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Or “senior portraits” as they call this in America.

Cassidy was my first grad student of the year and she was a really cool kick-off into this year for me.  I have to say that I really love doing grad photo sessions!  It’s like taking all the creative opportunities from weddings and family portraits and condensing them into one session.  And I can pretty much be as weird as I like with my ideas!  That’s my goal in life: an excuse to be weird. 

Cassidy’s mum had set this up for her and I also called Cassidy before the shoot to get some idea of where she was at and what sort of things she’s into to help me to get photos that reflect her.  I had a whole bunch of ideas for outside and then it rained!  Actually, it rained and snowed all in the same day.  But I am a practiced improviser and we used some indoor locations instead.  In fact, I’m glad it rained, because the “plan B” locations ended up really fueling some creative vibes for me.  And check out the cool colours in the first few images. Those are her bedroom walls!  Crazy bright, eh? 

We recently had the privilege of photographing our friend Melissa. She needed some headshots done for a local church. Like many people, the only prior experiences she’d had with photography before talking with us had been unpleasantly contrived sessions and she told me that she wanted something natural, something authentic, something that showed who she was as a person.

So we started out with the headshots, which we did in her house in front of a wonderfully colourful wall, and then moved on to a field on the outskirts of Lethbridge for photos of her playing her guitar. Melissa is a Christian and the photos at the end of the slideshow are of her worshipping God in a very natural way. This shoot was very spontaneous, as many of my shoots are, and Melissa’s photos grew out of an organic interaction between us all. After the headshots I did no posing at all. It was great to photograph someone so genuine who opened up with us like that. Photography for me is very much about connecting with people and my most meaningful and successful shoots are those where people are able to relax and be themselves. I’m a very open person myself and so I think I create an environment where people find it easy to do this.

Melissa is a very gifted multi-instrumentalist and the music in her slideshow was taken from a CD she recorded. You can find out more about her and her music HERE. Click on the play button below to see her photos.