day and as you can see, Cat did great.  About halfway through the session, she suggested climbing a tree for a few shots.  I wasn’t overly eager for this as my last tree experience ended with me falling out of it and a nasty scrape on my knee. (I was trying to show a senior how to get up in it)  Cat seemed pretty confident in her climbing skills so we went for it.  Glad we did as they were some of my favorite images of the day.  Thanks Cat for all your efforts!

Last week James and I were in San Diego for the SPA event 2010 (SPA is short for Senior Portrait Artists).  This organization attracts some of the most talented high school senior photographers in the country and hosts one of the premier educational (and social!) events of the year for photographers.  After James attended last year’s SPA event in Las Vegas without me and came home completely fired up, there was no way I was missing this one (especially because it was at the beautiful Hotel del Coronado).  Aside from meeting up with hundreds of others talented photogs and hearing loads of great speakers, a main attraction and highlight of the event is the competition, which many of the attendees enter each year.  This was the first time James entered the SPA competition, which included categories for senior girl and senior boy folio (a composite of multiple images from the same subject) as well as a single-image kids competition this year.  Now, James has entered and done well in competitions before, but never anything quite like this.  After all of the folios and prints have been judged, they are displayed all over tables so everyone can look at all of the entries.  James felt quite intimidated when he saw the caliber of artists entering the competition.  You can imagine the thrill we both felt when his name was called not only once, but SEVEN times at the awards ceremony!  I thought he might pass out from the excitement (or the weight of all of those beautiful statues!)!  I’ve included a photo of James with six of his gorgeous (and heavy) glass statues (the biggest one shattered in shipping and is being replaced), as well as a few of the winners.  The awards he won are as follows:  Top scoring folio; First Place girl folio; Judge’s Choice senior folio; People’s Choice folio; People’s choice single image; 2nd & 3rd place single image kids.  James is so humble and if you know him, you know that he would never go out of his way to tell you about this amazing honor, but I can’t help myself, mainly because he works so hard and I think it’s so well deserved.  Way to go babe!

We first met Erika and her mom Lise when her brother came to us a couple years ago for his senior portraits.  Adam’s session was pretty special for me so I knew Erika’s would be no different.  But let me back up a bit.  Within seconds of meeting this wonderful family, Stef and I knew we were in for an experience.  Lots of love in this family…lots.

At Erika’s consultation we talked about a lot of things, but couldn’t quite decide on a location.  So we set that aside for a bit and literally minutes before we were done it came to her.  A special place that Erika spent a lot of time at throughout her childhood.  So off to the nature preserve we went!  The day of the session the sun was glowing beautifully, Erika looked amazing, and Lise got lots of excersise(doing some yoga while we were photographing).  Probably the most special part for me is when brother Adam showed up for a few frames.  Erika was already “on” but when he jumped in she just lit up.  Standing in the tall grass together, she started singing and soon Adam joined and before long neither of them could keep a straight face.  It was something to see, and I feel privileged to have been there.

Thank you Lise, thank you Adam, and thank you Erika for an experience I won’t forget.

Howdy folks!  Meet Emily, class of 2010.  Now I know I’ve talked about this before but I really have to give some shouts to Emily for doing an outstanding job with her look for her senior portrait session.  This is classic matching your look with the environment 101.  But let me back up a bit…  When Emily came for her design consultation, she described (in great detail) the look she was going for but we didn’t quite have the exact location in mind.  Flash forward to just a few days before the session and we got the call.  “We found the place and it’s perfect!”  I went to check it out and yep, it was perfect.  Especially for Emily’s clothing choices!  A lovely vineyard, cool rock formations, an unused wine cellar,  and some delicious light.  Add a wonderful subject and you have the perfect session.  Thanks Emily (and Carolyn!) for the adventure, I won’t forget it.

Meet Kayla, soccer star from Franklin High.

Kayla and I first met when Stef and I photographed her family a few years back.  They are a beautiful bunch so it was no surprise when Kayla came for her senior portraits, she just lit it up.  Her session was later in the day and we spent most of our time lightchasing around the neighborhood.  After a short time, Kayla started seeing some of the same things I was.  “Ooohh James, I see some pretty light over there!”…and off we went.

A warm and inviting personality with all looks to match (no surprise with all the lovely women in her family!), it was a wonderful time.

Thanks Kayla, gorgeous job!!

Enchanted Seniors Website

Meet Annie class of 2010.  A Dancer/actor/singer(?) , Annie really got into character during her session and it shows.  We made photographs around town and the brick & mortar seemed to really work with her look.  Really nice Annie, this was fun!  P.S.  I’m still waiting to hear that singing voice…

Here are some of my faves.

Enchanted Seniors Website

Meet Julia, class of 2010.  Julia decided to mix things up a bit and do some of her senior portrait session in the studio, then head out to a location for the rest.  Another wonderful job with different clothing to match the environment, it was a fun time.  She was very comfortable in front of the camera, and how about that hair!!  I think she was ready to keep going but finally mother nature had her way and we ran out of light.  Sorry about the heels Julia, I forgot to tell you about all the gopher holes out there!  Here are some of my faves.

Meet Megan.  I just love it when seniors have a specific look in mind for their portraits.  Right from the consultation, Megan had some great ideas and looks she was after and she just nailed it.  She did a wonderful job of matching her clothes to the environment and really acted the part (and check out the cool necklaces!)  Thank you Megan for such a wonderful job here, sooo happy with how these turned out!

Meet Jessica!  A Roseville high senior with an award winning smile ( Actually she won the award in drum corps, but her smile really is that good.)  We decided to go for several different looks for her senior portrait session and she pulled off each one perfectly.  One of the faves was the garage door shot below, kind of looks like flag to me.  There was some other “colorful” artwork on that garage door that we ummm…opted not to show.  Thanks Staci for putting up with that.  We were about wrapped up when Jessica’s bo Joe made an appearance, and that lovely smile got even lovelier.  Awww…..

Meet Sara from Bella Vista. Sara brought some energy and attitude to her senior session that kept me going. We made her session in our very own Enchanted neighborhood and did everything from jumping, dancing, lounging, and um…tying some shoes. Great job on your outfits Sara, love them shoes!