Sydney | {Stunning Senior}

Wow, I must say this is one of my favorite sessions, but I want to preface it with the fact that this is my niece, so I’ve had more freedom with her session and we have PLAYED a lot with our time together.  We started out in my studio a month ago, then the next day moved to the “graffiti garages” in Tacoma and the last stop (about a week ago) was in The Dalles, Oregon, where she lives and is a senior at The Dalles-Wahtonka High School this year.  So, there is a lot of variety in her photos, but that is a good way to describe Sydney. She is the youngest, her older sister is a junior in college, so Sydney is the last at home and is enjoying her senior year, having lots of fun with friends, working hard in her classes, taking some college courses, playing sports, involved in the ASB, and is a member of the 4H (won the top award for her goat at their county fair)…this girl is the whole package! She has goals for her future, ideas about what she wants out of life, plans for the next steps and yet, still realizes that she can balance all the parts of her life to make it work. Can you tell that I think pretty highly of her? Well, I do…and that is not to say that her older sister (Samantha) is not just as amazing, because she is…their parents have done an incredible job raising two beautiful and well adjusted girls who will both be very successful in whatever they do in life!

So, back to Sydney, she is beautiful, tall and graceful, athletic, very social, has a GREAT laugh and very kind and thoughtful…and so in having the privilege of taking her senior photos, I wanted to try and capture all aspects of who she is…hopefully, I have done just that. We had lots of fun, did lots of laughing and goofing around and in the end, I at least love her photos…and hope she does! So, without further ado…here are MANY photos of Syd…as we call her…enjoy!

Sydney has this idea to recreate a photo or something similar to one she saw of Lady Di…I don’t know about you, but I think she is way prettier!

I love Syd’s laugh…so contagious…what a beautiful smile to go with it!

Last shot of the day at the Tacoma graffiti garages…couldn’t resist this shot…good thing it was covered as it was raining….what’s new!

As you can see, we had fun and Syd is tall, so jumping is easy for her and she can get quite high…it was fun and there was lots of  laughter during our day in The Dalles!

This old house that Syd was sitting in the doorway of was a perfect setting for our photos…it just seemed to fit her…lots of character and so many stories within!

You can see, we had fun, being silly and showing that serious isn’t always the way to go…

Isn’t Sydney beautiful…what a delight to photograph, a natural beauty who is SO sweet and down to earth!

I love this photo and when I found this quote…it just seem to fit Sydney…and I couldn’t resist adding it to the photo…it all seemed to go together perfectly!

Sneak Peek – Sydney {Puyallup Senior Photographer}

 Well, technically, this isn’t a senior from Puyallup, but she was visiting and so therefore we’ll call it “Puyallup!”  And, to be totally honest, this is my niece, who I must say is gorgeous…look at her…she’s as sweet and nice as she is beautiful! For now, you’ll have to be satisified with just this one photograph as I’m heading out of town EARLY tomorrow morning…my flight leaves at 6 am and I’m headed EAST! I’m spending two days with a great friend and wonderful photographer, Cindy Hamilton, and then we are driving to Knoxville, TN for a 6 day workshop on portraiture…I can’t wait…SO excited to learn new techniques and how to improve my work…because you know you can ALWAYS improve on it! So, it’ll be quiet here for the next week or two…unless I get inspired (and some free time…which probably isn’t going to happen, free time, that is!) and can post some of our work from the workshop! For now, enjoy this beautiful young woman, Sydney, who is a senior in The Dalles, Oregon and will graduate next spring…more to come later this month!

Eatonville Family Photographer | Fabulous Family on the Farm

It’s been long than I like to take for my blog postings, but with life, preparing to leave for vacation and then vacation (which I’m still on)…but I’m finally getting around to it. Of course, wouldn’t you know that now that I have the photos (LOTS of them!) ready…we lose cell and internet coverage where I’m staying…figures! Oh well, I’ll do what I can and just wait until all the elements fall into place to get it posted.

This family was a ton of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting all of their animals and seeing their wonderful farm. Despite it being a hot day, it was great fun and we all seemed to survive the heat just fine…heck, if the animals live in that all the time, we “humans” can handle it for a couple of hours!

Besides the family, Steve, Sue and Sierra, a good friend of Sierra’s, Kaycee, joined us for the session that day…along with all of their animals, who you will meet in the photos to come.

Meet Steve…and Dixie, who is actually Sue’s palomino Morgan….waiting to get into the arena (which is amazing, by the way!) for a turn!

Kaycee and Sierra with their horses, Daisy and Seorise…such beautiful girls and horses…truly a delight to meet all of them!

Sierra and Seorise…trotting around the arena…a nice reprieve from the sun and heat that morning!

The girls (Sue included!) with their horses…I’m thinking that I need to figure out how to get the horses attention…my tricks for kids and dogs didn’t work!!

Kaycee and Daisy…what a great team they are…it’s truly a respect, both ways between these two!

Sue and Dixie…it was a delight to talk with Sue during our session…she’s just amazing…she is incredible with all the animals and boy, does she ever know her plants…I’m impressed!!

Kaycee…a beautiful girl, who obviously loves her horse and is very confident and I enjoyed watching with her horse and Sierra…it’s so refreshing to see young people who enjoy the simple and basic aspects of life…

Sierra – just 14 years old and such a beautiful young woman, very polite and sweet, yet still a great childlike zest for life…and that smile is gorgeous…such a delight to get to know her!

Sue with Max, the old, but goody white Arab, as she describes him…what a beautiful old horse…I can’t remember how old, but he was up there.

And, we finally get Steve with his horse, Rascal, who is a Paint horse….now, only if he would have ridden him…next time, Steve, I expect you to ride Rascal!

What an adorable pony, Chase, is quite striking with the blond mane and tale…what a sweet pony!

And, Patsy, is the other pony…and boy, did these two like to eat, they were thrilled to be by the grass and ate as much as they could while out for the photos!

Meet Amos…he’s so ugly (sorry Steve) that he’s cute…look at that face…and that nose…what character! Oh, and did I mention that he likes donuts?! They called him and said donuts…and he came right on out…it was pretty funny to watch!

Meet Connie and Boo Boo…a sheet and goat, who obviously get along well, maybe they don’t even know they aren’t the same type of animal! 

And, the other goat…Tony Blue!

Another of Kaycee…LOVE her freckles…such a beautiful, natural girl……..

And, Sierra, SOOOO cute…I love her smile and beautiful sparkling eyes…this girl is just striking…and as nice as she is pretty…what more can a parent ask for!

LOVE this shot……..

Sierra with Logan, red merle Australian Shepherd…isn’t this a beautiful dog…of course, I’m partial to aussie’s….since I have one myself!!

And another aussie….Lucy…such a sweet and mellow dog…you would have never guessed she was a pup…oh, what a wonderful tempermant this dog has!

Steve and Sue with Lucy and Ali, a cute little Jack Russel Terrier…full of energy, but very loving!

I really enjoyed the time with Kaycee – such a pretty and thoughtful young woman…we need more young people like she and Sierra in that generation!

Ahh….I’m a sucker for such a sweet moment…mom and daughter…what a touching moment!

It’s obvious that Sierra and Kaycee are wonderful friends…to have such great friends in this day is a gift…

Family…what more can be said about a loving and close family unit…such an important part of  our society!!

Okay, so Sierra is just 14 (not far from 15) and here’s her first truck…such an exciting time for a young person…and next year, I’m sure she’ll be driving it as much as she possibly can…you can see how it just “fits” her perfectly!

A girl, her horse, dog, Snowball (a dog that needs no explanation…) and truck…what more would she need?!?? Hmm, maybe a driver’s permit…but she still has enough to keep her busy!

The time I spent with this family was truly a joy…they are fun, outgoing, loving, hardworking and have a great sense of humor…it was a highlight of my weekend to visit their farm and be able to photograph them, their animals and their lives…thank you, Steve, Sue and Sierra!!