Last year I shared my own daughter’s senior portrait session ….. today I share my honorary second daughter’s 🙂
Kailey has been a part of our family since 2004, when she and Avery formed an instant bond in that Kindergarten class at Northpark Elementary; when her mom Charlene and I would stand outside waiting for our girls and became fast friends as well. Charlene and I took on their Girl Scout troop and co-led that until they were in middle school and man were those fun years!! I have countless images from that time … things were SO much simpler then! (but we had NO idea they were lol)
So when Kailey wanted to go up to Santa Cruz for her session (where Avery will spend the next four years of her life at UCSC), we made it a girls’ trip of course!
And we got some amazing images …. because Kailey is like GORGEOUS.
We had just returned from our Europe trip and were still sans luggage (still bitter about that, Alitalia), but we stayed at a super cute Airbnb just outside of Santa Cruz in the forest (literally … there were deer every morning!). So we made this a two-day shoot! We got the beach ones by the pier on our first night there and I LOVE the colors with that Free People dress …. the sun doesn’t set over the ocean like it does here (at least not at this time of year) so I got some beautiful direct late sun. And the ones under the pier – those colors!!!!
Kailey did a quick change into that super cute jumpsuit and we got some ON the pier as well before devouring wings and fries for dinner. It was quite literally the perfect day.
The next morning we woke up super early so we could have lots of time to shoot. Jami did outstanding work as usual (of course she came with!) – how perfect is K’s highlight? I mean seriously ….
How adorable is she? The Boardwalk was our first stop – and she had the perfect clothes for it – love the bright colors.
We were there pretty early, so we still had that morning fog – but I really like the vibe of it (and we didn’t have to deal with loads of people)
Kailey is so fun to shoot with; she is literally up for anything – and we laughed SO much watching her play games and eat cotton candy while attracting a crowd lol!
She has always been a natural leader, though … and always always helping others. Currently, she is raising money for a trip to Puerto Rico to continue to help rebuild there with her school SCVi. (you can click that to donate to their cause!)
But then it was time to head up to the REDWOODS!!
Literally off the side of the road lol!
I could have shot this ALL day….
But Charlene and Kailey had scoped out another spot, so off we went and being up for anything, Kailey got in the water 😉
That LIGHT, right?! (by the way, this is not a strobe – most of you guys know I don’t use OCF; I can’t be carrying all that lol – and I just prefer using natural light, so this is just a silver reflector)
One more quick change for some shots in the trees …. that orange worked sooooo well for that late day sun and green backgrounds.
I was also able to grab shots of Kailey and her Mom and her cousin Brooke – and some with Avery too! But I’m not quite done with those so I’ll have to post some sneaks of those later 😉
We had SUCH a great time – still can’t believe my girl is off to college and Kailey is in her senior year! But they’re both such amazing young women – so proud of them both and SO grateful for their closeness and friendship/sisterhood!
If you want a customized shoot like this, just ask. Travel fees will apply, depending on where you want to go, but I am always up for an adventure!
Update on my calendar: I only have a handful of spots for SENIOR SESSIONS left for Fall … but I’m opening up my January – April calendar now as well (and SPRING is a wonderful time to get them done – and there is still plenty of time for announcements, etc.)
Use the form below if you want more info and I will send you the 2019 Senior Portrait Magazine! I’ve got some awesome model team shoots coming up too … so watch the blog and my insta for those!
xo, Renee
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