Happy Sunday everyone!
Today starts my weekly senior Sunday spotlights. Every Sunday I will be making a blog post about a different senior I have photographed throughout the year. The first spotlight will be on Madison, one of my senior ambassadors and a Class of 2021 senior at Turner Ashby High School. I met Madison about 5 years ago at a pageant I was photographing, and since that time I photographed her in multiple other pageants and developed a friendship with her!
Madison as a Senior Ambassador
Madison had interest in my senior ambassador program very early on, and was one of the first people to submit an application. Choosing ambassadors is easily one of the hardest parts of my job, every year I receive so many applications and everyone would make a great ambassador, but in the end I have to choose the 5 seniors that would work best not only with me, but also with each other. Madison was an excellent choice. I hadn't had an ambassador from TAHS yet, and also I had applications from people that I had photographed in the pageant scene, and I loved the idea of having a team of ambassadors that were already familiar with each other. The day of our ambassador cookout and photoshoot went so well. The energy was upbeat and excited from the beginning, and by the time we had enjoyed our food and signed contracts the whole team was ready to head out for our photoshoot. Normally for my ambassadors we take a trip somewhere, but due to Covid we decided to stay local this year. We went to Heritage Park in Broadway for a small session with each ambassador, that way they could all have photos to begin posting for advertisement. For such a small session, I was able to get really great photos of each ambassador and start our year together out right!
Getting to Know Madison & Seeing How She Shines Through the Camera
Madison was ready for her first individual session by the end of the summer, and wanted to have her photos done around her home town of Bridgewater. We started out at Harrison Park with her mountain bike. Madison's entire family are active mountain bikers, her mom actually rode her bike to her session for her! She is so involved in many unique things, in addition to biking she does archery, photography, and dance. We took the bike from Harrison Park to downtown, where The Cracked Pillar was packed full of people, like it is on most summer weekends. They gave us permission to take a few photos on the outside of their building which made for a gorgeous setting! The lights they had hanging from their outdoor seating area plus the hanging plants were the perfect mix of urban and natural for her photos.
After doing photos with her bike downtown, we went to Wildwood Park where Madison wanted to do photos in what was going to be her Junior prom dress. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to actually go to her junior prom, but I hope I was able to create amazing photos for her to remember the year by regardless. I've seen Madison in countless gowns before, but I can definitely say the dress she chose for junior prom was perfect for her. It was simple and flowed so easily when she walked, plus she paired it with bedazzled converse and I think I made real life heart eyes when I saw the entire outfit. These photos were my favorite from all of hers, I live for gorgeous gowns and unique styles from my customers! Madison told me about how she is also an ambassador or leader in different charity organizations, through which she also represents her pageant titles. I've followed Madison's work with charities through her social media for awhile, and you can see how much time and effort she puts in to working so others can have a better life!
Once we left Wildwood park we went into Dayton where my favorite sunflower field was at peak bloom. Madison wore an outfit that was different than what I've seen often for sunflower sessions, but worked so well for her and with the location. We got to the field right at sunset, which is what makes the flowers the perfect shade of yellow in photographs. Surrounded by gorgeous flowers, Madison truly put her many years of modeling experience to use during these photos. She had been so excited to have sunflowers for her senior photos, and while I always seem to fall in love with every session I do at this sunflower field, Madison's happiness added to mine. I'm so thankful to have an ambassador that I am able to work so well with! You can find Madison's photos all throughout my website and my social media, she and I were able to create photos that I will showcase for a very long time! We still have a bit of time left together before Madison graduates and heads off to Mary Baldwin College in the fall to receive a degree in education with a minor in French studies.
Madison - thank you for being a part of my team and working with me this year! I'm so excited to see the work we do together in the future as well.
Thank you to everyone for reading! I love having my blog to really showcase my seniors instead of having to keep to a small short caption when talking about them via social media. I'll be back next week to introduce everyone to another senior that's a part of the Amaze Photography team!