Showing off a senior client’s personality is the key to guaranteeing not only fun during the session but that the client and her parents will absolutely love the photos!

“Everything about this session went exactly how I wanted it to,” said Kalahan Parkin of Kalahan Kayla Photography in Vancouver, Washington.  “Madison’s personality really screams through these images, which is exactly my goal when capturing senior portraits.”

Check out this fun session below and read what Kalahan had to say about it.  Thanks for sharing your work with Seniorologie Kalahan!

Website:  www.kalahankaylaphotography.com

Blog:  www.kalahankaylaphotography.com/blog

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/kalahankaylaphotography

What was your inspiration for this photo shoot?
My inspiration was just to capture Madison herself- who she is, her personality, and most importantly her heart. Madison is 100% full of love, joy, and absolute craziness. She is seriously the coolest senior I have ever worked with and I wish I could go back and repeat this session again and again!

Where did this photo shoot take place?
This photo shoot took place in Madison’s home town, Moses Lake, WA. It’s a beautiful little town out in the middle of nowhere in eastern Washington. I have two favorite reasons why I love shooting in this sweet town: 1. There is beautiful brush EVERYWHERE (which makes for some beautiful soft image backgrounds.) and 2. It’s almost guaranteed that you will always have the most breath taking sunset (which also allows for magic photos to take place).

Did you collaborate with this senior to come up with the clothing and/or concept for this shoot?
Yes! Madison is a nerd, princess, beauty queen & musician all in one. So we really wanted to do our best to encompass all of those things into one session.

For the nerd look, we wanted to add in some bright colors, glasses, and then a tighter pencil skirt to make it look fun and flirty. From there we worked with some different shots and angles with her books that she brought, her awesome glasses, and just her overall outfit.

For the princess look, she wore a floor length muted blush gown. We went out into a beautiful Moses Lake field to really tie in the whole princess theme. At the field, we added in the ukulele in some of the shots to also tie in the musician theme. After the field, we drove over to Moses Lake itself and took some trash the dress pictures in the lake.

For the beauty queen look, we used a cute bright blue dress that really Madison’s eyes pop with some bright red lipstick. We tried to find more rugged background to help her as the image focus to REALLY stand out.

And last but not least, for the musician feel, we drove 20 miles out of town until we could find an abandoned road where we could take pictures in the middle of it and not feel like we were going to get ran over. And then something magical happened- the sun began to set! Madison pulled out her ukulele again, music stands, and sheet music and we continued to shoot until the sun was completely down!

What camera, lens or other equipment was used for this shoot?
I shot with my Nikon D600 and interchanged between my 50mm and my 85mm 1.4. I primarily always just use my 85 though- you just can’t beat it!

What time of day were these taken?
Late afternoon/evening

Can you share any post-processing techniques used when editing this session?
For all of my post-processing, I lighten the images and add on two different very subtle actions to maintain the natural-light feel. This session was very quick and easy to process as I was able to get the majority of what I needed from the image taken itself!

What is your favorite thing about this session?
My favorite thing about this session- wow that’s tough! I’d have to say probably how intentional this session was. We wanted to really bring out her personality, and in order to do that with seniors and clients in general, you really have to be intentional about it. And I feel like we were really and truly able to capture who Madison is- which makes my heart oh so happy!

What do you want this session to convey about this senior and about your senior photography style?
I want this session to convey about senior photography in general that it’s more than okay and wanted to be completely be yourself when in front of the camera. Not only will seniors be more happy with their images, but so will I!

What is one tip you can share with other photographers regarding photographing seniors?
My tip for other photographers is to really go all in with your seniors. Get to know them, have coffee dates, go shopping with them- all in all, be intentional! Getting to know them more will enable you as a photographer to capture who they are better. And- you get to make new friends in the long run! <3