my favorite senior portrait ever

Now I know, you’re not allowed to have favorites in much of life. But this year, my favorite person in the entire world is a rising senior. I asked if she’d like someone else to take her portraits for her, but she chose me to take them. I didn’t cry or anything. So I asked her to create a Pinterest board for me, with some images she loved. I thought it would be a good idea, as other people choose me to take their portraits because they love my images, I wanted to be sure that I created a portrait for her, not just for me.

Almost immediately she sent me her senior portrait board… I excitedly opened the board, to see a badly posed, badly lit, badly cropped, beach photo. Huh? I thought. That’s strange. Is that what she thinks my portraits are like? Can she not see the difference? Then I looked at the next one, a quite lovely image of a girl with a horse, one thing about my daughter, from childhood, she hasn’t been a huge horse fan, huh? I thought again. The next couple were just as curious, and then I got to the laser background school photo and started to giggle, next came the boy holding his cat, and I realized, she’d chosen just a bunch of random images that would never be on her list of what she wanted for her senior photos. It’s one of my favorite things about her, her fabulous sense of humor. That girl can sure make me laugh.

Once she deleted it, she created a new board, what she really wanted for her senior photo, which had a bunch of my images on it, including some I’d taken of her. It made me smile. And it made me happy. And because I’m a total geek, it made me proud. I loved that she likes my work.

We had a quick session in Norway, which I’ll include a link to when I get them online, and then scheduled time for her Cape Cod senior beach portraits. We got a beautiful night, I was so happy. We chose Chatham Light beach because we both love it, and it is a beach she hangs out on with friends, so it’s special to her, which I love.

I didn’t cry at all, before, during, or after the session, which I’m glad about. Kind of unlike me if we’re being honest! We had such fun. We jokingly tried to make it like any other session, ‘so how’s your summer going?’, I asked, ‘what have you been doing with yourself?’ She told me she’d been to Norway, ‘really?’ I exclaimed, ‘how fabulous!’ (which it really, really was) and told me how she was life guarding this summer. I cherish every moment with my beautiful girl, well okay, she’s a teenager, perhaps every moment isn’t exactly always cherished, but in general… And taking her senior photos was such a gift to me.

It’s one of my favorite things about taking senior photos, hearing about dreams and goals, aspirations, fears, the sheer act of celebrating a milestone with my seniors. I am so grateful I was able to share that same moment with my own daughter.

I have watched her growing up, both through my lens, and in front of my eyes. She made the comment that these were her favorite photos, and she felt like the last few years have been practice for this session. I love every time I get her in front of my lens, but I especially love when the images are just what I’d hoped for. For her to be happy is really the icing. And like most of my portraits, it’s the most important part to me.

I’m not ready for my baby to be a senior. I’m certainly not ready for her to go off to college and start her own life journey. But she is. It’s happening. And I am ready to enjoy all of the moments which are to come over the next few years, I’m so excited for her future, and to see where her path takes her. I said on Instagram that this is my first step in the letting go process. Senior portraits, check.