This past weekend I was reunited with an old friend of mine and her daughter. My friend Pam used to be my son’s pre-school teacher. He was three-years-old when we met her. In case you’re wondering how long we’ve known each other, my son is 15. We’ve kept in touch off and on over the years and when her daughter Chloe was younger, I used to photograph her. She was the perfect little muse. She was into acting, singing and dancing which made her perfect for what I wanted to do. Here is a favorite image of mine from back in the day.
As you can see, Chloe has always been a natural! Now Chloe is a senior in high school. Man, time flies. I guess I already knew that having my own child. Anyway, Pam asked if I wanted to photograph Chloe’s senior session. Of course, I would! I knew it would be such fun and that we could create wonderful images. During our consultation, I found out that Chloe is a little fashionista. She may seem shy and quiet, but when you see what she had on during the session, you’ll say, “Oh!”.
In case you’re wondering, yes, I do photograph seniors, just not often. Think of me as a pediatrician. I believe pediatricians continue to see their patients up to the age of 21. I could totally do that. Technically and legally, they are considered children, or at least not adults.
Anyway, we started the session at Piedmont Park. It had been ages since I went to that park. It was also a beautiful day. A bit breezy and sometimes a bit cool but it felt great in the sun. Even though we are still in a pandemic, there were loads of people out at the park. I mean, it was a Saturday and the sun was shining but I still didn’t expect that many people to be out. The good thing is people either had their masks on or stayed a good distance from others. I really wanted to take some portraits of Chloe on the steps with the cityscape behind her but since I hadn’t been there in so long, I couldn’t remember where they were. So we settled for the view from the part of the lake past the gazebo. Basically, we just walked around looking for the stairs and found some interesting places in between, along with some interesting people.
There were people exercising on this dock at the lake/pond and they were streaming it to their followers. That’s where I captured this image of Chloe.
The light was just so pretty there that I couldn’t resist. After shooting there, I decided to have Chloe change into her next outfit but first, we had to find a restroom. Since Chloe had on these amazing heels, I decided I would look for the restroom while she and Pam waited. On the way to find the restroom, we noticed another photographer (there were several that day) photographing a bride and groom. At one point, they posed in a rather raunchy and comical fashion for the photographer and it had us all laughing.
After Chloe changed, I captured more images before we hiked to a new destination. This image is actually from a series of images. I wanted her to kind of hang off of the column in a carefree fashion but when she did that the first time she looked rather stiff. So we did it again and I made her laugh and this is what I captured. After this series is when she changed into her third outfit. To make a long story short, I realized where the stairs were after she changed into her third outfit that was to be used for another location. Doh! Ah well. Moving on.
Next, we went to Little Five Points. By the way, this is not a normal session. My sessions generally last about an hour, just so you know. Traffic getting there was horrendous. If I thought Piedmont Park was bad, Little Five Points was worse. Regardless, we found the public parking lot, got out, and hoofed it back to the area we wanted to be in. Again, we just strolled through the crowds looking for interesting nooks. We made it to this wall I had photographed Jasmine on for my natural hair book. The same graffiti was still there but with some alterations. Those alterations went perfectly with Chloe’s outfit. We did some more walking and I could pass up these purple stairs while she was wearing her purple hoodie. See what I mean about her boots.
Next was the last outfit change. We were waiting for someone to come out and decided to let this young lady go in front of us because the call of nature seemed pretty urgent for her. Once she changed we were back at it. Each outfit she had on she received compliments for her shoes. There were pretty spectacular shoes. Here is one of the last shots from the session.
All in all, it was a great day. I had my Fitbit on and I walked over 10,000 steps that day. That is not my norm. I enjoyed time with two very special people, got to people watch and got some fresh air. I’m still booking so if you’re looking, look my way. From lifestyle newborns to high school seniors, they can all spend time in front of my lens. Just schedule a consultation and I’ll take it from there. Hope to see you soon.
“High school gave you the canvas – now it’s time to fill it with the artwork of your future.”
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