Mock Senior Photo Shoots

As much as I love my nature and artistic photography, portrait photography brings in more money at this time. I have come to really enjoy it as well.  I am working towards steering my business towards senior photo sessions. I teach juniors in high school and love working with teens. Also, it is so much easier to work with one person than a whole family! Plus, I love the post processing as well.

I had the daughter of a friend and my cousin both model for me with mock photo shoots. Both of these have gotten me a lot of notice as a senior photographer and I have started talking with students about booking sessions for their senior photos. I am also looking at giving one of my boys a free session in order to both get experience with shooting males and getting some senior boys in my portfolio.

137-365 Hummingbird Silhouette

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I plan on trying to get several good shots of my hummingbirds this year. This is the first.

136-365 Petunias

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Nothing special, just a quick shot of the petunias my great grandmother gave me. I spent all day editing photos from my modelling shoot and didn't have much time to take pictures...

135-365 Hailey

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A former student of mine needed a last minute photo shoot to get some photos for her modeling portfolio. We had 1 day to prepare and 1 day to shoot. I will then have 1 day to edit!

We had a lot of fun, but it would have been more fun if it hadn't been 56 degrees, windy and misting off and on...but she was a trooper. We ran out of time, but I guess the photos we took will have to do. I will post more photos of the shoot later.

134-365 Deer

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Not a great picture because of how far away I was, but there were a few buzzards feasting off of the small animals that invariably get caught in the mower and the deer was eating the fresh mowed grass.

133-365 Mia

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When I saw the light hitting Mia's face, I just had to grab my camera and take a picture. She is trying to to laugh but I love the smirk on her face. She is just a beauty.

132-365 Emily

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My cousin was kind enough to model for me as I continue to work on my senior photography. I needed someone to help me test different locations on my parents' farm.

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TERRIBLE focus. I tried to get some quick pics while working in the nursery. I couldn't quite get Mary to be still enough and didn't grab my flash, so I wasn't using a very fast shutter speed... Oh, well.

365 Catch Up

Once again I am behind on posting my 365 photos. This time it is due to time constraints and internet problems. Luckily, I have a little time right now and my internet was fixed today! Yeah!!

I realize I should also be blogging about each photo, but I just haven't had the time to do it, or maybe I should say "take the time" to do it. I will try to do better...when I have time.

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 My nephew carries the worm bucket as my mom and I take the kids to hunt for worms. The worms were supposed to be for the chickens, but ended up as fish bait.

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 My mom and I on Mother's Day. I can't even remember the last time we had a photo taken together. I used to hide from the camera, but after losing over 100 pounds, I'm not quite as camera shy (although I still prefer being behind the camera).

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 My nephew runs to first base at his T-ball game. This was the first game I have gone to and it was so fun to watch.

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123-365 Brett

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I had my friend's daughter model for me today so I could practice and get samples of senior portraits. I had only done two quick senior shoots before and those were over a year ago (last minute shoots before the pictures were due to the yearbook staff). Brett is actually a freshman, but I wanted a younger student for my portrait pricing flier. I really enjoyed the shoot and I am enjoying editing them as well. There is just more you can do creatively with senior portraits than you can with family or wedding portraits (IMHO). I think I am going to like this aspect of portrait photography and since I teach juniors, I have a pretty good "in" with potential clients.

365 Prom, Babies and Kitties

Once again I have gotten behind in posting my 365 photos. I post them in three different places, and this blog takes the longest for them to load, so sometimes the photos back up.

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This year's prom theme was A Night at the Beach and this mask was part of the tiki bar.

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I love that these girls decided to wear their Chucks with their ball gowns for prom! Keepin' it real!

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The theme for this baby shower was centered around vintage toys and the colors were inspired by the primary colors of blocks.

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I spent all evening after work editing photos from a shoot, so I just took a quick photo of Hemingway for today's photo.

118-365 A Beautiful Day

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After a week of rain, it felt right to capture this beautiful day in the Ozarks.

117-365 Noel's Close Up

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Noel didn't like my macro lens right next to her face, so this wasn't an easy shot to get.

116-365 Bella

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I was sitting outside trying to catch a hummingbird, but they are pretty skittish still, plus the next wave of storms are starting to blow in, so the lighting wasn't good for catching a hummingbird's colors, so I took this photo of Bella instead.

Easter Floods!

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I love to dye Easter eggs with my niece and nephews. Actually, I didn't get to dye any this year because they were all big enough to do their own, so I'm bringing my own dozen next year!

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Some geese made a pit stop on a flooded field near my house this Easter. After days of rain, this field now looks like a lake.

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I went out Monday night (4/25/11) with my parents to look at all the creeks around us that had been flooded. I was glad I had my new Wellies on! I ended up having to spend the night at my parent's house because I couldn't get across the creek to my house.

365 Tulips and Storms

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110-365 Cow

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I went with mom today when she fed cows. This one was posing for me. She came right up and just watched me as I clicked away with my camera.

109-365 Dad's Eggs

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108-365 It's Trivial!

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This is an original Trivial Pursuit game. This photo has actually been turned on its side because this board hangs on my wall! I glued the pieces down as well as some of the cards as if there was an active game going!

107-365 Dogwood

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I love dogwood trees. In my area of the Ozarks, the woods are sprinkled with them and there is always a week or two when these beautiful white trees can be seen from every roadside.

104-365 Carlotta Christening

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Makenah plays Carlotta in our school play, American Idle: Murdering the Music. She is a natural actress and worth coming to see.

103-365 Fern

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I actually like ferns the most when they are still all curled up right after they pop out of the ground each spring.

Absolutely no editing done on this photo (just a watermark)

102-365 Spring Buds

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I really noticed today that everything is turning green. Sometimes it happens so gradually that we don't even really notice or appreciate it.

101-365 Humira

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This is my life now. A shot every other week. I'm hoping that it will relieve me of my aches and pains and help stave off the effects of Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Two shots cost $1,600! With insurance it was going to cost me $100 a month. That would have been okay if it was just for a month or two, but not for years. Luckily, Humira has a program that I signed up for that lets me get two shots for $5! Thank the good Lord...prayers are answered.

100-365 Wow!

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I did a pregnancy photo shoot for my cousin and his wife today. They wanted all their shots outside (which works well for me since I don't have a studio, although I can get pretty creative with sheets). We had a lot of fun and got some great photos. This is their first, a girl.

99-365 A Day on the Farm

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I know this is actually 5 pictures, but I decided to do something a little different and create one photo that shows what happens when the kids and I go with Mom to "help" her with her chores.

98-365 Bangles

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97-365 Bleeding Hearts

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Spring has definitely arrived at my house. I have several flowers blooming. I love bleeding hearts; they are just so unique.

96-365 Stars

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This is part of a costume I put together for one of the characters in the school play (I'm one of the producer/directors).

95-365 First Cutting

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I just love the first mowing of spring. The smell of the fresh cut grass smells so good and the yard looks so pretty!