Senior Portrait Session :: Paige {Elizabethtown HS ~ Class of 2011}

What a blast these senior portrait sessions have been! And Paige's session was no exception. She has a fun, outgoing personality and great expression. We traveled down to Lancaster Central Market area on a beautiful summer evening and simply had a great time walking around and finding all kinds of interesting little spots to photograph. Oh, and since apparently portrait sessions with me often end up with interesting things happening, we were also pretending not to watch some guy get busted for something or other. Ah, yes, the joys of city life!

Paige is a senior at Elizabethtown High School, and has been busy the past few weeks in her role as drum major for the high school band. She stays active year round at school with diving over the fall/winter and track in the spring. Her household will change a little this fall as her older brother heads off to college, but her younger brother is still around to keep things interesting :-) Here are a few sneak peeks from her portrait session~ if you know someone who needs senior portraits this fall, my year-end schedule is filling up quickly~ I have about six spots left for senior sessions. My personal faves are the last two~ stunning!

TWO Spots Remaining for Fall Mini Portrait Sessions! (click link for more info)

Who: Circle of Life Photography + you
When: Sunday afternoon, October 3, 2010
Where: Elizabethtown, PA
What: Your session fee = a donation to Joni & Friends! and you get a few great images of your kid(s), your family or YOU for holiday cards and gifts!
Click link for more info: http://mycirclephotos.blogspot.com/p/fall-family-mini-sessions.html

Senior Portrait Session :: Malorie {Elizabethtown HS ~ Class of 2011}

Wow, Malorie totally ROCKED her senior portrait session!! Her main request for senior portraits was that she wanted something unique and I hope we accomplished that here. As I am working with seniors, I am realizing that going through their closets to find combinations of colors, layer, accessories, etc. that will work together later in a collage of the images is vital to making a session work. (Um, yes I am going to confess that I really like going through people's closets~ kind of like retail therapy in some way.) Malorie had everything laid out for me and I didn't have to make many changes~ just added some accessories and she was good to go!

I was so excited that one of Malorie's college visits from this summer was to my alma mater, Clarion Univerity~ she is thinking of going to school for elementary education and special education and has more college visits planned in the coming week. It was kind of a reality check for me to think that when I first met Malorie's family at our church, she was about the same age as our daughter is now~ which means this high school senior thing sneaks up pretty quickly! So here is a sneak peek of my faves from her session~ with so many fun ones, it was hard to choose:

Senior Portrait Session :: Julie {Palmyra HS ~ Class of 2011}

So excited to post this great senior portrait session with Julie after we've had some internet issues this week~ I couldn't post her images and the wait was about making me crazy! Julie did an amazing job and has a phenomenal smile to go with her equally beautiful personality. At one point I was trying to get see if she could do a 'serious' look and she, her mom Donna, and I were all cracking up... it just wasn't her~ anyone who knows Julie would agree that she is a truly smile-y girl! So I think these images really reflect her heart and inner beauty as well as the outer.

Julie is a senior at Palmyra High School, and although she isn't exactly sure what she wants to do after graduation, one possibility is to become a nurse. Nursing as a career seems to be a common theme among the seniors I photograph this year and I am excited that so many young people are considering it~ it is definitely needed and it takes compassionate and caring hearts (like Julie's :-) to give back to others in need. Julie has had a busy past month of travel~ her family just spent two weeks out in the western United States and she also spent a week in Kentucky on a mission trip with her church youth group to help families in need of home repair.

Here are a few of my favorite images from her session~ it was Julie's idea to pick the flowers from her mom's garden just before we left~ love how the colors pop~ enjoy!

Senior Portrait Session :: Sarah {Elizabethtown HS / Class of 2011}

Here are two things you normally don't associate with a senior portrait session: chicken poop and a ridiculously huge garden spider! You'd think I would not be surprised by things like this when photographing on a farmette... but (hopefully) no clothing was ruined and no people spiders hurt during Sarah's portrait session. After nearly a week of random rain and thunderstorms, we were blessed with a beautiful evening and stayed long enough to capture every ray of warm summer light. I love working with seniors because each session is different, like when I asked Sarah's mom, "umm, Sue, can you chase that chicken out of the way?" (nearly a hundred chickens, and one wants the spotlight :-) We also had plenty of options on this beautiful property~ including a funky little door, which housed the said spider... Sarah and I were ready to run if it popped out from under the rock!

Sarah has the most beautiful hazel eyes and LONG eyelashes~ she did an amazing job and was so patient~ she (and her mom) also did a great with selecting colors and textures for her clothing that will really look amazing when the images are put together in a collage.

This Elizabethtown Area High school senior is thinking of attending nursing school after she graduates next spring, and I think with her sweet, caring attitude, she would make a wonderful nurse wherever she works.  Here are a few of my faves from her session~ seriously, how gorgeous is she... ???

Senior Portrait Session :: Stefanie {Elizabethtown HS / Class of 2011}

I am so excited for this post! Stefanie is one of those beautiful people whose smile just makes your day~ we occasionally serve together in our church nursery, and I can't think of too times when she isn't smiling. Stef did an amazing job during her senior portrait session, especially because we were literally m-e-l-t-i-n-g from the heat that day~ unbelievably hot! But she was such a trooper, even in layers of clothes and jeans!

Stefanie is a senior at Elizabethtown Area High School, plays volleyball and recently went on a mission trip to Harlan, Kentucky for a week with SWAP (Sharing with Appalachian People) and her youth group. They primarily did construction projects on homes in the area but had the opportunity to interact with the families~ this trip had a profound impact on a number of youth, including Stefanie, so be sure to ask her about it!

Here are a few images from her portrait session~ she was such a natural in front of the camera, it was hard to choose!

Senior Portrait Session :: Cory {Manheim Central HS / Class of 2011}

Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE working with seniors? It is so much fun working with these amazing (not-mentioning-the-word-'young'-here-because-that-would-mean-I-am-'old') people who have the whole world to navigate over the next few years and figure out where they fit in. It's such an exciting time filled with a lot of different emotions, both for teens and their parents. Sometimes high school seniors aren't exactly sure what they want to do post graduation~ but Cory, a senior at Manheim Central High School, knows without a doubt that his future involves working with computers~ he already has two summer jobs... one with his school's IT dept. and the other in the pharmacy at Giant in Elizabethtown, and plans to continue studies in a computer-related field after high school. So far Penn State, Carnegie Mellon and RIT are on his list of schools to check out.

I met with Cory and his mom at their home for his senior portrait session on an afternoon where the sun couldn't make up it's mind to stay behind the clouds, so we would photograph... then wait for a cloud... then photograph again. He did a great job being patient with me, and I think we got some great images of him with one of his (three) guitars... here are just a few from Cory's portrait session:

tried something new here by adding a texture to the background:






And I should mention, if you are looking to have senior portraits taken, please don't wait!
There are a few spots open in mid-September and when October fills up,
there will be no more senior sessions available until next spring.

Baby Portrait Session :: Twin Boys = Twice The Fun!!

Or is twice the RUN?? These adorable boys can MOVE!! Their mommy, Robin, forewarned that this portrait session would be much different from the one last summer, when they were six months old~ but of course I am thinking, really, how fast? but I should have been asking, how many directions at once? (the answer is any direction away from the camera and all directions at once!) We had a gorgeous, warm summer evening to spend together for the boys' 18-month portrait session and all of the right elements came into play: a relaxed and unhurried Mommy & Daddy, who let their boys be boys; a new playground location for the boys to explore; a great surrounding location with the perfect trees filtering the sunlight, green space and beautiful evening light; boys who were happy, well-rested and free to run, jump, run, slide, run, play, do somersaults and run!; a prepared Mommy with snacks, drinks and toys; and a photographer wearing running shoes. Yes, it was all around the perfect opportunity to capture these little ones just as they were and we had a lot of fun doing it!

Robin and her husband, Eric, take the boys to the beach during the summer and play a game on the sand dunes with them, where they countdown and the boys run to them~ it was the only way to get the boys in one spot at the same time and made for some of the cutest images~ priceless! Thanks letting me spend some time with you and your precious family~ Love you guys!!

okay, so there are a lot of images for this post,  but I had a hard time choosing... twice as many makes sense, right?