When my good friend Peggy first approached me with the idea of doing a Sweet 16 shoot of her daughter, Blair, I told her that whenever I think of Blair, Audrey Hepburn comes to my mind.  Audrey Hepburn with a twist.

Right away, she sent me a phone pic of a poster that Blair has in her room… of Audrey Hepburn, in a pink dress… Blair’s Homecoming dress was pink.

 

And so began the planning for this epic session, which showcased Blair’s classic beauty and fun, quirky personality, complete with balloons to document this important life stage, a vintage bike, and later a fabulous fall setting to record her love of Lake Gaston.

 

 

I find the collaboration for my shoots to be one of the most enjoyable parts of my job.  I get to interact with my clients to find out their likes and ideas.  Sometimes the client depends on me for the shoot concept, and wants no part in the planning or decision making… and that is ok.  The process is meant to be fun, and stress free.  So I give each client a guide with tips on how to select or coordinate outfits, and make myself at their disposal to guide them in finding the right location, and looks.

But some, like Peggy and Blair, enjoy the process of the brainstorming, so we usually put together a Pinterest board of ideas to spark our creativity, and to be sure we are on the same page.  I show them my boards with my previous work, and we imagine new twists to old concepts.  There is usually a lot of texting back and forth, with wild ideas that may or may not end up being used, and sometimes a trip to Starbucks on me!

For Blair’s shoot, as our vision became reality, the result was a magical escape from “real life,” where this sweet girl got to be a pampered princess for a day, and we ALL got to celebrate both her and the joys of laughter, friendship, and “girl time.”

 

 

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