The Last of the Portfolio Seniors

Last week I finished pulling together my materials for the school district and officially applied to be a senior portrait photographer for SLOHS for the 2013-14 school year. As of today, I'm officially approved.

My plan is to book a very limited number of senior sessions this summer and fall, but I am excited about the opportunity and look forward to building my business in this fun area of photography. As I mentioned before, I loved my portfolio-building sessions way more than I even thought I would. Seniors rock. :)

Here's a selection of shots from the last of the portfolio sessions. Amazing girl, amazing setting. A photographer's dream.

A Few Snaps from The Weekend

This weekend our family embarked on a new adventure: all-star baseball. We'd heard many stories from past participants and were well-prepared for the heat, the aggressive valley teams' base-running, and the short break between games. Even with the advance warnings, though, we thought it might be tough to notch something in the win column this first weekend. After all, our team had had a grand total of two practices together before heading off to Tulare.

Despite the limited practice, our little guys really rose to the challenge. They came focused and ready to play. They scrapped their way through a tough first game and came out on top, winning 3-2. They were ELATED. Unfortunately, I was still driving out to the tournament, having stayed home Friday night to shuttle my daughter to and from dance rehearsal and to host a sleepover for our other kids.

No matter. There was plenty of good baseball left to watch and a lot of fun to be had hanging out poolside with the other families. And there will be LOTS more of it to come in the next six weeks.

Here are a few snaps of our little all-star, proving that he can play hard on the field and off. :)

Pitching:





Catching:



Batting:



Stealing home (successfully!):



Celebrating an awesome first day as all-stars:



Love those little dudes!

Workin' It

I had a lot of fun doing some non-traditional headshot stuff with the folks over at MathTV and XYZ Textbooks last week. (Fake juggling, anyone?) I photographed 16 grown-ups, but in between I got to squeeze in a couple of impromptu shots with this guy, who was in the office visiting his mom.





He brought the shades and the 'tude. I LOVED IT.

More Senior Fun

I'm short on time but want to get some more of these fabulous senior models onto the blog. So without further adieu...

More High School Fun

I photographed one of these girls back when she graduated from 8th grade. Now that she's a high school junior, I asked if she'd be willing to help me build my portfolio of older teen images.

She was a great sport and agreed, and she even brought along a gorgeous friend she has known since elementary school. I am truly grateful for their willingness -- and that of the others I've asked -- to help me get up and running in the senior portrait business. As I said before, I predicted that it would be fun, but I've been amazed at how much I've enjoyed the process.



















I love this particular location for lots of reasons, but I'm excited to head out in a new direction this weekend. I'm sure I'll reconnect with this old favorite again sometime down the road.

A New Angle

A gentle nudge from my son's teacher (and mother of twin high school juniors) has resulted in my recent efforts to become approved by SLO High School as a senior portrait photographer for 2013-14. I had kicked around the idea for the last couple of years, but it wasn't until she asked -- and then asked again -- that I got my act together and began the process.

The biggest part of getting approval has been pulling together my portfolio of teen images. Families, kids, even corporate headshots and landscape stuff... I have that in spades. But until last week, I had photographed a grand total of one senior, officially. (Have a look at that link if you have a second. I'd forgotten just how gorgeous she was!)

So I realized quickly that I'd need to schedule a few portfolio-building sessions to augment the selection of sample images. I was pretty sure that each one would be a good time, since that original senior session was, but I don't think I'd realize just how much FUN I'd have.

Needless to say, I'm now making my way through bunches of images and pulling a variety to share with the school district. And I still have two more teen sessions next weekend! Good times!

Here are some samples from my efforts this week and last...

























Two more gorgeous girls to edit and post over the weekend. Just have to fit them in between swim practice, three baseball games, and a big birthday celebration... whew!

Happy 4th Birthday, T!

My working life overlaps with my personal life quite a bit. Sometimes I get to photograph friends. Other times, I get to know people through my work, and clients become personal friends.

This hunk of love and his family have become a fun part of my life over the last 4+ years. I have followed this little dude from the time he was in his mama's belly (and we did an against-the-rules-because-she-was-on-bedrest session), and I have been fortunate enough to photograph him at every milestone.

Lucky me.









We took this shot at one of his favorite spots. What 4-year-old doesn't love the bear fountain in Mission Plaza?