52 on Fridays (42/52) Hugs and Kisses

A quiet moment of first love...

For more sweet hugs and kisses, please visit Lisa at Lisa Tarplee Photography. I know she will have something beautiful!

52 on Fridays (40/52) Reading

When I had a chance to meet Chris, a St. Andrews senior from Jackson, we had a great time talking about her cat and her love of reading. It just felt like a natural fit to share some of the images from her senior portrait session for this week's theme.

If you want to see what more of my favorite people are reading, follow the link to Sarah's blog and complete this week's circle. I think I've read just about every book she has pictured, so it is about time for me to talk to her about some of those books!

52 on Fridays (39/52) Texture

One of the things I love about our 52 on Fridays group is that we push each other to try new things. I have never tried using textures before this week's post. I happened to have one lonely texture saved in my photography files, so I played around with it on one of my favorite recent senior girl shots just to see what would happen. The shot on top is the original and the one on bottom is the same shot with something called "autumn texture free fan version". The blending mode is soft light, the opacity is around 75%, and the areas over her skin and dress have been masked out. 

I even went to Jessica Drossin's site and found a couple more free textures to try. The bottom image looks so much like my freebie texture that I wonder if they are the same.

So what do you think? I'm not sure it still looks like my work, but the results are pretty and interesting.

For more fun with textures, please visit my friend, Sarah, at Ozarks Fare Grounds. I love what she does. And if you are on Instagram, you absolutely must follow her.

52 on Fridays (30/52) Different Perspective

Perhaps a better title for this post would be "This is NOT a Before and After," because this story is not about how a flat iron, a little makeup, and the pros at Amy Head Cosmetics and my sister-in-law's salon made anyone better. Aumbriel, a senior at St. Andrews, is far more interesting than that. I would not be happy showing you just the two images below, the ones Aumbriel jokingly said I could call "unfrosted" and "frosted."

The truth is, she looks great in both pictures. If I stopped with just labeling the pictures "before" and "after," you might miss much of the story. You would not get to hear about Aumbriel's goal of becoming a veterinarian, her many hours working at a local vet office, or about her adorable pets like Knuckles the dog.

You wouldn't learn about the history of her favorite coat. Its graphite and watercolor stains reveal an artist that loves to create. The coat has battle scars from wrestling with many art tools over the years, and every button on the coat has a story of how it was once fallen and then saved by Aumbriel's needle and thread.

And then there is Aumbriel's art. She is not limited to paper and ink or watercolors. Aumbriel is an artist in three dimensions. She sculpts, sews, and crafts art in all forms.

So this is Aumbriel, a smart, talented, beautiful senior with so much to look forward to. Thanks for letting me spend two great afternoons working with you and sharing in all that makes you amazing.

For a different perspective from sunny Florida, please visit my friend Lisa .

52 on Fridays (28/52) White

I was hoping that my "Moody" post was going to be the first and last time I used a client's name in the 52 on Fridays theme, but I couldn't resist doing it again. Nelson, thanks for being a cooperative subject. I hope that my layout does your smart, sophisticated style some justice.

I am so happy to link to Sarah's blog this week.  You never know if you are going to get a beautiful image, a wonderful recipe, or both on her blog. No matter what the subject, I know the post will be a winner.

Will Taylor MS Senior Photography

One of my favorite things to ask seniors to do is to take a few shots in their favorite piece of clothing. For Will, it had to be a great tee and jeans. I love that you can see his fun personality in his pictures.

Even though Will had a short mini-session with me, we still had time for a quick wardrobe change. We even included some pictures of his adorable younger sister, and I'll be sharing some of her images soon.

Thanks for a great time downtown, Will. Even though it was hot, I had a great time!

52 on Fridays (25/52) Flowers

“Nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small it takes time - we haven't time - and to see takes time..."
- Georgia O'Keeffe

Here's to the people that take their time to to bloom! So often these are the very people that bloom the brightest.

 I have a daughter that feels like she will never find her place. I hope that at the end of her journey she  has the grace, beauty, and perseverance of my beautiful model, Jessica.

I want to thank Erin at Amy Head Cosmetics for working with us on Jessica's makeup and also thank the Keller family at Mums the Word for the perfect floral headpiece they created. It takes a team to put together a shoot like this one. If you want to see the work of the rest of my creative photography team, please visit my friend Jackie to see how she captured flowers this week.