I first met Adrienne when she was just a toddler, way back in the day when my then-boyfriend was in UPT (Undergraduate Pilot Training) with her Daddy. The class graduated and scattered; fast forward 15 years that seemed like 5 and suddenly Adrienne is all grown up! We spend a chilly fall morning at Burke Lake Park catching up and capturing her senior portraits. Adrienne, congratulations on your LaCrosse scholarship, Carlos and I wish you the very best!
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Kendall, I’m so excited for you as you embark on your adventure to spend your senior year of high school in Germany! Have fun!
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August 8, 2010 - 9:16 am
I’m biased (the Dad), but I love the shots and can’t wait to see more. Christina, you are an artist!
August 11, 2010 - 7:58 am
Christine,
Good post on reading a histogram. So many have it and don’t realize that it’s probably the best point-and-shoot tool available.
Separately, what do you use for lighting? Any regrets or favorite features of what you’re using/had used?
Cheers,
John
August 15, 2010 - 9:03 am
Thank you, Chuck! You have an exceptionally beautiful family…
August 15, 2010 - 9:10 am
Hi John! Fun to see you on my blog, I clicked through to your site and enjoyed looking at your photos!
Great question, I think I’m going to draft a post of what’s in my bag to answer your question more specifically but generally, I use Visatec strobes in-studio and I’ve been very happy with Visatec/Bron/Kobold the couple of times I’ve had to send something in for repair. Lots of my photog friends use Profoto and rave about those.
You can do an awful lot with a speedlight and 60-inch umbrella. Outside or on-location, I use Nikon SB800s and a Photoflex 60-inch umbrella (I have an attachment to hook my flash to a lightstand and hold the umbrella, but sometimes, in a pinch, I ball-bungee the flash to whatever is available and shoot without the umbrella.) I have David Hobby (Strobist) and Zack Arias to thank for everything I know about lighting — they are phenomenal photographers and instructors who truly want their students to learn from them. Check out their videos, worth every red cent, or take one of their workshops to explode your mind.
I would recommend to any photographer to learn — truly learn — to master off-camera flash before investing in more powerful strobes. Otherwise, you might regret spending a lot of money on something you don’t really need or understand, and sacrifice what you really do need by jumping in too quickly.
It’s not lighting, but something that I think should be in every photographer’s hands: a Lastolite reflector! Portable, easy to use and a very simple, inexpensive way to pop extra light into your photo and/or add catch-lights to your subject’s eyes when shooting outdoors.
I hope this helps! Stay in touch and keep visiting… 
Kendall wanted some fun pictures to enclose in her graduation announcement, and it just worked out that her session was exactly 22 years to the date that I graduated from high school. Twenty-two years! I remember that day as if it were yesterday. Although, looking back, it still feels like high school took four decades for me to get through — well, except for algebra and the day we had to cut up frogs in biology (thank you, Bill Barry, for stealthily cutting mine for me without getting caught!), those seemed more like a lifetime.
Each decade since then seems more like one long week.
Best of luck to you, Kendall …
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Deepali is the second eldest of six children. When she was 14, she enrolled in a photography class. She wore braces, prescription eyeglasses and was the only female student in a room full of teenage boys. She handled herself beautifully. I know all this because I was their instructor. Deepali never missed a class and got an A on her final exam (although she tells me she’s since lost the Holga!)
Now she’s wrapping up high school and coming into her own as a strikingly confident young woman.
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May 26, 2010 - 2:28 pm
Oh My Gosh. Deepali looks amazing! I miss EVERYBODY!
May 26, 2010 - 2:29 pm
Deepali looks amazing! I miss everbody!
December 6, 2011 - 12:49 pm
Wow, these pictures look great…thanks for doing them.
This just in for high school senior portrait what-to-wear ideas:
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2 comments
September 26, 2009 - 10:41 am
I love these photos Christine – especially the ones with the sneakers and texting! You captured him at this point in his life so well….
October 4, 2009 - 9:24 am
thank you! you mean you weren’t taken in at all by his über-cool college team?
Brian is a different person today than he was in August when he came to me for some updated senior portraits; he arrived a former high school senior, carrying with him notes from Latin class in preparation for an upcoming placement test. In just a few short weeks, he’s left high school behind and long since settled in as a freshman at William & Mary. His family misses him terribly (most especially his two younger brothers, who now enjoy having their own bedrooms since Brian moved out!) and his mother has waited graciously and patiently for the last couple of weeks for me to finish editing these images while the rest of us in Northern Virginia live through the craze of fall and bustle that the start of school brings…
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September 18, 2009 - 7:12 am
Christine, I can’t even express how happy I am that we came to you. I’ve never, in their entire lives, had such amazing pictures. You’ve captured every single one of them perfectly in so many ways. Impish, serious, carefree, thoughtful, goofy… you did it all. For each and every one of them. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
October 4, 2009 - 9:28 am
you’re so welcome!!!
Annalise is a rising senior at West Springfield High School and both she and her mother are girls after my own heart: Annalise is a shoe girl and loves fun scarves, and her mother wants only black and whites for a family portrait wall dating back to the great-grandparents.
Of course, I couldn’t resist a test shot of her with my 35mm Zeiss — turns out, that lens loves Annalise and I used it more extensively on her than I have on any session to date. My vote for shot-of-the-day came from the Zeiss; can you guess which one?
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September 3, 2009 - 9:09 pm
We thought all these pictures were pretty spectacular -
Alyssa is the youngest of three girls; she sings, dances and plays soccer; she just graduated from West Springfield High School, where she earned her letterman’s jacket on the football field; she’s a pro gamer and rumor has it she’ll win faster using only her elbows than most of us can eeek out with opposable thumbs.
Speaking of personality…
It’s a shame I couldn’t photograph the sound of Alyssa’s ’69 Mustang as she pulled up for our shoot. The car is her baby, restored by her with help from her father. As we were outside shooting, a man in an SUV rolled up and asked if he could buy the Mustang from her on the spot. Without taking her eyes off my lens, she just smiled and answered “Sorry!”
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July 19, 2009 - 6:48 pm
Beautiful photos of a beautiful girl. Nice lighting. You do great work.
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8 comments
Rori - swweeeet pic
ashley - These are absolutely beautiful! I love them!
kathy - NICE! Since when did Adrienne start wearing lip stick?
Ardyth Metz - Wow that little girl that is so amazing sure has grown up! or I am just plain old.
Sheri Mace - Great picture, Adrienne! Congratulations on your graduation. Where are you headed for college? And you got a lacrosse scholarship–Tim is so envious!
audrey - Fantastic photo!!! You will have to tell me more!!! What colleges are you looking at etc…
Carlos - Wow, great pictures Christine as usual. I remember Adrienne vividly as a blond-haired toddler running amok around Columbus AFB in 1995-1996. She’s all grown up now. Congrats Adrienne.
Jennifer - So beautiful!! Adrienne, you are such a lovely young lady! Fantastic pics
I hope you are having a great year…you have such an exciting future to look foward to in college!!