I would love to introduce you to Autumn!  I met Autumn and her mom in our little “downtown” about a month ago for a shoot.  She wanted a mix of urban, greenery, and [even] a waterfall!  I love to visit multiple locations if time allows.  It allows the senior so many different looks and such a variety of backdrops!

Autumn is a beautiful girl who has a lot going for her. She is sweet and ambitious and, I am sure, will enjoy a very successful life!!

We started the session in town.  I often suggest “urban” shoots to my seniors when they ask for suggestions.  Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, urban locations often get a bad rap.  Most people want greenery or fall colors and aren’t up for photos in an alleyway.

Now I can completely understand that, because beautiful sun and greenery can make for a beautiful backdrop.  However, as you can see from Autumn’s pictures, the urban alleyway can be OH – SO- STUNNING!!!!!

Why is that?  Well, it all has to do with the light baby.  Light is everything, and on a bright day, in a shaded alley, the light bounces all over creating beautiful even light on the subject’s face!   If you have any reservations – then just check out Autumn’s stunning shots.  Yowza.

We had an outfit change and we tried another alleyway – and just WOW. The perfect light, the sharp contrast with the black and white and the lines from the painted alley walls, make for an amazing set of shots!

After the alleyways, we headed to the little park in the middle of town. It is such a quaint pretty park with a beautiful fountain the middle. Love it!

Lastly, we headed out for a bit of a drive and then trekked into the woods to find a well known, and absolutely beautiful waterfall. It was a bit of hike, and the light was definitely more challenging, but we still got some beautiful shots.

It was so nice meeting Autumn and her mom and I really enjoyed our afternoon session.  Thank you all so much!!!!

For twins, or BFFs or anyone who wants to share a senior session, the session fee is shared between both seniors but I give one individual gallery per seniors. During this session, Katie and Lucas took turns getting photos taken in various locations. Some seniors don’t care if each of their backgrounds are the same, some want a variety. For those who want more variety, I take a few photos in one spot with one senior, and then change it up a bit and take some photos of the other senior.  And, if the siblings/friends/couple wants, I get a few shots of the two of them together.

It was a bit hot and humid during Katie and Lucas’ session, but the light was gorgeous and oh-so-flattering!!! The property was gorgeous and had a lot of options for backdrops. And the photos were just beautiful!!!!

Wow – look at this light!!  These are definitely a couple of my favs from the session.  So pretty!

I also got a few photos of brother and sister for dear mom!

Thank you all so much!!!

Urban type shoots are rarely chosen and get a bit of a bad rap.  But I personally think they can be one of the nicest locations!  There are often very brightly colored walls which make beautiful backdrops.  There often many places to sit, lean, stand which gives so many more posing options.  The locations are interesting and unique and the possibilities are almost endless!

There is also the amazing light.  You see, the open shade of a building on a bright, sunny day is some of the most perfect light EVER.  The light is bright yet perfectly even so skin tones are just perfect.  And then there are catchlights.  Catchlights are those bright sparkles you see in the subject eyes.  I have definitely learned, over the last few years, how finding the right light is probably the most important element in a beautiful photo.  Of course,  you need to know how to properly expose the photo, pose the subjects, compose the photo, but if you don’t have good light, you pretty much have nothing.

So, this week I did a “practice” session with my beautiful niece and her two best friends.    I had been wanting to do such a shoot where I can work on posing and where I can pick exactly where and when I want to shoot and was really happy that my niece and her friends were willing models!  I scouted some locations a month of so ago, and found some great places in downtown Erie, PA!  The only one problem with my scouting trip was it was pouring rain and I really had a hard time determining where the sun would be at different times of day.  So, some of my scouted locations didn’t work exactly as I had hoped.  But we improvised and it was A-OK!

I was so excited when we finally were able to schedule the shoot.  And it was such a good time!  My models were stunning, the light was perfect and the photos?  Well, just see a sampling for yourself!!!!

We started out down by the docks along the bay.  There are some old buildings and I loved the different colors and textures.  Unfortunately, most of the area was in bright sunlight on the day of the shoot.  But we found one small corner that was in the shade.  I am sure the passing cars and people thought we were be a bit odd to pick such a old and run down spot for a photo shoot, but, as you can see, the photos turned out pretty amazing!

We then got a few photos along the water.  It was, as I said, very bright and hot in the sun, but I loved the colored posts.  So I posed my models in the sliver of shade of one of the posts and got just a few shots. I also got just a bit of one of my favorite things – sunflare!!

We then made out way up to the Erie Museum.  There are beautiful steps, sculptures and columns at the museum, but, unfortunately, at that time of day, the sun is just pounding directly on the steps.  I didn’t get the photos on the steps as I had hoped, but we were able to improvise and used the shade from the massive columns to get some pretty gorgeous shots!

Next stop? The sidewalk down State Street! We crossed from the museum to the shady side of the street. With a wide open aperture, I was able to blur out the distractions while keeping the colors and lines of the building and trees. I love these shots! We had a lot of attention during this portion of the shoot from random passerbys, but my models were like pros and didn’t let the attention bother them one bit!

I do have to add, this guy told me as we started that he can’t take a good picture.  Well, I was definitely up to the challenge.  And I think I proved him QUITE wrong!

After a quick break for a cold drink at Starbucks, we ended the shoot with some shots by the “blue wall”. I love the color!!!!

One final shot of my great models!!!

There are great little nooks and crannies like this in pretty much every town.  So, if you want to try incorporating an “urban” location in your shoot, just give me a shout.  I would love to do a bit  of scouting and find the perfect spot for your shoot!  Of course, my shoots often run from 1 – 3 hours.  So if you even want to mix it up and combine urban and rural, that would definitely be a possibility as well!

And I wanted to thank my great models!!!  I couldn’t ask for a better group!!!!  If you want to see even more photos from this shoot, please stop by Facebook business page!!!

Until next time!

I recently added a few new senior sessions to my senior portrait offerings. 

First - the BFF senior session!

If you are interested in sharing your senior session with your best friend, sibling, cousin, or whomever you want, you can now schedule your session together (and save!).  Two seniors can schedule their sessions on the same day and time and share the session cost.  I will provide each of you about 30 – 40 artistically edited proofs in your own individual online gallery.  I will include lots of individual shots – as well as, of course, some with your BFF!  You can choose the prints and other products you want to order from these images.  All products can be ordered directly through me via the gallery.   

The BFF session, like my individual senior sessions, can last 1 – 3 hrs and can be conducted at the location or locations of your choice.  You can also incorporate a few different outfit changes if you would like.  I do all sessions on location, so you can choose where you want to shoot – whether that is at a pretty park, a rural field, an urban setting – or a little bit of all!  And if you don’t have any locations in mind, just let me know what look you and your BFF are interested in and I will give you a whole host of location ideas to choose from!

I also am offering “Simple Senior Sessions” this year.  For those seniors who aren’t interested in a full senior session, a simple session is a lower cost alternative.  The simple sessions last 30 minutes and are conducted only within zip code 16301.  If you live outside of this area, you are welcome to travel here, there are many different location options available.    For simple sessions, I will provide about 8 artistically edited proofs in an online gallery where you can choose which prints or other products you would like to order.  Simple sessions are only conducted on weekdays.  

For more information on any of my senior sessions, or to schedule your session, please visit my website or contact me!

Until next time!!!!!

Kim was a last minute [not to mention beautiful!] senior from the Class of 2010!  

It has been a while since I have photographed a senior since most get their portraits done in the summer or fall, so I was thrilled when she contacted me! I missed photographing seniors!! She and her mom picked out an absolutely gorgeous location.  It was a beautiful private property of one of their acquaintances who was nice enough to allow us to traipse around her grounds. 

We also really lucked out with the weather.  It was predicted to be about 40 and raining (blech), but instead we had 40 (still chilly) and bright overcast skies (which are actually great for photos!).  And we even got a few, very quick,  peaks of sun!

Kim and her mom were so nice and so much fun to work with!   And the photos?  Just gorgeous!!!!!

Thank you all so much!!!   I just love senior photography and I can’t wait to work with all the upcoming Class of 2011 seniors!!!!

Alyssa is a great girl who wanted to get her photos done at a gorgeous local golf course.  As with a few of my seniors, the weather looked quite iffy, but ended up being almost perfect!   We had a few moments of sun peaking through, and lots of bright, beautiful fall foliage.  The colors were breathtaking. Alyssa, her mom and I hopped in a couple golf carts and spent the morning exploring all the amazing backdrops throughout the course. We had a great time and got some beautiful photos!

Just check it out! It almost looks too good to be true!

Thank you all so much!!  It was such a pleasure meeting you.  I wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors!

Sarah’s perfect session was [almost]  pure luck!  The day before, I had two other sessions scheduled, and we had to cancel both due to incredible cold and never-ending rain. It was looking to be a pretty miserable weekend and I wasn’t sure Sarah’s session would happen the next day.  But luckily, it ended up being a gloriously sunny and absolutely perfect day.

We met at a local college campus. The campus has a beautiful pond and lots of walkways and benches. We spent our afternoon walking through the campus and trying a variety of different backdrops along the way. We were also lucky in that we could still take advantage of some bright fall folliage!!

Sarah was a very sweet girl, and very photogenic, girl. Here are some highlights from our session:

Thank you Sarah so much for a great session! I wish you the best in all you do!!!!

Well, I actually just wanted to make it a bit more professional.  So I have a new look and a new attitude to go with it!  I plan on being a bit more disciplined in getting recent shoots posted and I plan on including more personal tidbits and photos as well. 

So, to kick off the new look, I will feature a great senior I photographed this fall – Missy!

Missy’s mom contacted me in the summer and, after a bit of back and forth, she decided that she wanted to try to incorporate some gorgeous fall folliage into the session.  So we scheduled the session for mid-October.  It is always a bit iffy as to what the weather will be like around here in October.  We could have 70 and sunny skies, or a few inches of snow.  You just never know. 

We were lucky though.  After a week of cold rainy weather, our shoot day ended up being picture perfect! 

I met Missy and her family at her home.  She lives tucked away in the woods and the scenery was just perfect.  We walked around the house, we hiked through the woods, we stopped by the pig pen, we even went across the street to a soybean field!  And we got some beautiful photos!!!

Thank you all so much!!!

She and her mom really wanted to get photos that included some gorgeous fall foliage. And we were quite lucky!!! We decided to meet at one of my favorite local parks, and it was a perfect day. Even light, bright leaves…..and a beautiful senior!!!

Just gorgeous, don’t you agree???

Thank you both so much!!! It was a pleasure meeting you!

Grace was probably one of the most prepared seniors I have had to date. She had some of the prettiest nooks and crannies throughout the park all cased out prior to our shoot. All I had to do was follow her and shoot! She made my job ultra-easy!

The weather was a bit iffy that morning, there was a bit of a misty rain, but, actually, the even lighting made the fall colors just pop. It was really a beautiful setting.

See for yourself!

Thank you all so much!!!!! It was such a pleasure meeting all of you!!!