Rockport High School Senior Portrait Session / Andraya

I am in the thick of senior portrait season over here, and I’m really loving it! Most of my seniors through mid-September have kept their sessions on the beach or the nearby coast, which works perfectly because beaches on Cape Ann have cleared out once the summer ends so we have plenty of space to get creative.

Surprisingly, portrait sessions during COVID-19 haven’t been terribly different. The biggest difference is that I’m wearing a mask the entire time. But other than that, I am sure to use my long lens so we can socially distance. It feels totally safe being out in the open air.

Today I’m so happy to share Andraya’s senior portrait session. I have loved reviewing all of her images again because you can just feel her joy! We split her portrait session between the rocks on the backshore of Gloucester and Good Harbor beach. Scroll through to see some of my favorites from her session and be sure to leave her some love in the comment section below!

xo

Cassie

Senior Portrait Session on Northshore MA / Olivia

I’ve talked on the blog before about bringing close friends and family to your senior portrait session to join in a few shots. But there are other ways to personalize your senior portrait session as well, like including items that reflect your hobbies and interests. This used to be something cheesy that people did in the 80s, but I promise, it can be done well! During Olivia’s senior pictures, she chose to wear her pointe shoes for several images to reflect her passion for ballet.

Here are some other ideas for including items to reflect your personality:

Sports:

• Hockey skates, softball jersey, running shoes

Hobbies:

• Music lover-headphones, Animal lover- bring your pet, avid reader- favorite book, Photographer- camera, Fashion lover- bring your best outfits!

Personality:

• Homebody- cozy sweatshirt and leggings, Extrovert- best friend

And there are so many more possibilities! I’ve included some of my very favorite images from Olivia’s senior session. Scroll through and tell me how you will personalize your senior session in the comment section below!

Planning for Bad Weather / Grace's Senior Portrait Session

Probably one of the most stressful aspects of planning a portrait session (aside from outfit planning, of course!) is dealing with weather. My informal policy is that if there is more than a 50% chance of rain, we reschedule to another time. Most times I like to wait until 24 hours before the session to make the official call, leaving room to reschedule hair/makeup appointments, if necessary. I love my sessions to be “glowy” and sun-filled, and will try to do everything possible to make that happen!

One of the more insidious forms of bad weather, however, is high winds. Anything higher than 10 miles an hour is pretty dang annoying for everyone involved, but especially if you want to keep your hair in check!

For Grace’s senior session below, we originally planned to take her pictures at Crane Beach in Ipswich, MA. Promptly after we arrived, though, we realized that the wind was whipping razor sharp sand particles in our eyes and that the beach was a no go. Fortunately, there are no shortage of gorgeous locations for portraits on the north shore that I have up my sleeve, so we quickly ran down the street to another location. It turned into a perfectly fall portrait session, and you can hardly tell that Grace is freezing cold from the wind. Check it out below and let me know in the comments whether you agree that Grace rocked her senior pictures!

Sydney & the Sea | Northeast Metro Tech Senior Pictures

One of my loves early on into my photography journey was photographing my loved ones and seeing their joy in being captured behind the camera. When my cousin Sydney entered her senior year at Northeast Metro Tech (Wakefield, MA), it was a no-brainer that I absolutely wanted to capture this exciting time in her life. Not to mention that she's entirely gorgeous and stylish and made my job incredibly easy!

For this session, we spent some time in a cove on the Rockport/Gloucester line, then we made it to the beach by sunset.  It was definitely one of those sessions where it was nearly impossible for me to narrow down the choices.  

After you look through Sydney's stunning senior pictures, be sure to hit that "heart" at the bottom and show some love! 

xo

Courtny and Katelyn | Salem High School Senior Girls' Portraits

I've known these girls since they were little tots, and, yes, they were just as adorable back then too.  Cortney and Katelyn are seniors at Salem High School in Salem, NH.  Yes, they are twins. Was that fun to photograph, you ask? UMYES!

They are looking forward to graduating (finally!) in June 2015; this is, of course, reliant on the fact that they can keep themselves awake during 1st period History class.  

Katelyn is an aspiring photographer herself, so it made me more than a little happy to talk photography with her.  It was actually kind of nice for someone to understand me when I started drooling when we stumbled across an insanely gorgeous field of wildflowers.

Both of these girls have a bright future ahead of them.  I can't wait to see what they will achieve! 

We shot on location at the Robert Frost Farm in Derry, New Hampshire, as well as the orchard at Mack's Apples in Londonderry.

Rockport, MA HS Senior Portraits | Saasha

I had been hinting begging Saasha to let me take her senior pictures for quite some time.  She is the type of person who gives so  much of herself, that I just had to give something back.  Not to mention that I just KNEW the kind of photographic magic we could create! We set about Rockport, MA one summer evening, making sure to hit all the hot spots, like Motif #1 and some rocky coves.  Have a peek at some highlights, and if you like what you see leave me some love in the comments! XOXO