Hannah’s Downtown Senior Session was so much fun; well all except the mistake I made that could have ended in disaster. More on that later. This girl is BEAUTIFUL, and I’m pretty sure she has no clue how pretty she really is. This summer has been a firebox, and we felt it to the core until the sun finally went to sleep and let us breathe a little. Despite the heat, Hannah rocked her session like a pro. She changed clothes in her mom’s car, trusted my ideas of standing and sitting in crazy places with cars driving by, and never stopped smiling.
When we start any session, I always remind everyone that “feels wierd; looks great” really is true when it comes to photos. Abandoned buildings and scrappy sceneries mixed in with beautiful locations makes the perfect shoot in my book. I’m used to getting some looks, or at least a pause or two before clients grin and do whatever goofy thing I’ve suggested. Hannah was up for anything and I watched as her confidence in herself grew throughout the session. She would almost laugh at me because every time I asked her to look down, my next words were, “Oh my goodness – HANNAH!” I mean – She ROCKED it.
TRUST ME, I know what poison ivy looks like. It is NOT my friend. So I made sure the vines at one spot where I asked Hannah to site down were not “leaves of three.” She sat, smiled, we did the set, and then her mom walked closer. I had put Hannah right in the middle of POISON OAK.!!! My heart dropped to my feet and I wanted to cry. My own experiences with poison ivy are awful and I was visualizing this beautiful girl covered in pain – and all my fault. I was a mess for a bit, but she was beyond gracious about it. We kept going and made sure she didn’t touch her back pockets. I don’t think I breathed until she was out of them and into a different outfit. As you might imagine, those pictures sitting in PO didn’t make the gallery. Hannah is just as beautiful in them as any of the others, but there was no way my heart could include them. Thankfully, Hannah has not had any adverse reactions (I’ve checked), and I can still tell this story with a bit of humble pie. If she had been allergic, I’m not sure what I would have done. I am beyond thankful that nothing happened.
Hannah, you are such a good sport, a wonderful person, and a gorgeous young lady. I loved doing your senior pictures and I know that your future will be full of the joy and happiness that I can tell you bring to everyone around you. I hope you have the absolute best senior year ever and that you enjoy every minute of it.
Isn’t Hannah just a doll? These with the golden light are some of my very favorites.
