It’s hard to remember this now, but about six weeks ago it was blistering hot in a delicious pour-water-on-your-head kind of way, because we all knew this kind of rainy cold goodness was just a matter of time. That day when you tear up a little because you get out your coat and realize you have to wear it… but this September day wasn’t one of those. It was more along the lines of “how little can I wear and still be appropriate?”

We met at Sue’s parents’ house – a beautiful property in Penfield with willow trees, a creek and a garden that the deer didn’t bother even though it had no fence. There was also a huge field the size of a football stadium out back.

Mia didn’t really want to smile – she wanted to be pensive. I gave her my flash trigger as a last resort and that did’t make her smile either, but then Sue worked a little mommy magic and we were good to go.

Mateo exploring his artistic side.

I’m not a huge black and white person (because you can convert anything to black and white later) but once in a while you come across an image that doesn’t really work in color. This was one of those.

If you are one of Martin’s kids you are one lucky child!

Sue brought along some bubbles and water. She loves playful, natural images. It’s so good to know your style!

We did also sneak in a group shot with Grandma and Grandpa.

And also Grandma and Grandpa alone.

And last but not least…

Thank you so much Sue for sharing your beautiful family with me (again!). I hope you had/have/are having an awesome trip to Argentina!

Josh and I attend the same church but because we swim in separate circles (because I’m old??) I’ve never actually had a conversation with him.  I learned that he loves to fish and is planning to attend the fire academy – and that he can’t do much until he’s 18, which will happen shortly.

In this image Josh is standing in front of his grandparents’ barn, which was built in the 1800s.

Incorporating a senior’s interests is the best thing about senior portraits, especially because so often our interests in high school follow us through life.

A great way to make senior sessions more meaningful is to go somewhere you love, bring along items that are meaningful to you, and to bring a few changes of clothing to keep the images from being too similar.

This fence was just asking to be photographed.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to photograph your senior portraits. Good luck as you enter this next phase of life!

You can imagine that choosing a location is a huge part of location photography.  Kate happens to be friends with every artist in the Greater Rochester Area and asked her friend Lynne Feldman if we could use her apartment.  Lynne is an accomplished artist whose apartment was an art gallery – both of her own work and of various artwork from her travels all over the world.  I was captivated by the colors and vibrancy of her work.

Vera is modeling Black Bird Knit’s Girton Place Baby/Toddler Sweater.

In this image, she’s modeling the Vick Park Baby/Toddler Vest.

I have a bit of a negative association with hand knitted clothing, but Kate’s clothing was truly artwork.  I’m not sure I’ve seen work like this out of a national store.  While she doesn’t plan to sell the finished product, she can connect you with people who will knit items for you.  Just contact her to learn more!

If you’d like to see more child portrait photography, you can subscribe to the blog via the link in the bottom right hand corner.

Kate hired the high powered women at Flight 9 Creative to build an elegant website which has one of the best bios I have ever read in my life.   Even if you don’t knit, it’s worth the visit.

As for the behind the scenes planning, one of the first mountains to climb is choosing a location.  This is a road less traveled, but if your house isn’t exactly what you want, then arranging to use a friend’s house is an excellent option.  Kate has her life chock full of artist friends who bind their own books, paint canvases bigger than me, and collect African art from their travels all over the world.  If you ever have a chance to get to know Kate a little, I’d highly recommend it.

Kate arranged to use three different friend’s houses over three separate sessions, then we went to her home and added a few images from there as well.  We had a wide variety of models who smiled through their scarf wearing despite the summer heat as we tried to keep the images looking at a least a little wintry.

Over the course of this week I’ll be rolling out some of the models’ favorite images for you to enjoy, stay tuned!  In the mean time, click over to Black Bird Knits to purchase knitting patterns.