Heather Neal Photography

To say this is a crazy time for everyone would definitely be an understatement. But for High School Seniors it’s a time of missing out one of the big milestones of their life…graduation. We started planning Faliene’s session last summer. We threw around the idea of fall, but decided Spring would be best. We scheduled her session for over Spring Break but then, well…Coronavirus had different plans. Sometimes things work out for the best though and we ended up with lush green leaves on the trees and perfect weather. I had a little more trouble narrowing down which images to share than usual. Maybe because it’s my first session of the year thanks to Coronavirus and I’m just so excited! Maybe it’s because on my senior questionairre I ask my clients what feature they like best about themselves and Faliene said her “hair and eyes” and OMG no kidding! Maybe it was the perfect lighting of the overcast day or the fun locations we used and her ability to “strike a pose”. Probably a little bit of all of these things, but I just love this session Good luck to Faliene and all of the Class of 2020!

It’s the beginning of a New Year and like always I find myself full of ideas, resolutions, and motivation. I have BIG plans (that will eventually simmer down into realistic plans) and want to tackle them all right away. Then the practical side of me takes over and says “How about we just start with getting all of LAST year’s sessions on the blog before you start doing Spring sessions? Good Plan. So in the spirit of doing just that, here is one of my High School Senior Sessions from late fall.

Lucas was great to work with and so photogenic. He had asked if his girlfriend could hang out and jump in a few shots and of course I was like “Sure”! Who doesn’t like clients that bring other super photogenic people to their session? We ended Lucas’ session at his recruiting office where he has enlisted in the Marines. I am so thankful to him for what he will be doing and will be praying for him as I am praying for all of those who are serving in this scary time.

Well, you know you are behind on blogging when it’s almost Christmas and in your next session to blog there were still leaves on the trees! To be fair though, although it looks like this beautiful girl is completely comfortable in these outfits…she was actually pretty cold so it wasn’t THAT long ago.

Aliyah’s session combined a few of my favorite things: 1 she decided to go 1/2 nature and 1/2 city on locations which is always such a fun combination and I LOVE the variety of images that she got in her gallery by doing this! This is why I offer 3 hour sessions in addition to the standard 1 hour session. More time for locations and outfits! The other favorite thing that happened during this session was a “Happy Accident” (also the name of my personal blog!). Although it was planned to do a nature setting and an urban one…this is not the original nature location we originally planned on. We were scheduled to meet up at Burr Oak Woods. I always arrive a little early to check out the location; even when I have shot there hundreds of times because colors, leaves, etc. are always changing. When I arrived to Burr Oak I was met by some lovely ladies guarding the (closed) entrance gate. Apparantly there was a managed hunt happening so there were hunters thinning out the dear poplulation. Luckily I quickly thought of another nearby location and it turned out to have so much more color!

I seriously love High School Senior Guy Sessions. They all start out so unsure about the process. I can tell they aren’t sure about it and sometimes think it’s going to be agonizing and they are just there for mom in the beginning. But usually somewhere along the way they get warmed up, realize they just get to be themselves and don’t have to be serious, and they even end up having fun.

There were lots of fun things about Parker’s Senior Session. First of all his mom is one of my lovely friends so it was just fun hanging out with them! Then there was the beautiful location they provided along with a golf cart and chaufeur! Another thing that I love about senior guys sessions is when we incorporate something that they love and suddenly you see them relax and become themselves when shooting with those items. For Parker it was his baseball bat and glove and his duck shorts. How fun is THAT?!

What a wonderful Sunday! Church, brunch, and then the rest of the day was spent at High School Graduation parties! I saw many past High School Senior clients which was so fun! It also reminded me of this handsome guy who had not yet made the blog. Time to fix that! Ezekiel was another one of my High School Senior 911 sessions. We started off at the Marina but ended up moving to the High School and I’m glad we did. Seniors (especially guys) always seem so much more relaxed when they are in their element and I could tell his was the football field. Congratulations Ezekiel and Class of 2019!!!