Being able to see a former student grow into a beautiful young lady is exactly what happened when this photographer and former middle school librarian, Melissa McCrotty of Melissa McCrotty Photography in Arkansas, captured Ali’s senior portraits.

Looking at this session makes me want to skip ahead to summer and find a boat and sail around!  What an All-American session!

Check out what Melissa has to say about the session below and be sure to check out more of her work here.  Thanks for sharing Melissa!

 

What was your inspiration for the photo shoot?  We wanted a very natural, clean look and feel to the images.  Very JCrew-ish.

Where did this photo shoot take place?  We shot on 2 boats, locally at our lake marina, as well as around the marina.

Did you collaborate with this senior to come up with the clothing and/or concept for this shoot? Yes, we definitely did, and we opted to stick with classic white, blue, and red for the shoot.

What camera, lens and equipment were used for this shoot?  The images were shot with a Nikon D3s, and mostly using a 35mm 1.4 and a 50mm 1.4.  I prefer the 85, but because the boats were so confined, I had to use the wider lenses!  It was tough to shoot in such a small area, especially when we took to the water!

What time of day were these taken?  The shoot began about 1.5 hours before sunset, and ended around sunset.

Can you share any post-processing techniques used when editing this session?  Mostly TRA’s actions…yin/yang for a bit of dodging and burning, and a bit of  pro-retouch on the skin.

What is your favorite thing about this session?  It was something different, and shooting on a sailboat had been on my photography “bucket list” for awhile.  I had no idea how to make that happen, but I decided to take a chance, and call the local marina, and simply explained what I was hoping for.  I asked if they knew of any boat owner who might be willing to take us out, and they immediately suggested someone.  He was delighted to have his boats  featured in the images, and only charged me the cost of  his gasoline, for the trip out on the water!

What do you want this session to convey about this senior and about your senior photography style?  This shoot was just on part of the senior model shoot for my senior marketing campaign.   I wanted to help our local seniors to realize that there are amazing places to shoot, even locally, in our small town, and there is no reason that their session has to be “just like everyone else’s”  It just takes a little extra effort to create a really unique shoot!

What is one tip you can share with other photographers regarding photographing seniors?  As far as this shoot….just ask!  For a couple of years, I had been hesitant to ask for use of the sailboats!  It’s so simple, but so hard!  Don’t be afraid to ask, when it comes to doing something a little different!