This session was extra-special for me to photograph because Bre has been living with me for about the past six months. I met Bre when she was fourteen years old, when she started coming to Switch {our church’s youth program} with a friend. For the past few years, she has been in the small group of teen girls I lead. It took a little bit, but over time, Bre started to open up to me and we became close. In January, we decided that the best move for Bre at the time would be for her to come live with my sister and me. And now I have to brag on her a little bit: since then, Bre completed her high school classes and became a licensed Certified Nursing Assistant. She then started working a full time job at a nursing home, while continuing to take classes to earn her Advanced Unlicensed Assistant certification. I am so proud of all she has accomplished and is continuing to accomplish!
Now, on to some of my favorites from her senior portrait session.
Bre~
You are incredibly special! You are funny and sweet and easy-going. I appreciate your laid back approach to life and your good heart. I thank God for bringing you into my life! I am very excited to see what awesome things you will do in the future. Thank you for putting up with me, for listening to and laughing at my craziness. I love you!
~abi~
This is the beautiful ShaKari. I’ve known her for a few years now, and I love her so much. This girl has such a capacity for loving others. She is so special.
We had talked about doing her senior pics for awhile, and then all of a sudden I had a last minute opening one evening a couple weeks ago. So, we headed out to try to find a flower field I had heard about…except we never found it. But we did find several other cool places to shoot, and I am so happy with the results of our adventurous session! Here are some of my faves.
ShaKari~
Thank you. Thank you for all the sweet notes and letters and words of encouragement. Thank you for the hugs and texts. Thank you for talking with me and loving me. Thank you for being faithful and sticking with things even when you wanted to give up. I am so proud of you! Can’t wait to see where your life goes from here. Love you!
~abi~
I shared some of these in the little posing guide I put together yesterday, but I wanted to do a full post of this session, too. I was so happy with these images! Courtney is a total sweetheart, and I believe her personality shines through here in her gorgeous smile. I really enjoyed hanging out with her during our shoot.
I asked Courtney to walk like a supermodel, and she cracked up. So cute! :) {By the way, how perfect is this outfit?? I love it all, head to toe.}
See the silver elevator doors in the photo above? They acted as an awesome reflector for the evening sunlight in the close-up below.
Springtime in Oklahoma might bring scary storms, but it also brings pretty blooms.
Whenever Courtney’s younger sis prompted her to “try a serious face”, this was the result. I’ll take it! :)
Hey, faded old wall, thanks for coordinating so well with Courtney’s great outfit!I absolutely adore this photo! I think it looks timeless, like it could have been taken thirty-five years ago, or yesterday, or ten years from now. Black and white photo plus pretty smile equals instant classic!Courtney~
Thank you for choosing to have me photograph your senior portraits! I pray for big, exciting things in your future. You are so lovely, inside and out!
~abi~
This week, I’ll be sharing a few senior portrait sessions I have done lately. As I was choosing images of Courtney to post, I thought it might be fun to make a quick little basic posing guide. Now, obviously this set of poses is more for females than males {maybe I’ll do one of those soon, too}. There’s nothing revolutionary about these poses. In fact, a lot of them just have subtle variations – but that’s what I liked about this shoot. After doing photography professionally for ten-plus years {I’m getting old, y’all!}, I have to work hard to keep it fresh and not fall into doing the same thing over and over. And I figured this could be helpful to anyone snapping pics of a friend or daughter or whoever. Anyway, hope this little collage will give you some ideas for really easy, casual, natural poses.
Let me know if this post is interesting, helpful, or completely dumb to you. :) And check back throughout the week for more of Miss Courtney, as well as a couple other awesome senior girls.
~abi~
As I mentioned in my post earlier today, I asked my friend Megann to tell us how she made this precious diy banner for her and Troy’s one year anniversary photo shoot. The thing I love about this is she can put it up in her house now and enjoy it for awhile. And maybe she will frame some of their photos around it. ;) I could also see something like this being used for wedding decor, or a different phrase {or word} for a nursery or newborn photo session. So many possibilities!
“Well I wanted to create a sign with a song lyric celebrating our one year! Part of the reason I used a lyric was because our wedding was centered around our common love for music! First I chose the color scheme… Again sticking with our wedding day theme… Gold, black, and GLAM! So what better place to go when diving into a craft project…Hobby Lobby of course! I decided each word of the phrase “so happy together” would have its own look, but each would have the common piece of burlap. So I chose several types of scrapbook paper… Be cautious to chose colors, patterns, and textures that work together. Then, I stumbled upon cardboard cutouts of banner templates. These cutouts come in different shapes and sizes as well, with holes already punched out to hang them. I was originally going to do the typical upside down triangle but then I saw the curved square! Picked up one burlap thread to weave the whole banner together, and some “glammy” scrapbook pieces… Kinda like rosettes to spastically add to the banner. The centers had gems… LOVE! Then home it was, to put it all together. Used the cardboard template to cut out burlap and black velvet to cover the cardboard… Adhered with cement glue. And lined up so you can punch a hole through template holes. The word “happy” was done with black velvet and turquoise paint for the lettering. What I love about the color is it was the same paint I used to letter the bags I gave to all my bridesmaids. Then for “so” and “together” I layered many different sheets, mixing up those patterns and textures but still all in the same color scheme. Each letter was completely different from the next, alternating shapes between diamonds, circles, ovals, and the template shape and layering atop of one another. Contrast is very appealing and gives a project a personal and almost boutique-y touch. Also when repeating shapes, I always use the first one as a template. Saves on paper, time, and peace of mind. Before gluing any of the pieces onto the template and one another, I laid the entire thing out on the floor to see how it looked. Once satisfied, I glued everything down and painted the lettering. Keeping with the contrast “so” was done in a tan color and “together” done in black. Also I changed the fonts to more straight lettering since “happy” was curved lettering. Once all dry it was time to thread. Take your spool of burlap thread and unwind more than you think you would need to thread the entire phrase together. You can start from either side… Going up and under through the first punch out hole and into the next, creating the stitch effect, where the piece of thread is seen atop and across each letter piece of the banner. Make sure each end, from where you first thread and where you last thread, has about one to two inches of thread slack before tying off into a bow or knot to secure the piece. Lastly, added your glam scrapbook pieces. Again lay out first to see what looks best before gluing down. And I used lacey thread to make loose bows on either side of the middle word “happy.” Same thing done with the cake banner but now cardboard templates, thread with ribbon, and ends were tied to sticks that stood in the cake.”
Thank you so much for sharing this sweet little how-to with us Megann! :)
~abi~
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by Abi Ruth