Stacey Poterson of Stacey Poterson Photography says she was immediately drawn to this location as she drove past it one day because of the amazing light!  I love it when you happen upon the perfect spot!  These photos scream warmth to me and in the middle of January, who doesn’t need warmth? 🙂

After being on maternity leave for a bit, Stacey was super excited to get behind her camera again.  Having one of the first sessions once she was back be a beautiful girl that she has known since birth, made for one awesome photo session!

Check out what Stacey had to say about this shoot below and be sure to visit her site here for more of her beautiful photos!  Thanks for sharing Stacey!!

This was the first shoot I did after being on maternity leave for 3 months, so I was itching to get behind the camera.  Having a pretty girl and a really neat location to photograph was all the inspiration I needed!

This was actually on someones property out here in AZ!  They gave me permission to shoot there, and it’s just full of variety.

I always tell my seniors not be afraid to mix and match patterns and colors.  And layers are always awesome.  For this session, she ended up bringing a few different outfits and we picked which ones to use before we stared shooting.

I used my Canon 5dMark2 and my 50mm 1.2 lens.

About an hour before sunset….I just love the light at that time!

Of course!  I edited this session in Lightroom only.  I used the adjustment brush to add some vibrancy to the background colors to help them pop.  I also used the adjustment brush to do some skin softening.  I like my workflow to be simple, and my images to be natural and clean (I rarely use actions).

The location was AMAZING and so was the light!  It was the first time I shot at this place, and everywhere I turned I found something awesome to shoot against.  I also loved that I have know Mariah since she came home from the hospital and it was super fun to photograph her because she has grown into this beautiful girl on the inside and out!

I want people to look at these images and say, “that’s so Mariah!”  I want my pictures to reflect the seniors personality, and also to be vibrant and natural with a little bit of a fashion flair to them.

I would say showing them how you want them to pose.  A lot of seniors are a little hesitant on what they should do when they get in front of the camera.  So I always show them what I want them to do (even if that means I’m laying on the ground or running through a field of weeds).  It helps them to loosen up a little bit after seeing me do the pose.  I have found that as the session goes on, most seniors get comfortable and come up with their own poses which creates the natural look I love.

When the senior (and their mom) LOVES the images….when they plaster them all over Facebook, and use them as their profile images!