For my last blog post of May I'll be putting the spotlight on Emma, a senior at East Rock who is quite literally used to having the spotlight on her. Emma's uniqueness shines through in every single photo I took, and you can just tell by looking at them that she is a sweet and passionate young woman!
From Dolly Parton to The Dixie Chicks
Emma was one of the very first seniors I had who got the opportunity to use my new senior questionnaire. This is something new I've implemented when I book a senior session to help me get to know who I'll be photographing a little better before their session! It's a very short couple of questions that I email to the senior, and then they fill them out and send back to me. Like anything new in my business, I was nervous about adding this, but it has not only been very successful with my seniors - it is extremely helpful to me! I was able to know ahead of time just what Emma wanted from her senior photos - what her passions are, favorite colors, extracurriculars and more. Emma had told me the one thing she really wanted to incorporate into her photos was her love for singing and performing, so that is exactly what we did!
We started her session out at the high school for some cap and gown photos, which was a breeze to get through and I quickly realized Emma is a natural in front of the camera with a bright personality! Our original plan was to go into the auditorium to do some photos of her on stage, since performing in the musical is a big part of Emma's high school experience. We weren't able to do that though, because it was Mother's Day so there was nobody available to unlock it for us. We improvised though and decided to go for a more natural scene for these photos (I was envisioning the Miley Cyrus music video for her cover of Jolene in my mind when we were planning these.) Emma was wearing the cutest soft pink velvet dress, and amazed me with how well she had done her own makeup! We got photos of her with her microphone and also some of her with her brother Jake, whose senior photos I had done last year, and his guitar. She was a true representative of classiness in these photos. We also got a lot of natural laughs because there were people around us at this location so Emma had to do some fake singing for the camera!
Emma did a quick outfit change, and when she came out in her second outfit I had to comment that she had gone from Dolly Parton to The Dixie Chicks in the blink of an eye! It was amazing how she could go from a velvet dress made for the stage to a pair of ripped dreams and a cami with a headband and still seem authentically herself. Both outfits represented her so well, and it made me so happy when her mom told me that a large majority of her clothes come from thrift shops, which Emma told me was because it is so much better for the environment to buy thrifted clothes than to continue to support the manufacturing of new ones. It served for a great testament to who Emma is, and also is a great reminder that you absolutely do not need the newest, fanciest, most expensive clothes or accessories to look beautiful for your senior photos! As long as you are rocking something that is comfortable to you and shows off who you are, then that is going to shine through and make your photos look the best they could be. Emma just finished up with her final high school musical, and will soon graduate. I can't wait to hopefully see her on a big stage one day doing what she loves the most!