Riley (one of my Senior Reps) came to me knowing she wanted something really fun and creative, but not sure where to begin.  We brainstormed together for a little bit before deciding to start the shoot with a theme of lemon yellow – her favorite color.  Thus, the vintage lemonade stand was born.  Then our minds wandered a little bit and we ended up with a ton of other fun stuff!  Riley is just gorgeous and wonderful in front of the camera.  Thanks for an amazing shoot, love!  You’re beautiful!

Not to crush anyone’s dreams or anything, but… definitely not lemonade in that pitcher.  It’s, um, nasty water we took from the creek and added yellow food coloring to.  Yum!  It reminds me of that scene from the old Addams Family movie:

Snotty Girl Scout : “My mom says I can’t buy your lemonade unless it’s made from REAL LEMONS..”

Wednesday Addams : “Well, I hope your Girl Scout cookies are made from real Girl Scouts.”

Anyways…

Sunflowers = picked from the side of the road.  True story.

The following shots are in her grandmother’s vintage rain coat!  I love it :)  That B&W shot on the right is SO INTENSE!  One of my favorites :)

Cool people can fake rain.  It’s true.

. comments .

Claire September 2nd, 2010

Yes!! I love that I helped brainstorm for this. I love how it turned out. :D

admin September 2nd, 2010

hahaha.. me: “Okay Claire. What’s yellow?”
You : “What are you talking about?”
Me: “No, just.. what’s yellow? What are yellow things?”
lol…

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Kylie is amazing and full of radness.

And she has gorgeous eyes.

And she has great boots.

*Two pairs of great boots, in fact.

Congratulations on graduating, dude!  I had so much fun with you :)

I’m so glad Kirsten came down from Keystone for her senior portraits!  Apparently she’s a super amazing skiier and enough of a local celebrity that some random ten-year-old recognized her on the street :)  In my opinion, senior portraits are supposed to be a ton of fun and reflect who you really are – and I definitely think we accomplished that on this shoot.  I can’t wait to shoot more seniors from Summit High School!  Thanks, Kirsten & congratulations on graduating this winter!

So, right about now (below) as we were shooting, this random 10 year old kid keeps trying to get into the picture: hamming it up, running up behind Kirsten to do quick bunny ears, shouting at the top of his lungs, “HEY!  Take a picture of ME!”  We kept trying to just ignore the kid and keep shooting… then finally when we turned to ask him to please leave us alone for a minute or two, he says, “Wait, are you Kirsten?”  Keep in mind we’re shooting about two hours away from where she lives.  She had never seen this kid before, but he said, “Aren’t you, like, a really good skiier and stuff?”  So there you go.  I know an up-and-coming celebrity skiier.  Yeah, not kidding.

The day I was scheduled to shoot Madison’s senior portraits, I was having a really bad day.  It seemed like everyone I talked to wanted me to do things even faster, make one more album change, or cancel their appointment, and I was just generally worn down and cynical.  It was one of those days that I wished, wholeheartedly, was already over.

I drove down to Salida blasting Tool and wallowing in my grumpiness.  Then… I met this girl. She is absolutely gorgeous and she brought an entire tray of amazing hand-decorated cupcakes.  Cupcakes!  She felt like an old friend immediately.  I hung out with Madison and her sweet sisters and mom, and her smile was totally contagious as she shared all of her epic plans with me.

I’m pretty sure I need to hire this girl to style all my shoots.  Everything you see below was 100% Madison’s idea – I really can’t take any credit at all :)   It was so refreshing to watch someone get that excitement about pictures- that same crazy look in my eye that I get when I’m dreaming up things to put in front of my lens.  She gets it.

I drove home from Salida watching the sun melt into the mountains, just smiling.  So, we did this shoot and everything was great… blah blah blah.  Honestly, when I look at these images, for me it’s not just about a beautiful girl, a fully legit creative mind at work, or amazing  lighting.  When I look back at this shoot, I will remember how hanging out with her totally refreshed me and made me less cynical.  Madison – congratulations, and thanks for everything.  You have no idea how much hope you gave me that day!  Love ya, girl!

Oh yeah – did I mention she’s a Pocahontas look-alike? :)

. comments .

madison.jo. July 1st, 2010

aw.. that brought tears to my eyes! i’m so very glad that i could brighten your day :) i can’t believe how amazing ALL of the pictures turned out! you are a completly wonderful and amazing photographer and just person in general! i can’t thank you enough! :) oh by the way.. do you think disney would hire me to be pocahantis at disney land? :)’ love you back girl!

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Here are a few quick images from Riley’s fun mini-session.  I loved hanging out with her and getting to know her a little bit, and I’m so excited for her to be one of my Senior Reps!