Trying out a rep program for the first time can be scary. But Lisa of L J Photography makes it look like a breeze with these fabulous photos of one of her reps!

Lisa said, “Mariah was a photographer’s dream! She was very at ease in front of the camera, great at posing and super fun to hang out with! It’s hard to call this ‘work’ when I get people like her in front of my camera!”

I can tell from these photos below that both the photographer and the senior worked well together and these images are gorgeous!

Check out what else Lisa had to say about this photo shoot below and be sure to check out Lisa’s other work here. Thanks for sharing Lisa!!

What was your inspiration for the photo shoot?

I don’t do a lot of themed shoots, so my inspiration generally comes directly from the person I am shooting and maybe the time of the year/locations I am using. For this shoot, I drew my inspiration from Mariah and her fun personality!

Where did this photo shoot take place?

We hopped on Route 66 and headed about 30 miles out of Kingman to a little town called Hackberry. It is a treasure trove of amazing locations!

Did you collaborate with this senior to come up with the clothing and/or concept for this shoot?

I always instruct my seniors to ‘bring their entire wardrobe and lots of shoes and accessories.’ 99% of the time, they listen and show up with a trunk full! I also have a Pinterest board set up with ‘wardrobe inspiration’ that I send my seniors to prior to their session. We had an amazing selection to pick through for Mariah – I loved going through her clothing choices and finding outfits to compliment each new shooting location.

What camera, lens and equipment were used for this shoot?

I used the Canon 5D Mark II and a variety of lenses – including the 70-200L, 85L, and 16-35L. I even threw in a few OCF shots. 🙂

What time of day were these taken?

I almost always start my sessions about 3 hours before sunset and work until we don’t have any light left.

Can you share any post-processing techniques used when editing this session?

I generally lean toward clean, warm editing to polish my images. I love getting my basic adjustments done in Lightroom (color, white balance, exposure, etc) because it is so easy to sync the edits from one image to others in the same series. It’s been a huge time saver for me! For that finishing touch, I move to Photoshop.

What is your favorite thing about this session?

I just LOVE the shots on the vintage merry-go-round…we were shooting there when the idea struck me to incorporate some motion into the shots. I just love how they turned out and they were so much fun, albeit a bit tummy turning, to capture!

What do you want this session to convey about this senior and about your senior photography style?

I hope that those who love Mariah will see her personality shining through in these images. That is always my goal with every person that steps in front of my camera – I want the images to look as though they were taken by a lifelong friend and not just the photographer who stepped in to do some portraits for a few hours.

What is one tip you can share with other photographers regarding photographing seniors?

Make your sessions FUN! Have a loose plan but be open to (and welcoming of) deviations in that plan – this is a GREAT time to turn those crazy, spur of the moment ideas into reality! Could I have done the spinning merry go round shots with an entire family? Maybe – but it was definitely more do-able with a single, cooperative subject. 🙂 Reassure your senior – let them know how gorgeous they are and what an amazing job they are doing. Show them quick peeks of your LCD screen when you get an awesome shot – you can literally see their confidence levels soar as you get further into the session. Be their friend while you are photographing them – ask them about their boyfriend, their future plans, their family, their job, etc. If you notice that their hair is out of place, go up and fix it (asking first of course) – this will transition you from ‘photographer I just met’ status to ‘friend’ status and the pictures will show that difference. This is such a fun and exciting time in a young person’s life and it is a wonderful honor to be chosen to be the one to document it!