Lavender Field Summer Senior Pictures | Kiera | Benton Community High School

Lavender field summer senior pictures with Kiera

Newbo District | Pine Hill Farm | Pleasant Creek State Park

Kiera got the PRETTIEST day for her senior session! Her mom reached out EARLY to get her on the books for late July, the same time of year I did her sister’s senior photos a few years ago. Her sister’s session (her blog here) is STILL the hottest session I’ve ever photographed to this date! (Or it may be tied with the wedding I photographed in Aruba (that blog here)… So dang HOT!) So we were a bit worried that it would be a crazy hot day for Kiera. We met for her consultation, came up with some ideas that we thought would fit her aesthetic, as well as a mini family photoshoot we were going to do in the middle of her session. A few days later, I was looking at her questionnaire I had her fill out and I realized her favorite color is lavender and we have a local lavender field that allows photographers to rent the field for an hour. I emailed her mom and asked if they’d be interested in doing part of her session there, including her family photos. They discussed and weighed the pros and cons, and ultimately decided to go for it. And of course I was pumped to do something unique!!

Session day came, and almost the whole fam joined us for the day (remember, family photos were also happening later on). We met up for hair with Ingrid and makeup with Lindsey and Kiera LOVED how it turned out. And yes, that’s a spray tan for Bare Tones she’s sporting! And then we headed right outside our doors to hit my favorite spots around Newbo.

We spent a lot of time at the first spot, and hurried through the rest, as is typically with photoshoots with me - ha! And then it was time for an outfit change as we headed to Fross Park in Center Point to use their easy-to-access soccer net for some quick soccer photos!

After squeezing feet into a brand new pair a shoes, a round of bug spray and some fun experimental shots, we changed and headed out to Pine Hill Farm for the lavender field. It was mosquito-crazy out there but smelled oooh so good! We used half the rental time getting some SUPER cute photos of Kiera in the lavender and then Dad arrived and it was time for everyone to change into their family photo outfits. We snapped a few quick ones of the whole family, and then just the sisters. What a beautiful family! I’m so glad they did this - it sure can be stressful to plan for, but it’s worth it to have a quick update on family photos before everyone moves away and get busy with their own lives.

Time was up, so we headed out to Pleasant Creek Park where we would spend the remainder of the night. I chose this location because it had a few things that Kiera had gotten excited about: a willow tree, beach and long grass. We started at the willow tree. This area isn’t easy to walk into. The grass is LONG and thick. And we spent a lot of time getting there, got bitten up my mosquitos and left pretty quickly. But there were some wildflowers that we got photos with, of course!

As we waited for the sun to get lower in the sky, we headed to the beach area. I honestly thought we would have more sun on this spot at this time. So I pivoted and I decided to have some fun with the lighting here. It’s not my typical go-to style but after looking at my regular lighting vs this lighting, Kiera liked the vibes and uniqueness of this so we shot the whole location this way. I love it too - it just gives an ulta-summery vibe!

And then we went to head to my long grass location and the sun was just.. gone. So we turned around and tried to chase it down the hill and it just wasn’t happening for us. I later found out that there was a lot of extra cloudiness happening from wildfires up north and that would be why our sunsets were “off” that day and a few days following. But I honestly loved the unique vibes I was getting from this spot as well. Between the wildfire smoke and the campground fire smoke, we were getting hazy mountain vibes and I just enjoyed doing something a little different again! But we were still pretty bummed that the sunset was just gone.

And just like that, Kiera’s session was done! Isn’t she just a natural?!

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 2025/2026 (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!

A Pastel-Summer Aesthetic Senior Photoshoot | Livi | Center Point-Urbana High School

A Pastel-Summer Aesthetic Senior Photoshoot with Livi

Culver’s Greenhouse | Uptown Marion | Wanatee Park

When Livi’s mom reached out to schedule her senior pictures, I couldn’t believe she was a senior already!! I had photographed her sister’s senior pictures a few year ago (her blog is here) and had only met Livi in passing when she was helping Madi choose her favorite pictures. When I met Livi for her consultation, she just had 2 requests: a field of flowers and for her pictures to NOT look identical to her sisters. But here’s the kicker, she loved many of her sisters locations and styles. So my challenge was to find locations with similar vibes, but not the same, and give Livi her own unique session! You can check out both Madi and Livi’s blog and decide if how we did ;)

We started Livi’s day with hair (with the wonderful Ingrid) and makeup (with the amazing, Lindsey, who let us use her house to get ready)! And honorable mention to our favorite spray tan place, Bare Tones, for hooking Livi up with a beautiful glow for her session!!

Livi LOVED how her hair and makeup turned out!! Next stop: Culvers Greenhouse! This is an idea we chatted about at her consultation and she loved the idea so we gave it a go. I think these ended up being her favorite images of the lot!!

It was super hot for Livi’s photoshoot and the inside of a greenhouse isn’t lacking humidity - phewy! We had to take several breaks to make sure Livi didn’t start getting over-heated and sweaty. But we loved her white outfit here and pops of colors from the flowers.

Our next stop was uptown Marion where we’d meet her sister who brought her puppy for some pictures!! THESE were SO hard to narrow down!!

Didn’t this sweet pup do SO GOOD!!!?

After puppy-pics, we did an outfit change and explored some new part of Marion that I haven’t been to before! I love this dress on her! Although it was windy this day and her sleeves and dress weren’t cooperating easily, but you could never tell! And we sure as heck weren’t going to complain about the wind we were getting because it was the only thing saving us on this HOT day!

We did a quick outfit change again before we headed to the other side of the main road for the more “urban” or “grunge” areas of Marion. (Ok, it’s not really grungy at all, but I can’t think of a better word - hah!)

I really loved this color on Livi and especially loved it with the brick! She’s so dang cute!!

Another one of Livi’s requests was a willow tree. WOW! These are hard to come by post-derecho (in a public space, with a good backdrop behind it). But a friend told me about this one the morning of our shoot and I rearranged our whole photoshoot layout to make this one happen!

Remember that wind I was talking about earlier?! THIS is the point that we were starting to get a little sick of it. LOL! It kept blowing the willow tree branches everywhere, across Livi’s face as we tried to take her photo, her hair across her face. Livi’s mom definitely got put to work holding onto branches and fixing Livi’s hair as we attempted to get the cutest pictures! You couldn’t even tell, could ya?!

According to my calculations, we were running out of daylight since the sun sets earlier in the part of Wanatee Park where we were headed for flower pictures. Spoiler alert: my calculations were wrong. But luckily I had miscalculated because the smoke from the Canadian fires started to roll in and blocked the sun and sunset for the remainder of Livi’s session. I was bummed, but she didn’t seem to care at all!! We got there just in time and I LOVED this purple dress in the purple flowers!

Ironically, the lack of sunset is exactly what happened at her sister’s senior pictures, too! It has been super sunny all day and then the clouds rolled in at the end of her session. But still so perfect!

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 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!

Unique City Night Lights Senior Portraits | Emily | Jefferson High School

Unique City Night Lights Senior Portraits with Emily

Culvers Greenhouse | Pleasant Creek Park | Downtown Cedar Rapids

Where do I even start with a blog about Emily’s session?! I had made a post on Facebook about opening up two new August dates after my vacation plans had changed and Emily’s mom reached out immediately. They were on vacation, so communication was tricky but they for sure wanted to book my last open date and we made it happen! And I’m SO glad they did! I actually know some of Emily’s family members because I’ve photographed her aunt and uncle’s exciting events over the past few years (engagement, wedding, maternity, newborn and baby milestone pictures) so it was so fun to get to meet more of the family! When they were back from vacation, we met for a consultation and I learned that Emily has a creative side and had some non-traditional ideas for her pictures: she wanted to use a greenhouse and wanted nighttime pictures with the city lights downtown. The greenhouse has been a popular request this year, but I have never done nighttime senior pictures before - I was immediately excited… and let’s be honest, nervous.

I had an idea on how we were going to pull it off, but wasn’t sure if it would get us the results we both had in mind. A few days before Emily’s photoshoot, I went and scoped out the downtown Cedar Rapids area at night to see what locations I could find with the most lights and sent her some pictures and found some she loved.

Fast forward to photoshoot day - we had Nicole at Onyx Salon doing Emily’s hair and makeup and had a blast just chatting! And then we were off to Culver’s Greenhouse (with their permission, of course!)

It was HOT in there, but it was so fun getting to try some new things and get Emily warmed up.

We changed outfits and our next stop was downtown Cedar Rapids for some more modern-looking city pictures AND pictures with her puppy, Isla!! We met with Emily’s dad and got ADORABLE pictures with her sweet pup who was verrryyyyy pregnant at the time. We moved to our second spot and it was way too sunny so we used another area close by and had fun trying out new ideas.

We wrapped up, changed outfits and headed out to Pleasant Creek State Park. I picked this location because it had a lot of things Emily wanted: willow trees, water and long grass. I’ve been here before but it turned out better than I imagined! We started in the shady road area, and Emily decided to throw on her sunglasses for a few AND use their truck for some pictures, too! SUPER cute and fun!

Then we changed outfits, and waded through the weeds and flowers to get the best lighting with the willow tree. I am OBSESSED with this light! She was a natural in front of the camera, too!

As the sun set, we headed further into the park to catch that amazing light in the long grass. And again, I was obsessed! I LOVED the light from this session so much, and Emily made my job easy.

And then we rushed back to water area, got a few on shore and then attempted to get IN the water. I had completely forgot that she had told me she actually wanted to get IN!! So we carefully tip-toed into the water and decided it would be safer to just sit down in it! hah!! So fun!

Then the sun had set and we still had the last part of the session left. But we WANTED it dark, so no more chasing the sunlight for us. We headed back to downtown Cedar Rapids, we met in the first location and got out my wayyyyyy too big 86” umbrella and lighting combo (but it’s all I’ve got). We definitely got some strange looks but that’s to be expected. And a huge shout out to Emily’s mom for carrying that huge thing around all night. We had planned to only take 30 minutes or so… but it took a lot of trial and error. We walked around, tried some funky things. And found a spot that almost impossible to light with an 86” umbrella but it was worth it! We LOVED the results and ended up wrapping up at 11pm!!! Needless to say, we were ALL tired!

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!

Downtown & Beachy Vibes Senior Pictures | Grasie | Center Point-Urbana High School

Downtown & Beachy Vibes Senior Pictures with Grasie

Downtown Cedar Rapids | Pleasant Creek State Park | CPU High School

Grasie’s session was one I was looking forward to a little extra! I had met her (kinda-sorta) when I did her brother’s senior pictures a few years ago and so when her mom reached out again, I was SO excited! (It’s such a compliment to have client’s who return back to me!) I met with Grasie and her mom and learned that Grasie was really up for whatever I wanted to do for her session, which was SO nice, honestly! I DO love hearing and coming up with the PERFECT senior session for my seniors, but sometimes it can be a big struggle to fit it all in and time it all out perfectly. So when Grasie told me I could just pick what we did, I felt like I had ALL the options in the world to choose what inspired ME! Like, where do I begin. In the end, I decided to keep it simple so her photoshoot day was low-key and fun!

We were SO close to doing a sunflower field but there weren’t any close by us that were ready. So we veto-ed that idea. My goal was to find STUNNING backgrounds for her and somewhere she could get her feet wet, but also incorporate some downtown city looks and we nailed it - and then some!

We started with hair and makeup at my house with Chelsea on hair and Angie on makeup, then headed into Cedar Rapids. We decided to meet at Green Square Park so we could explore the areas I had picked for us! Once I saw her outfits, I knew the locations I wanted to try. As we were parking, I drove by one of the locations and it was gone - demolished - and a new building was being put up. So I had Grasie and her mom park while I took another drive around the block and found a NEW but perfect spot to try for her first outfit. I LOVED how the aesthetic worked for this outfit. And it was low-key without many people around so it gave us a chance to warm up.

We knew her Coe College outfit would be a quick one, but I LOVED it on her! She was already ROCKING her shoot and I knew it was going to be a fun, easy night. We changed outfits in my crazy pop-up tent and started venturing towards the “pretty” city look before we did the more “grunge” city look. I know there has to be better words to describe it, but oh well! hah! First stop was the Cedar Rapids Public Library. Which was the PERFECT location for this gorgeous dress!

Then we did a little more venturing, stopping at some of my fave spots! (They’re my faves for a reason, doesn’t she look gorgeous!?)

Grasie changed outfits again and I LOVED this outfit! I thought it was shorts when she had showed them to me, but this skirt was the best with her boots!!! Obessed!

We used this outfit as our “transition outfit” and headed to Pleasant Creek State Park after wrapping up downtown. I knew with the boots, it had a city vibe and without boots it would look perfect in a nature setting. Adding a cute yellow flower was the perfect touch and pop of color!

And then not unlike me at all - but I totally forgot that Grasie’s mom had told me she wanted a special picture of Grasie holding up her baby picture in the BLUE dress that we had already changed out of (we did this with her brother, too, so it’s really special and adorable!) so Grasie changed quick into her blue dress again for a quick few shots - sorry girl!

And then one last outfit for the night! With a cloudless sunset, this willow tree is AMAZING but of course the sun didn’t want to cooperate (hey - we’re not complaining, it wasn’t raining or overcast). I had stressed about the dang weather for Grasie’s session for a week. It was set to be overcast/cloudy and I probably asked her 12x if that was ok with her, because so many of my seniors REALLY want that golden sunset light that my photos are known for. She told me over and over again that she’s totally ok with it being cloudy. But the day of, everything cleared out! Hallelujah. Until the ONE moment I wanted that sunlight behind the willow tree - the clouds moved it. They turned out gorgeous still, and honestly made it WAY less of a hike through the weeds for us!

The clouds seemed like they were going to stay the rest of the night, which is ok - it’s what we had planned on anyway. I asked Grasie if she wanted a rock-water vibe or a beachy vibe (secretly hoping for beachy because I haven’t gotten to do beach photos in years) and she chose beach!! YAY! So we headed out and played in the water, fully expecting to end our night there early because of the lack of sun. We were splashing and taking some gorgeous beachy shots when the sun started popping out. We RAN to utilize the parts of the beach that were lit up!

We were wrapping up the session and the sun was still out. I asked them if they wanted to go try and capture more of the golden light in another area or just call it a night. They said we might as well go give it a try! We were already there. Oh my gosh, I’m SO thankful we did! As I showed them picture after picture of that magical lighting and how amazing Grasie was doing, they quickly realized my obsession with golden, cloudless sunsets and agreed that it was totally worth it!

Literally - how perfect is Grasie! She’s so dang cute, down-to-earth and I just LOVE her full laughing pictures the most! And I can’t believe this is the last picture of the night!!!

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!

Summer, Fall & Winter Senior Session | Makenna | Wapsie Valley High School

Summer, Fall & Winter Triple Senior Session with Makenna

Wapsie Valley High School | Iowa Senior Photographer

Last December, Makenna’s aunt Dorothy reached out to me to set up a plan for her upcoming senior session. Dorothy is a friend of mine, so she knew she needed to reach out early to start planning AND she wanted to gift her a session. (I was so surprised and excited for Makenna! What a sweet idea!) Dorothy let me know that they wanted to do a three-season photoshoot: summer, fall and winter. I was SO excited!! I had met Makenna briefly last summer when I did an extended family photoshoot for her and her family, so I knew we were going to have some fun! After Makenna wrapped up her junior year, I met with her and her grandma (who arranged the previous year’s family photos with me) and we chatted about what ideas she had for all three of her photoshoots. And after mentioning she liked colorful walls, willow trees, long grass, water and rocks, I came up with a game plan for her summer session! So let’s start there!

---

Part 1: SUMMER

Newbo District | Pleasant Creek State Park

Makenna reached out to Nicole at Onyx Salon and set up hair and makeup, who her family had worked with in the past and started her photoshoot day off getting pampered (which turned out PERFECTLY by the way). We met at the Newbo City Market and I learned quickly that Makenna had brought a fan club! Her grandma, her cousin, and her bestie all joined her and I KNEW it was going to be a party! (Senior photo tip: bringing your bestie is a GUARANTEED good time.) We explored some of my favorite spots in the area, and I could tell after showing Makenna the back of my camera that she was feeling. her.self! She was ROCKING it! Of course, the excitement coming from her best friend Chris, definitely helped too!

I knew I wanted check out (or “Czech” out?! See what I did there?!) the Czech Village in Cedar Rapids because of their colorful mural walls. So we hopped over there, changed outfits (I ADORE this color on Makenna) and found some really fun, unique spots.

Next stop: Pleasant Creek State Park in Palo. We took the trek out there and found one of the last remaining willow trees post-derecho. We tried some cool angles with the willow tree branches, found the perfect path through a wildflower field (a fun surprise) and then changed outfits one last time!

This is one of my favorite spots out at the park, because it’s so high up that you get to see the water behind it. And the long grass was super summer and pretty, and had pops of little wildflowers too! We were snapping away (and sweating away, as usual for me) and who shows up?! Aunt Dorothy who had reached out to book Makenna’s session from the beginning. What an exciting surprise!!

By the end, Makenna was a pro and I already knew the next 2 sessions were going to be SO easy and fun for her!!

Part 2: FALL

Downtown Cedar Rapids | Palisades-Kepler State Park

The day we had chosen for Makenna’s fall session ended up being a little dark and overcast, but after some deliberation about rescheduling we decided to just go for it anyway! She had scheduled hair/makeup with Nicole at Onyx Salon right after her first session to get our date/time locked in. I LOVED how “fall” her look was this round!! We decided a location pretty far in advance but the day before her photoshoot I had scoped the Palisades out for another upcoming session and had a feeling she’d LOVE all the fall colors happening here! So the day before her shoot, I changed up our game plan! We met by the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art and used that area, but moved QUICKLY! It was windy and cold, and Makenna had chosen super-cute fall outfits that didn’t happen to be ideal for cold weather. So we just kept the car running nearby and didn’t stay in one place too long!

After a few photos there, we drove down the road to White Star Ale House for their famous vine wall and then hit flew to our last stop in Cedar Rapids: the parking garage across from Eastbank Venue! I love this spot and Makenna wanted more of a city-look for this round of photos. We moved fast enough that we were even able to do an outfit change and get some photos of her in her second outfit here as well!

Then off to the Palisades…one of the photography HOT SPOTS, especially during the fall! It’s been a few years since I had done a photoshoot there so I was excited to try it out again!!

Aren’t the fall colors perfect!?

We drove to another spot closer to the river for some long grass and more fall colors! I LOVE how this whole combo came together. Isn’t Makenna so darn beautiful!? This was my favorite of her fall outfits. I just love that skirt color!!!

Then after picking off all of the burrs (lol) we changed outfits and headed to the famous beaches of the Palisades! We did some leaf-tossing, rock-climbing and dog-wrangling and were able to capture some amazing and fun shots!! The ones with Makenna and her beloved dogs are definitely my FAVE!

After wrapping up adorable puppy photos, we were able to just explore the area and get creative with posing. We had a few windy Pocahontas moments, but Makenna is such a natural in front of the camera and made my job so easy! I was already SOOO looking forward to her most unique session: in the snow!!!

Part 3: WINTER

Wanatee Park

For Makenna’s final senior session, we planned for snow, pine trees and all things beautiful about winter! This is SO hard to plan, because…. well, Iowa weather is known for being unpredictable. ESPECIALLY hard to coordinate and plan when you’re scheduling hair and makeup to be done beforehand. We chose a Wednesday the first week in February when we knew Makenna didn’t have school and crossed our fingers for snow and non-dangerous wind chills. She scheduled hair and makeup with Nicole at Onyx Salon and we waited for the day.

Meanwhile, I planned on leaving for vacation the next day but the flights weren’t lining up in our favor. So we ended up having to change our itinerary to fly out of Des Moines VERY early the next day, which meant we would need to leave the night before to stay in a hotel in Des Moines. Meaning RIGHT after Makenna’s session, I would be leaving for vacation. Talk about a whirl-wind! But as always, it worked it perfectly. I scoped out our location a few days beforehand. My criteria: snow, a spot without buildings in the background but somewhere with an outdoor plug to use my beloved snow machine to make some magic happen. I came upon a lodge out at Wanatee that would work for us! (I LOVE Wanatee for it’s many different backdrops it provides within a small park.)

Makenna, her grandma and her bestie Chris showed up that day ready to make this the fastest photoshoot yet. Sure, it wasn’t dangerously cold but it was PRETTY dang chilly. Most of her outfits were chosen with the cold in mind, but the last was a special idea (that I was pumped about) and would require A LOT of help and fast movements.

We started with Makenna’s photos with Chris! We planned on including him in a few photos from the start, but settled on the winter ones with him. Grandma came up with the idea of the amazing, gold “2022” balloons and bringing sleds. Oh! And the fun senior-year piñata Makenna and Chris made for class. To say we had a blast is an understatement!!

After a quick outfit change into her beautiful green jacket, we hit a different spot in the park for those rich dark greens we were after. I LOVE how this outfit compliments her eyes, skin and hair color. And that she brought her Honor Society metal to show off!!

And the last part of the session that was supposed to be the quickest. While Makenna got dressed in the warmth of her vehicle, Chris and I set up and test the snow machine. We wrap Makenna in a blanket and get her perfectly placed.. suddenly the snow machine won’t work. We LITERALLY just had it tested. After a minute of freezing and frustration, I sent Makenna back to the car to keep warm and Chris and I brainstormed. We decided to try to warm it up in the car and try again. After a bit, we set the blanket-wrapped Makenna back up in the perfect spot and the snow machine started working!! While keeping a blanket nearby, Grandma and Chris alternated on wrapping her up when needed and blasting her with the snow machine (one of them literally blasted Makenna directly onto Makenna that we had to pause to de-snow her… I won’t say who LOL).

When we wrapped up, all frozen, Makenna was SO excited from how much fun she had!! She hugged and thanked me and ran to the car to warm up… and I was off to start my vacation!

Multiple senior sessions are SO fun and we get so close that it’s sad when it’s all done. How amazing is it that you get to have different makeup and hair styles and SOO many different looks?! Totally worth it, I think!!!

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.