Marla Laramie Photography

Forgot to post Tara’s slideshow!  Sorry for making you wait, Tara.  Enjoy.

We were supposed to have Jared’s session this week, but with all the leaves falling from the trees early we decided to push things up a week.  To fit it into the schedule, I had Jared and his mom meet me last Thursday morning.  I forgot how much I really do enjoy that early morning light.  We were in luck, although there were a lot of leaves already on the grown, there was still just enough fall color left.  We did some shots with the leaves and woods, to fit in with Jared’s love of hunting and fishing.  Afterwards we headed downtown to mix in some urban shots.  It was fun using some of my favorite downtown spots at a totally different time of day.  I love how it completely changes the look of things.  Did I mention how much I love light?  Ok, so I veered off topic a bit.  Anyway,  I love the variety we captured and I hope you do too.

Last week I met Liz and her mom for her senior pictures.  They wanted to capture the beautiful fall colors before the leaves were all gone for the year.  We had a lot of fun and still managed to find a few hardy leaves that hadn’t given in to the wind yet.  Liz is an artist (and a very talented one from what I saw!) so she wanted to get some pictures of her doing what she loves … sketching.  Afterward we quickly headed downtown for some urban shots before the sun set.  I had so much fun with Liz and her mom, and we lucked out with some gorgeous weather!

Remember this stunning senior?  We did the first part of her session way back in early August.  She asked if we could split her session in two parts so that she could get some pictures with her sweet horse.  One of my favorite things is capturing seniors doing what they love, so of course I said YES.  Last Sunday I followed them out to their farm and was met with yet another beautiful piece of property to work with.  I was thrilled to see another rustic barn, too.  I think my favorite part was the old truck by the barn.  I was in photographer HEAVEN.    After we did some shots of Emily with her horse and her fancy dress (love that contrast), as she was walking back to her truck to get changed I noticed a patch of amazing sunlight.  Of course I made her stop and let me get some shots there, too!  I think you’ll agree it was worth it.

I just love it when clients are excited about a session and bring their own ideas to incorporate.  Tara and her mom were so much fun to work with, so full of enthusiasm and willing to try whatever crazy ideas I had, too.  Often it works best when moms plans to disappear for a while during the session, as most seniors tend to relax and be themselves more when mom isn’t watching.  I’ve found however that sometimes having mom around helps keep things running smoothly if I can put them to work!  Tara’s mom made the perfect photographer’s assistant, helping me cart gear around and holding the reflector.  I even had her blocking the harsher sunlight in a few spots, which worked great.

We split Tara’s session into two so that we could get the locations we wanted with enough good light.  The first half we did downtown.  Since downtown has become a popular request by 2010 seniors this year, I’ve had to challenge myself to find different little pockets I haven’t discovered before as well as finding new ways to make all of my favorites stay fresh and creative.  I’d like to think I succeeded but you tell me!  Ha! 

Anyone that regularly reads this poor neglected blog knows how I love me some grunge — grungy alley ways, rusted pieces of junk, dilapidated old buildings, you name it, the grungier the better.  So you know how thrilled I was with the second part of Tara’s session … I was in grunge-heaven!  And to top it off they brought her dad’s old antique truck for some shots.  You’ll see the antique truck below but you’ll have to wait for the grunge cause I haven’t edited any of those yet.

This one is an early favorite of mine from Tara’s session.  I just love the way the sunlight is hitting her hair and the little bit of wind that kicked up was just the touch I was after!  Wasn’t that convenient?!

My very favorite kind of light, the warm sunlight just before sunset.  And how amazing is that dress she chose?!  I swear, today’s senior girls really do such a great job putting together their outfit choices.

One of my favorite things … capturing seniors doing what they love, what makes them, THEM.

She’s simply stunning, isn’t she.  My hubby thinks she looks like a young Jodi Foster … I think he might be right.

Tara decided to bring her boyfriend along for the second part of her session.  I think it was a good call, don’t you?!

I love how she looks like she’s reflecting on her future (ok, so she was probably thinking “what the heck am I supposed to be looking at over there” but I like my version better).

Just to be different I put the color version on Facebook and the B/W version here on the blog.

Whooooops!  I just realized that while I got Erin’s senior sneak peek up on Facebook a while back, I never did blog those images.  Sorry about that Erin!  To make up for it I added an extra image that’s not already on FB.

I had a lot of fun with Erin’s session.  This was a girl who pretty much knows what she likes and what she doesn’t like.  I loved that!  She had the cutest little brown hat that I was so excited to see (um, seniors, hats are FUN!)  Plus she just did such a great job of putting her outfits and accessories together.  Erin asked if she could bring along her little dog, Jingle for a few shots.  Well of course I said YES.  Jingle was a little cutie but I’m going to make Erin wait to see what I got with them.  I’m evil that way.   We squeezed practically every bit of daylight in that we could as we lose our sunlight so much faster this time of year.  But I love what we captured and the light was gorgeous.

One of my early favorites from Erin’s session … isn’t the light just so yummy?!

Another early favorite, with a little help from the wind.  And I’d kill to have those gorgeous, long, dark lashes.

And the extra one.

One of Justin’s favorite images from his senior session … and his slideshow. Enjoy!