Senior Ally sneak peek [Wenatchee senior portraits]

I've known Ally for probably 6 years. She is a close friend of my middle daughter, Carsey. Throughout the school years, she's been at our house so many times that we've given her an assortment of nicknames, just like we have our own kids. Her name is most definitely NOT Alexandria. But that's what we call her anyway. Her session went so well I ended up with the most ever portraits for a senior session. I usually like to give 20-30 for a mini session but after narrowing it down to just the best, I could easily go over 50. That's if I narrow it way down. Apparently, the girl can't help but take a good photo. Love ya, ALEXANDRIA.

Wenatchee/Monitor senior portrait first look

Photographers have this little saying about what an honor it is when another photographer asks you to take their portraits. It's a complement because they know they can trust you to capture them the way they would like to be seen. Keelin has been interested in photography almost as long as I have known her and I do my best to help her learn and grow whenever she has questions. Well this student has started taking some pretty serious photos on her own, even being hired by other teens for their portraits, so she is definitely on the right track. I got to spend part of a grey, Fall afternoon in her apple orchard making a few images of Keelin for her senior portfolio. It's fun to see how she has grown (physically and photographically) and know I contributed in some small way. Here is a little sneak peek of the very photogenic Keelin.

Wenatchee senior portrait first look, AKA, "Yes sir, that's my baby."

You may remember No. 1 from 2 years ago, and now, no. 2 is a senior herself. One of the benefits of being a photographer is getting to shoot your kids whenever the mood strikes. One of the real life problems of being a photographer is you never seem to get around to doing the actual shooting. With her high school yearbook photo deadline looming, I am having to get creative in finding a few minutes here and there where Carsey and I can actually get together long enough to make a few frames. A couple days ago, she received some boots in the mail she had ordered online and, like many teen girls, immediately ran upstairs to try on the outfit that the boots completed. When she came downstairs to show off, I realized right then was a perfect moment. I convinced her to just walk outside with me, 5 minutes top, I promise, and thus began the first of several mini-mini-mini "sessions" we'll use to build together a full "senior session" before the yearbook deadline. This is a first look of what we came up with.

Oh, and Carsey...Love you to the moon baby.

Creativity workshop

I am taking the Nurture your creativity + be bulletproof class from one of my favorite artists, Kal Barteski. It's been awesome! This piece came about from one of the assignments, to define what creativity meant to us. Just added to the shop:

Moderation in all things [Wenatchee photography + design]

...except living of course. Because that you should do full-tilt.