Raegan: 2019 Altavista High Senior Portraits

Raegan is a 2019 Altavista High senior who wanted her session to look like her, and what she is, all the way through, is a country girl. We shot seven outfits across Chatham and Gretna, started in town, and finished on the farm. Her parents chose their canvas from that last stop.

Her sister sat for me first

I photographed Raegan's older sister, Alanna, a few years back. Getting the second sister is one of the better parts of doing this work in one area long enough to watch families grow up.

It also means the pressure is different. Alanna's portrait was already hanging. Raegan's had to belong beside it.

Why we don't cap outfit changes

Plenty of senior sessions limit you to two or three looks. Mine don't, and there's a reason.

One outfit can show you a person. It can't show you their personality. Raegan used all seven of hers:

• In town in Chatham to open the session
• A dress on my favorite tree-lined road
• An American flag tank she brought herself, shot exactly where it belonged
• Out to the country in Gretna for the rest of the afternoon

She had so many frames worth arguing over that narrowing them down at her viewing session took a while. That's the right problem to have.

Hair and makeup before the camera came out

Raegan got glammed up with Rachael at Mint on Main, the hair and makeup artist who shared our Chatham studio at the time, with airbrush makeup and hairstyling.

Seniors underestimate that part of the day and then never want to go without it again. It isn't about looking like someone else. It's about not thinking about your hair for four straight hours.

The farm, and where the pictures ended up

The last stop was our own farm. Barns, fence lines, green pastures, all of it right up Raegan's alley.

I knew while I was shooting it that her parents were going to want these frames, and I was right.

That farm set became their canvas, and it hangs beside Alanna's senior portrait.

Two sisters, a few years apart, on the same wall. That is what a senior portrait is supposed to do, and it is not something a folder of files can manage.

If your senior already knows who they are, half of my job is done before I show up. Tell me about them and we'll build the day around it.