It's been so fun getting to know Matthew over the last several months. At the suggestion of his mom, he applied and joined the Wildflower team last summer. Matthew has been such a fun addition to the team, and not just because it's been awhile since our last guy to join. He's kind to everyone, jumps to help out without being asked (even if it means standing in the rain holding a light stand... sorry dude. Y'all this was at his first team shoot, and I thought for sure he'd never come back!), puts the lens caps back on my lenses (something I don't even do, lol), and is always up for whatever. The girls have a lot of fun with him and were excited about adding a guy to the team. And I mean, I know he's not all that photogenic, but we've managed to make it work. Lol.
Having a few team shoots together ends up being very helpful for both myself and the senior. By the time we get to their own senior experience, I know their personality pretty well. We had originally planned on going uptown for Matthew's session, but it was pretty crazy over the summer. So we opted for NoDa instead. NoDa is one of my favorite locations. I've been coming here for years, and if you followed my old blog (or even just my instagram), then you know it's basically my second home during senior season. There are just so many awesome spots, and the murals are often changing. No matter how many times I go there, I always find a new way to photograph each senior. While I try to guide my seniors a little in their styling for their sessions, I didn't have to worry for a second about what he chose to wear. He has great style, and I knew he'd show up in something awesome. I loved that he went with a dressier look to start with. GUYS, definitely consider this type of outfit for at least one of your looks. It's just so classic. I We shot these back in August before school started back. Since he goes to a school with a dress code, he really wanted to get these done before he had to shave his beard.
For the second location, Matthew wanted something by the lake. He had seen some water photos I had done for a past senior that he knew, and he thought those were pretty cool. He's been swimming competitively for years, so including the water just made sense as part of his high school senior experience. Thankfully it was still summer, so after shooting in the heat, I was totally fine getting in the lake. haha. The lighting that day could not have been more perfect. I don't know how we hit the sunset jackpot, but I never even needed to pull out my off camera lighting.
We had a lot of fun taking these, and you'll see in future blog posts as I catch up... he ended up kicking off a season of water portrait requests. So thanks to him, I now travel with towels and extra shoes in my car. Lol
Matthew, you've been awesome, and I'm super excited to see where life takes you. Keeping my fingers crossed for ND! :)
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