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Thank you so much! I love your blog too! You seem like a very smart and inspiring young lady and I look forward to following you. Thanks again for the note :)

Go-pher it!: My first High School Senior photo shoot

I was so nervous and unknowing of what to expect. Yes, this was…my first photo-shoot!

Besides the fact that Tori is a total doll, it was all laughs from the start.

 It wasn’t hard at all to decide the location where we would shoot her senior portrait photos. The first time I saw her backyard during the summer of 2010, I was sold. I just HAD to shoot something there. It had a country-fresh feel with open fields of light brown sun-kissed wheat stalks and old heavy farm equipment that probably had been sitting there undiscovered for eons, topped off with a classic rope swing that we all remember from when we were kids. The setting immediately forced me to picture a scene from the past with hard-working farmers from the nineteen twenties that I had dreamed about since I was a little girl. It was comforting in a way. The old rusty equipment was hidden all the way at the back of the property.

While happily trudging toward the furthest site with my ladder and gear in-hand, all the little spots that I saw everywhere I looked delighted me. There was an old-fashioned porch in front of the a big white farm house with iron-cast, hand painted furniture. In the distance, there were big oak trees with a cozy fire-pit nearby. Apple trees surrounded by grass and fresh-fallen fruit were spread out before me. Tall dark woods and small forest openings that begged to be confronted and explored lined the property. Oh, and not to mention the huge brown gopher that we startled in the midst of exploration. It ran as soon as it caught the slightest glimpse of us and quickly dove under an old gray shed. The sight of his furry body hurling across the grass was so hilarious that I almost dropped my ladder and equipment!

Beyond the laughs and visual entertainment, I will never forget this particular photo-shoot. Whenever I look at these images, they will remind me of not just how much I love photography but also the experience that I will never ever get from working at my full-time office job or any other. I think I am in love… :)

Isabella

Portrait of my friend’s 5 year old daughter.

Angel

With the crazy snowstorms we’ve had here on the east coast, I was cooped up inside for a few days and started playing around with my new camera lens (Canon 24-70mm 2.8 L). My Mom is also here visiting from Ireland for the holidays and so one of the first test shots with my new lens was this beautiful angel holding a heart that she gave me for Christmas.