Senior Portraits: Take 3

What happens when you have a dad and a sister who both like to play photographer, and have special new cameras to try out or editing software to show you?

A photoshoot, of course!

And what happens when you're the youngest, the only person around, or have somewhat decent eye color?

You get to be the subject, of course!

When I was in high school, school pictures were the normal photo-taking process for freshmen-juniors that everyone did. But when you were a Senior, you got to submit a picture that you wanted to use - and most kids went and got professional pictures taken, to pick a picture from and to cap this exciting moment of graduating high school (I explain this because I know some schools didn't do it this way).

I remember we scheduled mine rather last minute, and it was for a time really early one morning, which I accidentally slept in for, so I still look at those pictures feeling like I have slightly greasy hair and like I'm not fully put together. They turned out fine anyway, but it was a somewhat stressful experience.

I also learned from it that I'm not really a very good model. I never knew how to do anything the photographer asked me to do - my head tilt just couldn't ever get in the right spot! - and I still remember when she asked me if I wanted to try any serious pictures. We tried one or two, and after we got the photos back, my mom and I decided I should never try faux-serious again.

At the time, I thought that would be the last time I would be a high school senior taking my senior portraits.

Silly me.

I've been able to re-attempt senior portraits two more times now, thanks to my sister, Abby. The 2nd time was after our parents moved into their house in Utah, and Abby wanted to test out dad's new camera - and she chose me for her subject and our library as the background. Thinking about it, mom and dad also used me as a model once in that room, too, because mom wanted to try her new camera as well, and also get her new bookcase caught on film - so I had to "lean" against it, feeling stupid. Both times I think I felt rather stupid, actually.

And then my 3rd attempt at proper senior photos occurred while visiting Abby this last Christmas. I wanted to see some of what she did as a photo editor, so we decided it would be fun to tour Pine Bluff, AR, and take some pictures to use for her to show me what she did. We went in search of some fun, colorful walls and backgrounds, looked at some really cool murals Pine Bluff has in their old downtown, and found a few places for me to - that's right - model! And once again, I felt like an awkward high school senior again, not knowing what to do. Abby and I laughed more through this process (the picture-taking and the editing combined) than I think we ever did together growing up (which was quite a bit already). We also got some sweet pictures of her kids, who are natural models. And then Abby showed me what she did to the pictures to get them ready for print (some looked really great naturally, and some required a little bit of touch-up), and we had fun looking through them. Here are a few shots:

Taken before we left - in the car, Abby wanted to test the light, so she snapped a few pictures while I was sitting there a little confused about the camera pointed at me. Turned out to be a pretty cool picture. Best part? Abby's biggest touch-up on here was my nose hairs - on the TOP of my nose! What?! The light hit them a little better than I appreciated, but the top of my nose got a nice waxing in photoshop...how embarrassing. 

 Me with niece Ellee and nephew Will - what darlings.

 I don't think I've ever laughed so hard at a picture than I did about this - Abby and I were crying when we first pulled it up, we were laughing so hard! And the giggles returned everytime we went back to it. I still laugh when I see it. If Will grows up to be a balding, 40-year-old hick, this is what he'll look like...

 Ellee, the perpetual modeler. Though her planned poses usually include her looking at the camera and smiling really picture-taking-like. This is a pretty natural shot of her just being cute. Abby's got a ton of those types of pictures of Ellee.

 I love this picture! It's pretty fitting of Greg Bryan II - a little bit mischievous, a lot adorable. His smiles make me happy.

"You talkin' to me?" That furrowed brow is actually a common expression. I think it's just how his forehead is...

 I love Will's crescent moon eyes when he smiles. They're my favorite of all his cute little features.

 I took this photo :)

We had some great pictures from this afternoon. I honestly died laughing over some of them! And Abby also let me witness what happens when you over-photoshop someone - my teeth had never looked so radiant, and I was forced to wonder if I ought to start whitening my eyeballs. I've decided against it at present.

One day, I'll get those senior photos right. But until then, I guess I'll just have to keep practicing, and those practice sessions will probably be whenever Abby and I are together for an extended amount of time.

(*Note: I realize that I put very few/no pictures of my awkward photo shoot - that's because I feel silly posting glamour shots of myself on my own blog. Don't get me wrong, I'm somewhat vain, just not in an obvious, in your face sort of way. More in a closeted, sit in front of a mirror and stare at my giant pupils changing size in different lights sort of way. I like mirrors, what about it?)