The Graduates, Part Two | Chicagoland Senior Portraits

Time for the sequel to our first group graduate portrait session!  Our first group session was held at a local playground and forest preserve, and was accented by rain, steadily getting worse as our session continued.  This second session started out overcast, and started to rain just at the end.  At least the overcast skies provided similar lighting in each session!  I would've hated to have had one rainy session with one blue-skies-and-sunny session.  ;)

Luke showed up early to get in some portraits he missed due to last session's rain, so I took him to my two pre-chosen spots in this particular park.  The first spot was at the footbridge--I loved the vertical and diagonal lines, and we could easily eliminate the houses that could otherwise have shown up in our prints.

 Luke, high school senior.

For the second location, we ended up under a willow tree at the edge of a large pond.  Although it was shadier, I loved how the willow branches framed the background.

Luke left and the rest of the graduates arrived, so we took care of the group portrait first.  I didn't want to run out of time, so we did a minimum of group shots and moved on to the individual poses.

HEART students, group shot.

Now that I had some group session experience under my belt, I was able to get shots off quickly, and cycle through all the graduates in a timely fashion--plus get some bonus images for each one!  That's always nice.  We started the poses at the bridge, with their caps and gowns.

Gideon, eighth-grader.

 Sophia, high school senior.

We then moved the graduates near the willow tree, where I had placed a stool for posing.  We had to contend with flat light, and a light breeze that wanted to push the girls' hair into their faces.  We dealt with it, and got some very nice shots.

 Kayla, high school senior.

 Danielle, high school senior.

 Teah, high school senior.

 Noah, high school senior.

Candid shot of Sophia.

The students were allowed to bring "props" with them to include in a special pose, if they desired.  In my mind, I was thinking of maybe a book, or a musical instrument, or flowers.  Although the students from the first session didn't bring props with them, this group delivered in spades.  I loved these images I got with them.

Lucy, high school senior and chef extraordinaire!

Gideon in camo gear, complete with Airsoft weapon.

Danielle with book and flowers.

Teah the Awesome (she was so sparkly in personality!) with iPod and earbuds.

Kayla with a pink rose.

Kayla's mom had done all the coordinating with the entire group of students and their families, scheduling portrait sessions and locations, and getting all the students together.  I was happy to get one extra post for Kayla by the bridge with her flute.

Again, with group sessions like these, the number of portraits for each student will be pretty low--maybe four or five--but a group session will fit pretty much anyone's budget.  Plus, it allows the students to have beautiful images done by their own personal, professional photographer at a location of their choice!  I think it's a win-win situation all around, and I love serving the homeschool community in this way.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Like me on Facebook

Session Site -- Indian Chase Meadows Park, Bolingbrook, IL

I'm back!  (Forced blogging break.)  I promise I've been busy.  I have so much to share, but so little time.  "Busy" entails life + everything:  photography (a really big project!), home stuff, homeschooling, college stuff for the guys, an upcoming convention (planning and all that).  Fit life in there somewhere--but actually, all of that has been my life.  Now on to some good stuff.  :)

Since one of my big photography projects this spring was located here, I scouted out the site beforehand (always a good thing to do!).  The day was sunny with just a touch of warmth--perfect for hubby and I to explore this fun park and find some spots that would work for portraits.

Indian Chase Meadows Park

This is a large neighborhood park, complete with pond, footbridge (great portrait location!), gazebo, playgrounds, basketball courts, etc.  Homes surround the park on three sides, and a school takes up the huge fourth side.  So, it has its challenges as far as what's in the image background, but I've become quite adept at getting around that.

I found a good spot right at the entrance to the park, with evergreens in the background.  I love winter trees; they have such unique shapes and look so pretty against the sky.  I asked Fernando to pose here.  So he did.  The goofball.

And another nearby spot afforded a pretty portrait location.

Here's part of the playground, which I used in the actual portrait session.  With the students standing on the bridge here, I got some great lines while blocking out the school building in the background.

Even through you can see houses way back there in the below image, I love the trees, sky, grass, and clouds.  What a pretty day!  Of course I was almost guaranteed that the actual portrait session day wouldn't be as pretty as this one--it was the rainiest April in Chicago history!  But we made it work anyway.

See the water in the above image?  It's not normally there; we had a mini flood the week before, which was the whole reason I was scouting out a park on this particular day--the park where we were going to meet was completely under water!

Here's part of the pond, taken from the gazebo with the footbridge (and houses) in the background.  I love the reflection in the pond!

I had Fernando pose along the wall at the gazebo, and decided this would work, too.

Then I thought again:  Right after I took the above shot, a mama duck flapped/flew her way out from right behind Fernando!  She startled us, but then we saw the reason for the fuss.  I decided to stay away from the gazebo so Mama could take care of her eggs.

We strolled over to inspect the footbridge.  Shooting straight on, there were obviously some background houses which would have to be dealt with.

But, when I got up a little higher, I knew the houses wouldn't be a problem, as long as I stayed tighter in my framing.  I love the bridge pattern, and also the railing shadows along the bridge.

I took the below just because I loved the sun sparkling on the water, and we had had such a long winter, and it finally seemed like spring, and it made me happy.

If all my clients were as tall as Fernando (six feet), I'd pose them here.  I love how the birch tree frames him, and you can barely see the school in the background.

Another nice spot, with a little of the school building on the right.  I will simply hide it with clients!

I absolutely loved this willow tree!  But, with all the houses in the background, I wasn't sure I could get the location to work.  Fernando was such a big help in finding just the right spot, though.  I'm so glad I brought my man along!

His expression says to me, "Would you just take the picture already?"  But he's really just squinting a little.  He was happy to pose for me wherever I put him.  See the willow branches above his head?  You'll see those again once I get the chance to post about the actual portrait session we had here!

This park works perfectly for a mini portrait session.  These are short and sweet sessions, with a smaller number of poses and images, but work for my clients who don't want to sift through a ton of images.  Plus, the images will be pretty tight--meaning no wide-angle shots with lots of background--due to the surrounding neighborhood houses and school.

I can't wait to show you the images I took for my clients at this park!  This location worked perfectly for what our portrait goals.  If you'd like to come here for your own portrait session, I'd love to work with you!!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine
630.399.4430

Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Like me on Facebook

Misses S and S -- Outdoor Portrait Session

On a beautiful, sunny day, I met this little family and we drove over to a nearby park for an outdoor photo session.  Mom and I agreed that letting little Miss S play on the playground would be a great way to capture her personality.  After sorting through the incredible amount of images I took (1,000 in all in a one-hour time frame!), I couldn't agree more.

Miss S is not an easy smiler, and we were a bit concerned that the images might not display her happiness.  Boy, were we (happily) wrong!  Here she is, along with her big sister (also Miss S), enjoying their day together.

 

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Like me on Facebook