There are some locations that just keep giving, and this field was absolutely showing off for Alana’s senior session.
Although, getting here took a minute.
We originally had Alana’s session scheduled a little earlier in the summer, but ended up rescheduling because of wildfire smoke. Not rain. Not storms. Not one of the approximately 900 other weather-related things I normally watch obsessively during senior season. Wildfire smoke. That was a new one.
Thankfully, waiting paid off. When we finally got our evening, the field was lush, the wildflowers were everywhere, and there were so many completely different little pockets to work with.
Alana brought three looks that worked perfectly with the location. We started with jeans and a pale yellow top among the huge patches of yellow flowers, moved into the softer grasses and pink blooms with her brown patterned dress, and worked her white dress and boots into some of the greener areas and pathways.
And somewhere in there, a chair came out. A blanket came out. We crawled into flowers. We found grass taller than both of us. Basically, a normal evening around here.
And because I apparently have a way of finding my people, we talked travel softball along the way. Consider that the side quest of the evening.
Finding Variety Everywhere
One of my favorite things about senior photography is taking a location and figuring out just how many completely different photographs I can create inside of it.
Last summer I started feeling like I had really found my groove with senior photography. This summer, I’m ridiculously confident in what I can create just about anywhere.
I’m constantly watching what the light is doing, looking for layers and foreground, finding changes in color and texture, and deciding when I want an image to feel big and environmental versus tight and intimate. Sometimes moving 20 feet changes the entire photograph.
Alana’s gallery is such a good example of that.
We went from bright yellow wildflowers to soft green grasses, pink flowers, open meadow, tiny pathways and darker wooded backgrounds. Some images are colorful and playful. Others are softer. Some feel classic, while others lean much more editorial.
And that grass.
I spotted that giant patch of wispy grass and immediately knew we were getting in there. The resulting images are some of my favorites from her entire gallery because they feel completely different from everything else we created that night.
That is what I want a senior gallery to feel like. Not the same portrait repeated 50 times, but a collection of images that actually has range.
Senior Pictures That Feel Like You
My goal with senior pictures has never been to run through a checklist of poses and send everyone home with a different version of the same gallery.
I want the final images to feel like the person in them.
For Alana, that meant keeping things relaxed, colorful and fun, giving her direction when she needed it, and leaving plenty of room for those natural expressions in between. Her smile photographs beautifully, but I love the quieter, more editorial portraits from this session just as much.
That’s also why location planning is such a big part of every senior session. One great location can give us an incredible amount of variety, and choosing multiple locations lets us take that even further, especially when we intentionally choose places that contrast with each other.
Fields and downtown. Flowers and the beach. Nature and something more urban.
It’s never just about where we’re taking pictures. It’s about building a gallery that feels complete.
If you’re planning senior pictures in Southwest Michigan, we’ll figure out the locations, outfits and overall feel together. You don’t need to show up knowing exactly what you want. That’s part of my job.
And after surviving a wildfire-smoke reschedule, I think the universe owed Alana a field this good.
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