Today’s fashion post is by Emil Rodriguez-Powell of Slice of Lime Photography. Emil shares with us how fashion, senior style and giving back go hand in hand. Check out this inspiring post below! Thanks Emil!

CentralPASeniorPhotographer_0100 For us taking senior pictures and crafting a fun, fashion inspired experience for our seniors is about more than just making pretty pictures. Community, Giving back, and Connection are values that are as equally important to us. One of the things that fires us up more than anything is people using their lives for good.

Connecting with your seniors is essential to bringing out their passions and personalities in their senior portraits. For us, we have had quite the share of seniors who have a heart for community and volunteerism. This year so far, we have shot seniors who volunteer at camps for disabled children, two who help chair Project Cinderella which collects prom and homecoming dresses to distribute them for free to students in need who may not be able to afford a dress or accessories. Another one of our seniors traveled to Nepal & Central America to do volunteer work with children this past summer and yet another one of our seniors went so far as starting a non-profit to raise funds to help a friend battling lyme’s disease. Hearing about all the ways they are giving back made my heart so full!

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So how does all this relate to “fashion inspired” senior photography? Well, when you have seniors who not only have a heart for giving back, but also fashion, being familiar with companies who incorporate charity and raising awareness for social causes into their business models is an easy way to connect with them. With such a variety of companies offering products that bring attention to social causes, it easy to incorporate those pieces into any senior session for a socially conscious teen client.

We were honored to have Alexa Moody of Please Live, a local charity in our area that provides education and awareness on teen suicide and depression, model for us for this styled shoot. At the age of 19, Alexa started Please Live after she heard of five teen suicides that had occurred in our community all within the course of five months. Seeing a need, Alexa started Please Live as a way to help teens and their families in our community.

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Highlighting our seniors and the young adults doing amazing things in our communities allows for us to connect with our seniors on all sorts of levels…fashion being a part of that is just a bonus. Here are some looks Stephanie pieced together using some of our favorite socially conscious companies. Details on those different companies can be found at the end of our post!

Details:

www.toms.com– Matches every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. has expanded to include eyewear; for every eyewear purchased, Toms helps give sight to a person in need.

www.sevenly.com–Based on a core belief that “People Matter, every item purchased on Sevenly gives $7 to the designated charity of the week.

http://www.pleaselive.org–Provides education and awareness on teen suicide, depression and other mental health issues

www.thegivingkeys.com–Employ those transitioning out of homelessness to make jewelry out of repurposed keys that get sold and shared around the world.

www.bravelets.com–Jewelry sold in an assortment of colors to support all types of causes from breast cancer to mental illness. Stamped on each piece of jewelry are the words “BE BRAVE” as a reminder to have courage in even the toughest of times. $10 of each sale donated to the corresponding cause.

theshineproject.storenvy.com –Employs at risk youth which allows them to pay their way through college. Jewelry and a variety of apparel helps pay the wages of the youth employees by The Shine Project.

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