Emily – Senior Portrait Session – Alexandra Michelle Photography Blog

I’m officially loving Senior Portraits! They are fun, spirited and a good mix of what I love about engagements and Children Portraits. In Engagement sessions you can direct and pose and the couples will follow your lead but will bring their own spark. In Children Portraits I love the candidness and spirit they bring to the session. Senior portraits is the perfect blend of both. Emily’s portrait session turned out beautifully and I couldn’t have asked for a better day.

When Emily contacted me about the session, the first thing she said in her portrait questionnaire was that she was up for anything and totally trusted my direction. She asked me to pick the location and was up for anything! I gave her a bunch of ideas from that I researched from the Charlottesville area (since she is from there) but when she said she would travel to Richmond, I was elated! I’ve gotten a good handle on good spots in Richmond, and since I’ve shot in a lot of places around here, I knew I’d be comfortable and could take her to the best areas. Originally we were going to try and go to Maymont Park but then Emily noted that they close at 5pm which was the time we were meeting for the session to take advantage of the beautiful evening light. So what do you do when the location is no longer an option and it’s only a few days before the session? You stick with what you know and boy am I glad we did. Belle Isle is my favorite place to shoot and while I’ve done a handful of sessions there, it never gets old. 🙂

Emily, her parents, her boyfriend and her boyfriend’s Mom and Aunt joined me on Saturday at Belle Isle for her session. It was a great group, the brought change of outfits, streamers, towels and umbrellas so she could change at Belle Isle and great attitudes. The weather was ideal, lightly overcast at first but just bright enough that I still had my camera set at ISO 100 (that basically implies that I have really good fill light) and then as if my prayers were answered, the sun just peaked through to provide this great glow! All while keeping the temperature in the 80s… like I said, ideal.

Emily is sweet. I mean really sweet, she was willing to go anywhere and try any pose, she rocked a gorgeous model face and even hugged me at the end after I was soaking wet. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that she witnessed me wipe out and plunge into the river… yeah. Haha, I almost wish someone had video tapped this so I could replay this embarrassing but equally epic moment as I slipped on a rock, slid uncontrollably into the James River all while saving my camera (luckily, but really… it was a close call). I got up, saw Emily’s face of horror and it kind of clicked how dramatic it probably looked. I still got the image I originally wanted with her field hockey stick and the sun glow behind her :).

We got a great mix of images and then as we walked back to the car, we realized we hadn’t used the streamers yet! I can’t tell you how glad I am that she remembered these because I love the images with the streamers! Her boyfriend climbed into a tree to get the last images of the day!

Emily, thanks for a great day! I loved getting to hang out with you and your family and hope you love these as much as I do. 🙂