Trendy and Unique Urban Senior Portraits | Lydia | Iowa City

Trendy and Unique Urban Senior Portraits with Lydia

Downtown Cedar Rapids | Penningroth Barn

I have to be honest. When Lydia first reached out to me, it was through my non-business email address and I assumed it was probably a spam emailer. (I get a lot of those - lol!) But I responded anyway and realized I was talking to Lydia, the senior, and not her mom. Which happens from time-to-time, but not often. And usually my emails get lost in their junk mail, forgotten about, etc etc. To my surprise, she responded and I scheduled a phone call to chat with her mom! And the rest is history as they say.

We scheduled Lydia’s session date and I met up with them for their consultation. I learned so much about Lydia - she’s so open and inviting! We chatted about all her ideas for her session, and came up with a game plan. Her first stop - professional outfit styling with Radiant Boutique by Rhi! Lydia was SO excited about this service and I’m SO glad, too! Rhi and I started collaborating a couple months ago (when I found out she existed) and what a PERFECT service for my seniors. Lydia ended up getting ALL her outfits from Rhi. And as you’ll see, she looked AMAZING!

Fast forward to senior picture day! Lydia’s mom decided to get a quick family photo taken at the beginning of her session (it’s an add-on I offer) so she dropped off Lydia at Moxie Salon and took her sister to go find a last minute outfit during Lydia’s hair and makeup. I had Lindsey on makeup and Justine on hairstyling, and we just had a blast chatting with Lydia!

We met Lydia’s mom and sister (who was the SWEETEST by the way) back at the salon, changed outfits and off we went. We got to our first location, snapped some family pictures and they realized they had left a cell phone in the bathroom at the salon. So while mom went back to the get the phone, Lydia, her sister and I started in on Lydia’s photoshoot day!

And she was SOAKING IT UUUP!!!!

I knew she would be a model and comfortable in front of the camera for me!

We took SO many gorgeous photos! And riiiiight about here is when mom returned. Right in time for an outfit change. And we ventured further into Newbo!

This outfit on these stairs was my FAVORITE combination! STUNNING!

We were moving pretty quickly, because we were running a tiny bit behind, per usual. (ha!) But I knew from our previous conversations that Lydia’s really wanted some really good pictures showing off her pretty blue eyes. As we were heading back to the cars to head to our next stop, I spotted this door and HAD to stop. I knew it would really make her eyes pop!! So gorgeous!

Next stop was the old barn out at Indian Creek Nature Center. Our FAVORITE outfit was next and were were about to spend a good amount of time exploring this spot!

This hat was part of the styling that Rhi at Radiant Boutique styled her in and it was the PERFECT mix of trendy and natural!

I LOVE these yellow stairs! I don’t know why! Next up was the bridge - the specific reason we chose this location.

Can you tell we loved that spot!?! SO pretty!! Then off to the flower field that Lydia picked (with a pit-stop in the trees that was too nature-y for her, so we only took a few lol!!)

! I haven’t photographed this kind of flower field before so it was fun to try something new.

Can you tell we didn’t spend ANY time at this location or LOVE this outfit at alllll!?! (sarcasm, just in case you couldn’t read that through text lol.)

Our last stop and outfit was one I was really excited for because I had always wanted to try this location. And her outfit was perfect for this spot!

Since we were at such a high point in the city, the sun set more slowly and we were able to get creative and shoot a little longer. But Lydia was definitely getting tired out and we were all ready to wrap it up! What a great end to a stunning photoshoot!

Your calendar likely fills up as fast as mine does and it’s SO easy to forget to schedule photos! If you are graduating in 2023 or 2024 (or a parent of an upcoming graduate) - reach out with any questions or to start planning!! Check out my Senior Gallery or contact me for more info!

Spring & Fall Double Senior Session | Reagan | Cedar Rapids, Iowa

SPRING & FALL DOUBLE SENIOR SESSIONS

Newbo Market | Ellis Park | Kennedy High School Senior Photographer

This past Spring as the trees started to bloom with the gorgeous flowers, I HAD to photograph them. In the Spring, snow is still melting and people are just starting to willingly come out of their homes after a long, brutal winter. Let me just put it this way - most people are not booking photoshoots at this time. It’s also graduation season and seniors are graduating while juniors are stressing about finals and the end of the year. They’re not ready to think about senior pictures yet!

I had this vision of a gorgeous (soon-to-be) senior girl in the golden sunset light with these blooming trees, but it had to be done SOON, because these flowers fall as fast as they come. I put out a model call and Reagan answered - and I’m SO glad!! She made my vision come to life!!

We only spent a little time taking photos since I just needed a few to share, but she and her family LOVED her photos and knew they wanted to book a full senior session for Reagan in the fall! So today, I get to share my first senior session from TWO different gorgeous seasons!

Every day when driving home, I saw these blooming trees overhanging the sidewalk as the sun shown through them. It was easy access and would be perfect for my mini-session model call with Reagan.
(A few examples of what I see (photos of Reagan) vs. what someone else might see (cell phone shots))

We even set up my lighting to make it seem like it was sunset-y and glowy for a few photos - it was exactly what I had envisioned!!

I knew I had the photos I was wanting, but I wanted to make sure it was worth Reagan’s time too (since she so graciously volunteered last minute for me) so we played around in the other trees and nature trail a little bit, which made it a great practice run for her full senior session. (And spoiler alert… she NAILED it!!!!)

We scheduled Reagan’s next photoshoot for the end of October, really crossing our fingers for those fall colors! And Mother Nature delivered. The colors were unreal. And with that red hair of hers… OhEmGee.

We threw around some ideas of locations and ended up choosing the Newbo area because of the cute buildings and Ellis Park for the colorful trees and water! Did you know that colorful trees + water = DOUBLE the color because the water reflects the fall colors!? Yeah.. it was gorgeous!

We met at Newbo Market and started our adventures from there. Reagan is SO adorable and awesome about posing. She NAILS the serious face every time. It was like walking around with a model the whole night, she made my job so easy!

After a few outfit changes, we made a pit-stop to get some photos with her pup and brother, and then we were on our way to Ellis Park!

I just couldn’t stop taking photos. We barely had to move around in the park, it was so pretty everywhere! And spending the evening with Reagan and her mom made my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. They’re two peas in a pod, and so much fun!! And it’s Reagan just SO gorgeous?!

We wrapped up Reagan’s senior session as the sun set and I knew I couldn’t wait to get home to go through her images!! It was the perfect senior session: fun outfits to match Reagan’s adorable style paired with a perfect, sunny day to just relax, explore and laugh while capturing some AMAZING images. Best day EVER!!!

Your calendar likely fills up as fast as mine does and it’s SO easy to forget to schedule photos! If you are graduating in 2020 or 2021, or a parent of a 2020/2021 graduate - reach out with any questions or to start planning!! Check out my Senior Gallery or contact me for more info!