Oh-9, Oh-9, Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-9...

I had my very first "Senior Portrait" shoot today. I was so incredibly nervous -- mostly, I figured out, because I have no idea what all the young kids want nowadays. Looking at other photogs' samples I became a little distraught. "I can't put a teenage girl in a Hustler pose," I said. "I can't airbrush some perfectly fine kid into oblivion."

So I decided to approach it like I have weddings: Do what I know how to do, and produce photos that I would like. Some of them turned out pretty nontraditional, like this one:

I took her to this abandoned field during the "magic hour" before dusk. The lighting and the girl were both gorgeous; it wasn't hard.

This was another one of my favorites. She was as uncomfortable posing as I was posing her, so she kept breaking out into this adorable embarrassed teenage laugh, which gave great expression to the photos.

Some were a little more old school. I present to you:

That's one for dad's desk. Plain and simple.

I like the sweet-n-gritty in this shot:

Between you and me, here's one of my competitors -- the self-proclaimed HQ for the Class of 2009. I have yet to figure out how to do the flaming card/aces in the sunglasses effect, so I don't think I'm quite in his league. But I'll get there, dammit, I'll get there.

Bon soir, mes amies.