Senior Picture Fun

We had some rain and wind on Monday and NOW it looks like fall around here! The leaves that were hanging onto green seem to have suddenly found their fall color, and some of the leaves hanging onto the tree are on the ground, making this most lovely bed of fall.

That was perfect timing, because I took some senior pictures yesterday!

Several months ago, my friend Trudy messaged to say that her daughter (my bonus niece, Savannah) asked if I could take her senior pictures.

Okay first of all, just stop.

She was born last week, right? HOW ARE WE DOING SENIOR PICTURES ALREADY???

Okay now I see from my hair that perhaps this was longer ago than last week. But still. Seriously.

I was quite honored that she asked and made sure about three dozen times that she remembered I'm NOT a professional. (Senior pictures hold decent significance to teenagers, so I did NOT want to mess this up for her!)

Yesterday was our day, and even though it was brisk (okay, bordering on flat-out-cold) here in Indiana, we did have a pretty day for pictures!

I drove to her house, which is about an hour from ours, and she loaded up her car with a dozen or so outfit changes, a portable mirror, and her makeup case. She is a girl after my own heart.

Headed out! (No need to worry. I was parked.)

I tried to document most of our stops - just for the scrapbook funsies.

Our first stop was at the home of some of their friends. I don't know these people at all, but they have a PERFECT PROPERTY for photo shoots. A swing, a wagon, big red barns, old brick outbuildings, a white fence, woods, fields...WOW.

And these two cows were just staring at me while I worked.

We didn't end up using them in the photos. ;)

And the fence!!

After leaving the picture perfect property, we went to a woods for pictures. Now when I say, "we went to a woods," I mean we hiked THROUGH the woods, not on any trail, over fallen debris, and I did all this whilst carrying two cameras and a mini stepladder. I feel I deserve a couple of points for that.

And that's just what I carried. Trudy carried the mirror and Savannah carried the luggage. Because you still have to make sure you look picture-perfect, even when you're in the middle of a woods.

Then we made a stop by her school, which turned out to have this whole little picturesque area behind it! Woods and fields, and two of the most fiery red trees I've seen all season.

We did pause to take a lunch break, because you can't truly smile on an empty stomach.

We have grown up, don't you think?

(One gentleman made a comment about me being her mom. I'll take that.)

A quick stop on a trail with railroad tracks in the background:

And we ended up at the happiest place: a coffee shop!

We really did have the best day. We were out from about 10 in the morning until about 4 in the afternoon taking pictures. I think we made seven location changes and ended up with nearly 500 pictures to pilfer through. (They won't all be keepers.)

But it was a fun honor to spend the day with Savannah. I've been photographing her from the very moment she was born, so this was indeed a privilege. I loved it.