Happy Sunday everyone! With this blog post we're going to take it back to last fall. I did Hayley's senior photos and her families photos at the peak of fall. With so many gorgeous colors around us and multiple locations to highlight that, Hayley and I had a very accomplished senior photo session!
Rainy Day Senior Sessions
The day I did Hayley's senior photos had been rainy and dreary out, but we decided to press on and do them anyway. Everyone loves a good sunny day for their photos, but there have been times where I've found that the overcast gray days can turn out to be great! This session was definitely one of those days, and throughout our three locations the rain didn't get in between us and gorgeous photos.
We began her session at the JMU Arboretum in Harrisonburg. This location has been tried and true since the beginning of my business, and still 8 years later it remains one of the most requested locations by my customers. Once you see the photos, it's easy to understand why. With trails, plants, gorgeous trees, a pond, and multiple bridges there are few things that this one location doesn't offer. Surprisingly, I discovered just a few years back that my favorite spot at the arboretum is at the entrance, there's an old gate there that serves as a great background and it overlooks the beauty of the entire place. During the fall especially, it showcases the colors of the trees which also compliment the gate and stonework. So after doing some photos down in the arboretum, we trekked up the entrance to the gate and I captured my favorite photos of Hayley and her family there!
We went from the arboretum to Hayley's grandparents house. I love when customers ask to do photos at their own land or family land, because it guarantees that they will have photos completely unique to anyone else! Her grandparents had a long driveway lined with pine trees, views overlooking the mountains, and a fenced in field with tall fall grass growing all over it. Hayley came equipped with her own ideas for where to do photos here, and I happily followed her lead while we went through each place to execute what she wanted. Her black jumper and jean jacket was a perfect cute fall outfit, and the way her red hair complimented the tall grass was a show stopper! With each location and even with her casual outfits, Hayley incorporated the one thing that seemed most important to her about her high school experience - her soccer ball.
Our last location was Turner Ashby High School, and as soon as Hayley took to the field for her photos it was obvious these were the ones she had been waiting for. Not only did Hayley seem so happy and passionate about soccer, she handled the ball with ease and looked like a pro! I admittedly know nothing about soccer, so I was hoping she would have a lot of her own ideas for this part of our session too - and she did! Probably my favorite thing about doing senior photos is the parts of sessions where I can capture a senior's personality and passions in their photos. These were a prime example of that. Even though Hayley looked beautiful and happy in her casual photos, nothing was going to beat the soccer ones in her eyes or mine! Hayley graduates in just one week, and I truly hope that in her future she continues to represent and carry that love of soccer with her everywhere!