Maliaka - An Ellicott City Senior Session

It took months and months of emails for Maliaka and I to finally nail a date down where both her and my schedules would line up. She is such a busy girl (as I know most seniors in high school are!) She is a singer, an actress, involved in her church, and a great student (I know she must be a great student because she has already been accepted into multiple colleges and offered scholarships!! Woo hoo!!). 

It was an absolute joy to finally meet this spunky, fun, and lovable woman! She came prepared with tons of clothing choices, and together we picked out some super fun and flirty outfits...talk about a fashion queen! Maliaka warned me that she didn't know what her hair was going to look like on the day of the session because she tends to change it so often.....I LOVE the red hair on her and I even told her I was going to have a hard time converting any of her images to black and white because I didn't want to lose the gorgeous color!

She was up for all of my crazy suggestions ...  including a hike up a snowy and slippery hill while she was wearing a renaissance-style dress and I was toting all my gear, my 7-months-pregnant belly, and wearing practically-slippers. Her older brother came with her for the session and was such a good sport. Once while she was changing outfits I asked him if he planned on getting in on any of the pictures with Maliaka and he said, "She's the boss." I laughed and told him that was probably the right answer! (And yes, he does make a quick appearance in the middle of the session!)

When I asked Maliaka to describe who she was in one sentence, she said, "Fitting in will never get you noticed." I LOVE this and think it exactly describes her bright and vibrant personality. I can't wait to see where she goes in life - I just know she is going to forge new paths and go so far!!

There he is....the just-as-cute older brother! Who later had to dig their car out of a snow bank before they could go home that night! So glad she had him with her and that they made it back safely.

Maliaka really wanted to incorporate her love of music and acting into her session, so in the rest of her photos she is wearing a renaissance-style dress that is worn during her madrigal performances at Hebron High School.

 

Ellen & Ashley - A Best Friend Senior Session

I didn't know that I knew Ellen when she first emailed me about doing a Best Friend senior session. But the more we talked and the more I found out about her, I realized I knew exactly who she was, even though we had never met before. This made it all the more exciting to work with her. I also love it when I work with other photographers because the session gets tweaked in little ways when both of us (the photographer and the photographee) add an artistic vision to the scene. Ellen is a fellow Nikon user and lover, and wanted to use her camera in the session, and I readily agreed to this fun prop!

I also know The Other Half to this senior session, as well. Sweet Ashley and I go to the same church, and so I get to interact with her on a weekly basis. She is funny, a devoted friend and sister, and, as you can see below, a musician. I was so excited when she brought her guitar with her and we had so much fun incorporating it into her photos.

Doing a best friend session was seriously double the fun of a regular session. I loved seeing how these two girls interacted and played off of each other when I was photographing one or the other. It's the reason we got so many beautiful smiles and good laughter shots - because they felt like they could relax and be themselves when they were with each other.

I asked the girls to send me some ideas of photos they liked, and one of them included a photo with a flower crown. So before our session I went out and bought flowers and made my first homemade flower crown. I loved this portion of the session; Ellen nailed the "Doe-eyed" look she said she was supposed to have, and Ashley is a natural beauty, with her bright eyes peeking out underneath the petals.