Wanderlust Wednesday| Brittany's Vineyard Shoot

With graduation almost here, most of my regular senior sessions have been photographed and delivered, which means that these last few weeks I have time to devote to doing shoots for myself and my model team.  We call these our Wanderlust Series; the concepts are a collaboration between the model, me and my creative team.  This is where I try to stretch myself as far as using new shooting techniques and/or equipment, and so far it's been an enormous success!

The inspiration for Brittany's shoot came mostly from Brittany: she wanted to wear this FABULOUS red dress and she wanted to do her session at Oak Valley Vineyard, a gorgeous restaurant and wedding venue in Garden Ridge, TX.  

I've photographed there before so I knew we were going to get amazing images, but I really wanted to take this session up a notch and go beyond my usual "bright and sunny" signature look; this time I wanted to get something more moody and dramatic.  I recently bought a new lighting set, and this was going to be my first time to test it out on something besides my dog, cute as he is.

 The day of the session the weather was dark, overcast, wet, gloomy and absolutely perfect! As long as the rain wasn't actively falling, we were good to go.  Miraculously, it stopped just long enough for our shoot and as we pulled out of the parking lot, the skies opened up.

Another first for this shoot:  my adorable niece Shawna did Brittany's hair!  Shawna recently graduated from Paul Mitchell Beauty School, and I've been waiting for months for her to move back to Texas so that she can do hair and makeup for my seniors.  She did an AMAZING job on Brittany's hair; I had envisioned very smooth, 1940's era finger waves, to keep the look  sophisticated and sleek.  If I'm lucky, I'll be able to snag Shawna for many, many more senior shoots!

I have to give a huge Thank You to Jessica, Brittany's mom for trusting me when I wanted to move forward with the session even though the weather looked like a complete mess.  The moms I get to work with are always amazing and Jessica is top of the list!

For the class of 2017, I'll have the option to add a twilight session to any regular senior shoot.  Be sure to ask for details when you call to book!