Senior Portraits | Tara 2023
Tara’s Senior Portraits
Tara’s senior portraits session was such a fun one. Tara loves all things outdoors, hunting, her puppies, and she is a Jeep girl through and through. Tara is a cheerleader, which we didn’t end up including in the session (although a lot of seniors do take photos in sports and activities uniforms). Instead, we focused on her individual personality and favorite things. Tara is also from Pekin, which is a school district that I hadn’t had any seniors from yet! There’s a first for everything, and I thought we would start out with a bang.
Tara wanted to be in outdoor nature and downtown senior picture locations, so I went location scouting. While driving around, I found a piece of open land for sale. It had these beautiful white wildflowers and I KNEW I needed to shoot there. It was the perfect fit for Tara’s outside nature location. I also found some fun downtown locations that made for some very unique senior portraits.
Jeep Senior Pictures
As a Jeep girl myself, taking Jeep senior photos was a dream come true. We got SO many unique shots of Tara with her Jeep. I haven’t had many girl senior sessions with any type of car—let alone a Jeep. It was a blast.
Her dad brought her Jeep (and her PUPPIES) and parked it on this little driveway that the piece of land had and it was perfect. This location was so fun and pretty, it was a cool balance of the “cool outdoorsy Jeep girl” Tara and the “running through the wildflowers with the breeze blowing through her hair” Tara.
The space ultimately allowed me to be creative with her Jeep and pups. We played with different poses and moods, and everything came out better than I envisioned. Tara wore this white top with ripped jeans and it was great because I love shooting white clothing! I love the way that white clothes edit, it always ends up looking so fresh and clean.
Downtown Senior Pictures
Tara wanted some cool downtown senior pictures and after location scouting, I knew we would deliver. We started at this wide open space with a white wall and simple feel. It went perfect with her teal dress and allowed us to get creative with poses.
Her mom brought along some photos of her as a kid, which was so sweet. Moms: if you have photos you want from your kiddo’s senior session, let’s make it happen! Knowing that she wanted some senior pictures with her baby photos helped me to plan out how to work them in! We ended up with so many cute, nostalgic shots.
Graffiti Senior Photos
I had found this really cool spot when location scouting downtown and knew I had to bring someone there—Tara was a perfect fit. I’ll admit, I was a little curious as to how these would turn out. I’d never shot with graffiti before, so I wasn’t exactly sure how it would edit. But I knew it would be worth it. In the end, I loved how it all came together
There was such a fun variety of colors and art in a small area which allowed us to get so many great shots. She had this simple but fun outfit and it only made sense to pair it with the colorful art. The location really allowed her personality to shine through and communicate her fun, bubbly side! I’d call my first attempt at graffiti senior photos a success.
I feel like we really nailed everything at each location. The nature shots, the downtown dress, and the graffiti—it all pops. I loved doing all of these fresh and different things, and I knew as I sent off the gallery that we had captured Tara in every way.
Photographer for Senior Pictures
Something about me as a photographer for senior pictures is that I will make each session unique. I spend tons of extra time location scouting, researching, and planning to make sure that your senior session shows YOU. Senior year is such a crazy, hectic, and special time. Capturing who you are and what makes this time special for you is my #1 goal.
So, bring your puppies (please always bring your puppies), show off your jeep, don your uniforms, grab your books or art supplies, and let’s capture these memories for you and your family to cherish forever.
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