Featured Senior Session: Magnolias, Flower Crowns and Waterfalls oh my!
What I love about creating senior portrait sessions for my clients is learning about their personal achievements, hobbies, interests and personal style. This past weeks senior portrait session with Ms. Kathleen, was an absolutely JOYFUL experience.
Kathleen, like my own children, is homeschooled. What is amazing to me is that she not only graduated with her GED, but also finished her first year of college at all in her senior year of high school! Ummm…how incredible is that?! She is actively striving towards being an early childhood educator. Her ultimate intention is to help educate and shape the next generation towards living more consciously and sustainably. (Can you see why I love this girl?!)
When she reached out to me, she knew that she wanted a combination of urban and natural environments to balance both sides of her personality; the side that loves to hang out with her friends downtown and have fun, and the side of her that feels drawn to playfully explore the natural world. Glamour, style and nature were a must, as WATER!
Kathleen’s mother recalled her most fond memories of her daughter playing in the creeks, splashing and laughing. She was always the first one in the family to jump in the water regardless of the cold. So thats just what we set out to recreate.
During her wardrobe consultation we narrowed it down to four amazing looks and locations that truly fit her personality and style. I consulted with local florist, Arnold’s Flower Shop to custom design a flower crown to match with her chosen dress, and sent our themed color palette to my Hair and Makeup Artist and there we had a plan.
Kathleen arrived early morning and we got started on created the photoshoot of her dreams. First up HUMA, then we set off to the Cornell Arboretum where the last of the magnolia blooms were still clinging to the branches. What I love about Kathleen is that she knows how to laugh! Her lighthearted spirit really came through on these images.
Next up, we headed toward the blue skies at the highest garage point in the area. Shirt and clouds were on point! and ohhhh it was a windy day. I had spotted a wall a few days before while I was location scouting that I knew would look fabulous with her blue shirt. We headed into a nook to find reprieve from the wind, which was rather relentless. So we rolled with it and rocked the messy hair don’t care look. I kept thinking that Kathleen conjured up the wind to match with her flowy personality.
We then retreated to the windless lobby of Center Ithaca, where we found a stair case and tiles that coordinated rather well with the fabulous pant suit that she was rocking! We spent some time there rocking out these shots, and OH those boots!!! Absolute win!
Onwards to the purple graffiti wall that I spotted randomly en route to the farmers market last week. Kathleen and I share a deep love for the color purple, and when she showed up with purple nails and a purple top, I knew where we had to venture to. Though it wasn’t completely on the the planned agenda, the detour yielded some of my favorite images from the shoot. I mean look at her all glowing and vibrant!!
Lastly we landed at Taughannock Falls state park for our grande finale, water fairy immersion on a 67 degree day. Yep, in we plopped to the freezing cold water for some explosive fun, laughter, and gorgeous images of Kathleen truly in her element.
Within the first five minutes of shooting, my feet went numb, and my heart exploded with joy from watching this girl own the scene with all of her water fairy glory.
Mission dream senior portrait session complete! I’m jazzed to be creating a custom canvas, album and keepsake box for Kathleen and her family from some of these images (and the many more that I couldn’t fit into this blog post.) I’m so grateful to have been chosen to create and capture these amazing moments for Kathleen and her family to enjoy for years to come. I love that she gets to tell the tale of her love of water to the future generations of her family. 🙂
