Many years ago, ahem, more years than I care to count, I was a Senior Rep for Reflections Photography in Manhattan, Kansas. Out of curiosity I googled this studio to see if they are still around and there is a Reflections Photography in that same area, but it’s not the same photographer. I wonder what ever happened to Jill, the photographer who took my senior pictures. I was recommended to be a senior rep by this girl who had been the senior rep the previous year, a cheerleader who was pretty and popular. I had no idea that she knew who the semi-nerdy, awkward editor of the yearbook was. The photographer passed along what this girl said to her about me for which I will be forever grateful, because it was, to this day, one of the nicest compliments I have ever received. That sweet girl told the photographer that I was the only outgoing person she could think of who wasn’t a snob. That made me so so happy because as a middle schooler I was bullied and it was so awful that I vowed to never be someone who would be snobby to others because of how horrible it was to feel like I didn’t have any friends. I was so excited to be chosen as a Senior Rep but unfortunately for the photographer, my family ended up moving from Kansas to Utah right before the start of my senior year! I think I still got her a fair amount of referrals, but now being in the photographer role, I realize that me moving was not great at all for the photographer after all she had done!
So life has now come full circle and now I’m the photographer with the Senior Reps/Spokesmodels! Before I show you the recent senior stuff I have been up to I wanted to take a trip down memory lane…
There I am with a fake rose laying on my side! Ha ha!
This picture was my favorite and is the one that is still hanging up at my parents house…I think!
Here I am with my perfectly tanned 16 year old legs! Can I have those back please? And yes I was only 16 because they were taken at the end of my junior year and I was really young for my grade.
The formal shot with the backlit hair that I sort of love!
And last but not least, me with the litter of golden retriever puppies our dog Sandy had.
So crazy to think that my 20th High School Reunion is this summer! It really is true what they say, time flies!
So fast forward to 2015 and now I am doing my first Senior Rep/Spokesmodel program. I had no idea how to find just the right high schoolers being new to Idaho and to Boise…there are a TON of high schools around here and I needed just the right people to represent my brand…outgoing, but not snobby…I have to keep with the tradition! I reached out to lots of different people with varying degrees of success and the group I have now ended up with is AWESOME!
I wanted to do a styled shoot with all of the senior spokesmodels together to kick things off…that meant coordinating the schedules of 8 high school students from 6 different high schools, a stylist who made it into a true party, an assistant who was videoing everything, a professional model who was coaching the reps and directing the shoot, and me. We had a date set and then…it rained and was cold and miserable that day so we rescheduled. Sadly, not everyone was able to come on the rescheduled day, but I decided to move forward with it to get the ball rolling. And now I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story!
My friend Amber is a design and party genius and the owner of this darling Etsy shop called “Announcing You” https://www.etsy.com/shop/announcingyou She makes everything look cute and coordinated and pulled together. She came up with the awesome color scheme of black and white with neon and made the water bottle labels and the swag bag tags that I just LOVE! And did everything else here to make everything so. stinkin’. cute! You should see Amber’s house! I love how she decorates! The Swag Bags pictured here will need a special post all their own…filled with Pure Barre water bottles donated by the Pure Barre studio I go to, a Hardel wallet also donated by the USA based leather goods company (for Caleb since he didn’t get any lotion from Bath and Body works!:), sunglasses, bubbles, and gum. And Amber put these together too!
We also had an accessory table so that the girls could add some fun accessories to their outfit and once again, this is thanks to Amber, because although I brought a few things, all the accessories the girls liked were Ambers which is no surprise because she has impeccable taste! Actually, a few of the girls put on the temporary metallic tattoo bracelets that I brought so at least I can claim to be somewhat current!
Amber also had the brilliant idea of bringing pillows and blankets for our spokesmodels to chill on when I was doing individual pictures with the others, but of course it was just too awesome to not incorporate into the shoot. Don’t you agree? By the time we started shooting I realized that our location was very popular and there were photographers buzzing all around with their clients in tow and of course they were all wishing that they could lounge in this little piece of paradise and eat powdered donut holes, but alas, they did not have Amber! No donut holes for you!
I think this is my favorite shot of all of them. They were good sports pretending to be all chummy with people they had just met. That’s why I pay you the big bucks you guys! jk But really, can we just all agree that Caleb has a pretty good gig here? Lucky guy!
These are a sampling of some of my favorite individual shots of each of them. Now the next step will be to schedule their individual senior shoots designed just for them.
And a few behind the scenes peeks…I was lucky enough to have makeup artist/Model/Photographer Jessica Toth join the shoot to coach the reps on how to feel more comfortable in front of the camera. She made things fun and relaxed and as you can tell from the photos she is really good at it!
More behind the scenes…
With the custom water bottle labels and the colorful straws we couldn’t resist these fun shots! Cheers!
Love this shot of each of them wearing a top with their school name or logo! We have here Boise High, Eagle High, Kuna High and Borah! Yay for school spirit!
And last but not least, my dream team! Jessica, me, Amber and Allie who videoed the shoot for me!
I can’t wait to work on the rest of the photos from this shoot and to get to work with seniors a lot this year. I am SO impressed with all of these seniors! They are so smart and well rounded and talented!
Stay posted for lots of seniors on my Instagram feed, Facebook and here!
xo
R