Alison - Senior Portraits & Sunlight
Happy St. Patrick's Day! May the luck o' the Irish be with thee!
For Alison's family, this is one of the biggest celebrations of the year! Her parents hail from Ireland, and their 3 children are as American as can be (with our individual mixes of family heritage and neighborhood culture). Alison does not seem to have an Irish accent at all, but her mother, Trish, has a lilting rhythm to her voice that I could listen to all day!! It's like music, y'know.
Alison loves sun flare in portraits - and so do I :) Alison in her coral dress with sun glowing through her hair, took my breath away.
Her eyes are different. A light color, blue? green? - with dark dark rims, the color of pretty green stones in the sand on West Coast beaches.
Alison lives just up the road from me. This pond & field & fence are practically in our back yard. Beautiful Pacific Northwest. Perfect for our afternoon.
Alison's social guard dog, Millie, joined our photoshoot. She belonged there. She knew it.
This is the portrait we chose for Alison's Eastlake High School senior photo in her yearbook:
Their beautiful long hair is identically colored, how fun is that!!
Alison is 18 years old, and Millie is 2, I think? But this two-year-old is going to keep her family safe... free from infiltration by flamboyant photographers... or any other odd sorts. Trish and I were laughing and having a great time making these portraits with Alison - and Millie was alert... Why was Mama focusing her attention on this odd individual who bosses everyone around while pressing a black box to her face?? Was I trying to steal Mama's attention away from Millie?? Suspicious... Very suspicious... hmmmm....
Now, dogs are intuitive sensors of character (not sure what that says about me) and you should see her when Alison's friend, Nick, pays a visit! Oh, this pup adores him!!! Trust without borders! Puppy love!
Millie graciously allowed the loud, odd, bossy photographer to photograph both Nick & Alison together, but she was watching our every move.
Oh, how I wish I had kept a certain "blooper"... at this point my daughter, Zoe, obligingly threw Alison's long hair as if the wind was blowing - and my daughter was a little overly zealous... and I had a blooper of hair straight up in the air that was priceless! if only...
I love this portrait:
And this is one we chose for extra prints for family (with several others!)
I met Alison's bright & energetic mum, Trish, about 5 years ago - about the time I started my photo biz - and I had secretly desired to capture her eyes with my camera that whole 5 years!! So, yay! She agreed to jump in! Eyes the color of glacial lakes :) Like mother, like daughter.
One funny thing about both Trish and myself, is that we are always so busy - with teens & tweens & husbands & work & responsibilities & schedules & normal life! that we are often crossing paths with intentions to sit down to tea, but instead a quick & sincere chat along the sidewalk keeps us in touch. It was my joy to make portraits for Alison, it was a joy to discover that she & I adore the same types of portraits.
And I was able to spend time with my cheery friend, Trish, delightfully savoring her musical brogue :)
To Alison, soon to be a graduate, Eastlake High School Class of 2019:
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rain fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Alison's video slideshow:
