NWA Senior Portrait Photographer – Jessie’s cool country session

Wow – can you believe graduation is only a few months away? For those of you who were holding out for a spring senior portrait session – now is the time! When the rain finally dries up here in Northwest Arkansas, it is going to be a beautiful spring. I decided to save doing a blog post on this session till the spring portrait season to schedule a session for your grad before it’s too late.

Jessie was so much fun to work with (and yes, I would think that even if she wasn’t my cousin), and we took the opportunity to shoot her senior portraits after the annual family golf tournament. Don’t ask how I did – it isn’t worth talking about – hehe! Jessie, on the other hand is a gifted golfer who has been making her high school proud as a member of the golf team. The family golf tournament was held in Antlers; a small town in rural Southeastern Oklahoma. We came in from Fayetteville and Jessie drove from Dallas, so a little scouting was in order to find some cool locations. Luckily, my dad grew up in Antlers and had some good tips on where we might look. We found some fabulous locations and had a blast doing these portraits, even though it kind of makes me feel old that my little cousin is graduating high school!

The "downtown" area of Antlers (and I use that term loosely) had some great older buildings that made wonderful backgrounds. The only problem was getting the local guys to quit driving around the block whistling and hooting!

The town also has a historic depot with an old train parked next to it. Too bad we didn't have some cute vintage luggage to use as props - that would have been even cooler.

I tried my hand at a few Banners for Facebook Timeline using images from this session. Although I am not a fan of how the Timeline is laid out, it is fun to have that big space at the top for images. Here are the results:

I put this Facebook banner together with some of the fun senior portraits we did on the train tracks using off-camera flash. What a great look!

Jessie may be from the big city of Dallas, but she is a country girl at heart. We used an old pickup parked next door to my grandma's house for these shots. It was practically buried in pine needles, and the licence plate in front said "Jim's Jem" - it doesn't get more country than that 😉

This old roofless building was so crazy cool, I want to pick it up and drop it somewhere in Northwest Arkansas! It was graffiti and vine-covered and had all these great door and window openings. I love the way these turned out!

To end the session we went down to the river for some sun flare and in-the-water pictures as the sun was sinking. Wow - can you say supermodel!? LOVE the image on the right.

Like I said earlier we had tons of fun doing these images. Jessie – you are a beautiful lady inside and out, and we wish you all the best as you start your college adventures! Thanks for letting us be a part of your senior year experience. 🙂

NWA Senior Portrait Photography – Katie Class of 2012

I had the pleasure of meeting Katie when I photographed her dad’s wedding to one of my cousins earlier this year. Right away we decided it would be great to do senior portraits together. She wanted something fun and unique, which of course I love to do. Katie is a country girl, and also loves fashion, so we shot with several different backgrounds in the studio, then headed down to Dixon Street in Fayetteville.  After a quick stop at the Greek Theater on the U of A campus, we headed out to a rural swimming hole to do some in-the-water portraits. We had so much fun hanging out! The images below are some of my favorite page designs from her brag book.

Studio portraits

I love the glamorous look of these portraits using sheer curtains!

Country girl!

Portraits near Dixon Street.

The Greek Theatre was a fun place to take pictures, and her outfit was perfect for this location!

Swimming hole portraits near West Fork. I have the inset picture hanging in the studio 🙂

Even in the middle of a drought, this spring-fed swimming hole is deep enough to jump into. Katie just couldn't resist, so at the end of the shoot she took the plunge!

Wouldn’t you love to have this much fun getting your senior portraits done? See our website for galleries and rates for your own awesome senior portraits!

Friends and Fashion Portrait Party

Wow, did I ever have fun a few weekends ago hosting a Portrait Party at my studio! It has taken me a while to do a blog post because I couldn’t decide which pictures to post – I have so many favorites! What is a portrait party you may ask? Only the most super-fun party idea ever: 2-3 hours with your friends rummaging around in the prop room, dressing up in your favorite outfits with accessories from the studio, and getting awesome portraits of you and your friends. Here are some of my favorites from the session:

Nothing says fashion model like a big floor fan and sheer scarves!

Such lovely young ladies.

We laughed so much during the party my gut was sore afterwords!

We get lots of fun and silly shots, but also make sure to get some nice ones too.

We made saris out of fabric from the prop room for a very unique image.

I was trying to have an equal number of images of each girl in this post, but I really love this shot and just had to include it!

I can’t wait to do another portrait party! They work for many age groups including bachelorette and teens and can be customized to a theme of your choice. I am so glad I had the chance to spend an afternoon with these awesome ladies 🙂

Jillian & Kevin’s Miami Wedding

Over Labor Day weekend, I had the privilege to travel to Miami, Florida to photograph Jillian and Kevin’s destination wedding. This was by far the best location for a wedding I have gotten to travel to so far! The sunset ceremony took place beneath the lighthouse at Bill Baggs State Park on Key Biscayne.  Afterwords, the couple along with attending friends and family celebrated with dinner at the Fort Lauderdale Cheesecake Factory on trendy Las Olas Boulevard. The guests stayed at a cute retro-style little “boutique Motel” called Motel Bianco. I think I was almost as excited as the bride for this wedding and when it started raining a few hours before the ceremony, I started to worry. But the rain cleared off about an hour before we were supposed to start, and the remaining clouds made for a spectacular sunset! Here are a few of my favorite images so far, I will be posting more on my Facebook page as I work through the rest:

Jillian got this adorable handmade ring box as a gift for Kevin.

Love this image of the bride and her father walking down the palm-lined path to the lighthouse.

What a beautiful setting for a wedding! The officiant suggested this location rather than the traditional one at the base of the lighthouse. As a result, the full lighthouse could be seen in the ceremony pictures, which was great!

The ring exchange. The sunset glow gives all the images such a nice look.

Such a sweet couple. This image was taken during the prayer of blessing Jillian's father gave at the end of the ceremony.

The only problem with sunset weddings is that the light goes away really fast if you are doing portraits afterward. But thanks to Ed holding an off-camera flash, we were able to get some nice images in the fading light.

I will be posting more on my Steely Joe Facebook page as I go, so “like” it and follow along! And now I need a new destination – so who’s super cool destination wedding is next?