Rabecca - East Nicholas High School Class of 2014

I've come to terms with the fact I have a lot of favorite people.  Pretty much anyone who I've gotten a chance to spend time with in front of my camera and photographing their awesomeness is immediately added to that favorites list.  Becca is no exception to that rule :)
I've known this lovely gal pretty much as long as she's been around.  Her sister Lacy and I became friends back in Kindergarten and have grown up over the years through school and in dance class.  Lacy and I both had our younger sisters that were just over a month apart in age, which meant it was a friendship that was meant to happen.  Though they went to separate schools, Aileen & Becca have been in the same dance class since day one.  It has been fantastic to see Becca grow over the years, through dance and school and become the gorgeous girl she is today.  From the moment we met up for her portrait session, we chatted about anything and everything, and it was then that I began to realize how amazing she has become inside and out.  While unsure of where she may end up in the long run for college, her career ideas are fantastic and I wish her best in all her endeavors.  I had so much fun chatting about life in the midst of capturing some of my favorite senior portraits to date of this wonderful girl who I'm lucky enough to know.
< Oh Becca, where do I begin...  Whether you end up a teacher or an ankle specialist, I know you'll be fantastic at what you do.  Keep on smiling and being the amazing girl you've come to be :)  You've come a long way, so don't quit while you're ahead!

Aileen - Del Oro High School Class of 2014

Usually my blog posts are easier to write.  The most recent ones have been about the fantastic photographers I've gotten to work with, the glorious venues I went to, and how lovey dovey cute and fabulous the bride and groom are.  I suppose this one is a smidge harder to focus down to one main point, considering I have slightly over 18 years of information on this particular one.  Unfortunately, due to the process of aging, I can no longer try and ignore the fact of Aileen being my sister...  Within the past week or so I've been told "you look like Aileen, just taller" or when I posted a sneak peek on Facebook, one person said, "When I first looked at this before I click on the bigger picture ...I thought it was you!"  Bummer.  Can't pull that "I'm adopted" card anymore.  So Aileen... where to begin with her.  I could start with the day I met her in the hospital, and she made me faint...  Or the years where she wore a beret every day...  Or how everyone remembers her being the pig tailed girl eating goldfish at my middle school basketball games.  Despite all the things I will probably tease her about for the rest of her life, there are some impressive qualities this girl has.  She's a dancer since age three, a musician on about a half dozen different instruments, and quite the science wiz.  She's worked hard in school between zero period band and AP classes, and still finds time to hang out with friends.  I'm impressed with the work load she has taken upon herself, and the skills to have gotten accepted in to two different Universities right out of high school.
The last time I photographed Aileen was for her 16th birthday, which seems so long ago. Yes, there were pointe shoes and a fat cat involved.  Thinking it would be fun to relive that moment, we started off her senior session with an updated photo of her and her cat Mushu.  Well, "fun" may not be the word, but it sure made for a unique portrait.  Afterwards, we headed to Old Sacramento to finish up the portrait session with a more casual, as well as more pointe shoe, cat-less portrait.  Here are a few of my favorites from the day!
As if photographing Aileen's senior portraits weren't enough to make me feel like an exceptionally older sister, but she heads off to Senior Ball tomorrow.  I'm still not sure what I'll do if my live in model decides to go away to college next year, but I know whatever she chooses to do for herself, she'll rock it out.  Whether she think so or not.  Congratulations Aileen, you're nearly done being a high schooler with all your AP class, early morning, late night, no sleep madness.  Then it's onward to the real world, which is probably going to be just as exciting :)

Robin - Class of 2012 - Loomis, CA Senior Portrait Session

If I could describe Robin in one word, it would be "spunky". She was a member of the Color Guard team, and everytime I saw her was full of positive energy that would fill the whole room. AND a pretty amazing artist to add to that!  The day we planned for her senior portrait session, it was RAINING... like, first week of June, crazy weather rainstorm raining.  She was ready to roll once I picked her up, cheerful as every and ready to go for it, regardless of whether it was raining cats & dogs or not.  Luckily, the clouds took a break just for us, and we had a fantastic time out in downtown Loomis.  Robin was fabulous to work with, and I'm in love with so many of her portraits!
After rocking it out in downtown Loomis, we headed down the road to Penryn's finest rock quarry for a few nature-ish portraits before calling it a day.
A quick last few token cap & gown shots, where Robin took liberty of adding a little pizzazz to the usual "blah" that goes with wearing these LOVELY cap & gown creations :) Robin was a blast to spend time with, and I cannot wait to see her spread her wings and grow as she heads of to BYU for college in the fall!

2011 Photographer Favorites - High School Seniors

Somehow, all my High School Seniors this year ended up to be boys. Why? Not totally sure, but these sessions were just as fun regardless. Everything from exploring train tracks in the rain to working with a very enthusiastic dog, we did what we could to make these sessions personalized for each Senior. WHICH is what is most important, right? Nobody wants stuffy portraits anymore, and even if you do, I won't give them to you! Without further delay, here are the Seniors photographed in 2011!

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Joshua Senior Portraits - Class of 2012 - Auburn, CA

Last month, I met up with another co-worker of my Aunt's in order to do her son's senior portraits. When I spoke to her on the phone, I asked if he had any hobbies he liked to do, sports, etc, so we could try and incorporate those. Once I asked "any pets?" I got an estatic reply of how much he would LOVE to have his dog involved in the session. I met up with them at their home and after a quick outdoors tour, knew that there would be quite a few background opportunites to photograph Joshua with and without his dog. The weather was great and everything went so smoothly! Here is a small sampling from the evening :) Such a cooperative pup!We had planned to involve Joshua's dog, but once we came back in to the patio area from the back yard, his cat decided to make it's debut in to the session!Joshua's mom had set up a little area in front of the bookcase for a couple shots, since he's apparently an avid reader! Luckily we kept this idea close to the end, since we nearly had to tear him away from the books to go outside one more time.
After graduation next summer, Joshua is planning on enlisting in the Military like many of his other family members have done. This last shot was a way to enclose his future plans in to the "now". Everyone (and by everyone I mean those four legged friends too!) was great to work with, and I can't wait to go back next month to do their holiday family photos with their yard all decked out!

Devin - Class of 2012

Last week you saw part 1 of Devin's shoot, which was a more basic senior session. I'll preface this half with a little back story. Devin is a "hoofer", much like myself, and has picked it up as his specialty over the years. He will be graduating this year from Natomas Charter School, which is a school that has a very large focus on perfoming arts. Growing up, I somewhat envied my friends who got to go there, with their focuses on music, dance, painting, you name it! Even some of my previous ballerinas are graduating this year as well! I had Devin bring his tap shoes with him to his senior session, and while things started out pretty basic, in the end I had him moving all over the place to get the perfect shot :) I thought a more structured environment would be great for doing his tap portraits, and what could be better than my favorite Loomis Blue Goose? So many great textures and different levels for sitting, standing and tapping. I tried to get him to pose like Savion Glover, but boy does that man make it look way easier than it really is!I had such a great time photographing Devin both in and out of tap shoes, and was left with a desire to photograph more dancers. So believe me, after watching Devin tap down the stairs of the Blue Goose, there may just be another dancer project in the works! I cannot wait to photograph more seniors throughout the year. It's great to work with kids that are at such a great turning point in their lives. Good luck with the rest of your senior year Devin and class of 2012!

Devin - Class of 2012

I have known Devin for what seems like forever, and throughout that whole forever period, he was shorter than me! (readers that don't know, i'm 5'11"... no joke). I did a small chunk of his senior portraits when we had the studio set up for our dance recital portraits, and when I stepped up to photograph him, I nearly had to stand on my toes to do so! We carried on to do a more relaxed outdoor session a week or so ago, and despite the heat (and the insanely packed park) we found some great areas to work in! The park we were at had a small creek area, and before we fought our way down to the rocks, there was this small brick utility type building that proved to be an excellent background.t-shirts and jeans always make for an excellent casual senior portrait session. Especially if they help express exactly how you are at that point in your life! We headed across the road to the other half of the park with a small bridge and wood fence to get some photos of Devin in his suit. I'm sure he was plenty done once we did a few in the first outfit, but he carried onward without a complaint :) Make sure you swing by next week for part 2 of Devin's post. You'll get to see how I really make him work for his session ;) No really, it's right up my alley, and I'm super excited for it! Happy Thursday everyone.