Jackie – Sr. Portrait

Jackie has it all, brains, beauty, talent and a wonderful family. It was a joy to spend the afternoon with her and get to know her a little better. She surprised me, since she is very shy and I thought it might be hard to get her natural in front of the camera, but she was a superstar! So beautiful in every way!

Peacefulness…

Wind always shows up! Thank you wind! I love you… most of the time!

There is just something about this one that captures me and draws me in.

Swimmer’s body… that shawl is covering in just the right spot for those tan lines! I love this shot of Jackie!

The location was magical.

So natural, simple and breathtaking…

Happiness…

You can see how genuine she is. I love how that shines through without effort. That is real!

Of all the locations I have used, I think this is one of my favorites! Thanks for making it even more beautiful Jackie!

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Caryn – Sr. Portrait

We had so much fun with Caryn and her family. What a great group of people. The kind you could hang out with all day and not get tired of… lots of love…. lots of laughter! We really had a hard time stopping, but they had a dinner date and we had TONS of pictures already.

Is she not stunning!

Have I told you that I LOVE black and white! I think I have! It helps to have a happy senior as the subject.

One of my favorites… love the attitude!

The sun was perfect this day.

It’s so great when we are both having fun!

Can’t get a better texture than broken glass. So cool!

Gotta have an eye shot!

Caryn, we would love to do this day all over again just to hang out with you and your family again!

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The Brown’s – Family Portrait

I had a great time with the Brown family. They are a fun group and as much as they dreaded getting their pictures taken, it only took a few minutes before we started to have fun together. I love that!

This is one of my favorites of the kids. I love the joy!

Love the old sign.

I’m amazed at the color of fingernail polish these days. Do you see her yellow fingernails?

I wish I had pictures like this with my mom when I was a kid. They are priceless.

My favorite of the family!

Can you tell that summer vacation is here and there is just this sense of relaxation!

Love the soft colors and the glow of the light.

The guys…

Love this one!

Usually it’s the eye’s that capture me, but this time it was the smile! Amazing!

A touching moment…I could feel and see the love of this family. I was blessed to have witnessed it.

Thanks for a wonderful time Brown family and for showing me a new place to hang out with my family!

Just a note: I could do a whole other post of this family. There are just so many other great shots of them. What a wonderful family!

OK, just one more fun one! 🙂 Really, it’s the last one!

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Erika – Sr. Portraits

I have known Erika since she was a wee little child, but I have only recently become friends with her and I tell you, she is way beyond her years in maturity! I adore her! Love spending time with her! Love talking to her via chat, just can’t get enough of her. She is great friends with my adorable and stunning niece Joely and they are together right now in PA having fun, so I thought I would post her pictures next so she could show them to Joely. Love you guys!

We did some pictures back in the Fall when she still had braces on, but she wanted some without the braces so a couple of weeks ago we made that happen!

This was my favorite of the entire session. I just love the colors!

A classic.

Every senior wants a graffiti wall picture, but I have tried to make each uniquely different. Look, you can see me in her glasses! How funny! Not the most attractive picture of me :).

Love the gentleness of this and come on, it’s black and white, and I love black and white!

Another classic.

What brilliant eyes.

Erika’s laugh just makes you happy!

We ended the day at Brown’s Point, where Erika grew up and it was a perfect day.

🙂

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Kayla – Sr. Portraits

Kayla was a sweetheart to hang out with and she loved getting her picture taken. She even did her homework and watched America’s Next Top Model before her shoot. She was a natural and made my job a little too easy!

Kayla’s incredible eyes drew me in immediately.

This was my favorite of the session.

Stunning!

Sweet innocence!

Breathtaking…

This was her favorite and I love it too. Can’t you see her personality shine through? I love this age!

Watch out world!

Need I say more?

Another great senior session… so much fun!

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Jasmine – Child Portrait

Jasmine, the 5 year old diva that she is, was quite impressive! She lasted a good 3 hours without a fuss. Amazing! We didn’t mean to go 3 hours, it just happened. She had a different hairstyle with every change of clothes and was extremely animated! As you can imagine, 5 year olds have a mind of their own and that makes for an exciting time. Hee, hee.

Jasmine came with pink princess attire, gloves and all. How sweet is that among the greenery, it was simply enchanting.

There is just something about the image below that I love… the glow of the water, the softness of the surroundings, the lighting… it all just comes together.

How crazy cute is she!

Remember that animation I was talking about? Love, love, love it!

She was singing Itsy Bitsy Spider…

We found this old fashioned swing hanging from a tree just waiting for a 5 year old to use it.

This is my favorite of the entire session… there is always one…. the innocence, the smile, the carefree nature of the glance back, it all just calls to me.

I love the romance of a black and white, don’t you?

Got to have at least one classic, the grand-parents always appreciate it.

Thanks for enjoying Jasmine with me!

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Austin – Sr. Portrait

Austin was my first guy senior portrait session. I have to admit that I was a little nervous, as I always am with new opportunities, but I was also really excited to take on the challenge. He is shy I was told and doesn’t really want to get his picture taken. Well, that is true with a lot of people I have photographed and it always turns out the same. It wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be and in fact, they had fun! I love that! I really do!!! It just drives me, knowing that something they were not looking forward to ended up being a lot of fun. How rewarding is that!

Just like all sessions the first few shots seem awkward, but then it happens… you just click and loosen up and before you know it you have a model in front of you, striking this pose and that pose… really, this happens EVERY time and it is so much fun!

Here are some of my favorites.

This one feels like it’s taken somewhere else other than downtown Tacoma!

Love stair shots!

Austin wants to be a sports announcer, so had to bring a cool mic. I made him shout like he was at a sporting event. 🙂 He enjoyed that. Hee, hee

Austin was a good sport and did everything I asked of him, even this shot, which at the time probably seemed strange to him as a good spot for a Sr. photo, but we all loved how it came out!

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Sarah – Sr. Portraits

It’s amazing how much I notice eyes now that I am doing portraits!  Sarah had incredible eyes and she was full of joy.  I absolutely love this age!  It’s my favorite!  High School Seniors are full of hopes and dreams, they are just beginning their journey into adulthood and they are positive and so excited for the future. 

The green gum was too funny and I have noticed this on a lot of photo shoots lately.  They all chew gum… chew chew chew, then stop for the photo and chew chew chew again… this time I caught her laughing and the gum was exposed! 

 

We did the shoot in Sumner, which made it fun since I usually hang out in downtown Tacoma.  We found this car parked outside a restaurant and the owner let us use it in our shoot.  How cool is that!

Sarah is a guitar player, so of course, we had to get some shots with her guitar!  This one was my favorite.

We caught this one as a train was rushing by.  Pretty cool that we caught the graffiti on the side of it!

I usually get a wind “eye closed” shot.  I just love the way they feel.  It’s a quiet beauty.

The sun is so soothing in this shot.

Love the hoodie shots!  

Another great “senior moment” :).

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No Holding Back!

I have had a love of photography since I was a child, but through the years have trained myself to ignore my wants and passions and pursue something that was more stable and less risky.  No one else trained me to think this way, it was just me, my logical brain saying don’t take risks, go to college, get that stable career, support your family.  Over the years, as I have ignored the desire, it has only grown stronger and I have fought hard to keep it a hobby and not an actual business.  Well, the time has come to unleash that passion, to no longer hold back and that applies to all areas of my life.  There is no more holding back!  I am going to follow those nudges and see where they take me.  God has so blessed my life in the last few months during a time of deep emotional pain and personal tragedy.  With the enormous love of my incredible husband and my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, next to me, I am going to follow my passions and pursue photography as a side business.  Maybe some day, God will make it more.  I am taking it, one step at a time.  Without a site or business cards, I have been booked for months; taking on as many shoots as I can possibly handle, while still working full time.  It has been an incredible experience and I have grown and loved every minute.  Now it’s time to catch up and post some photos from my past sessions.  Each and every person I have met during these sessions has touched my life and I have felt so blessed to be given the opportunity to capture their beauty as I see it.  No holding back!

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