Senior Shoot – Kai.O ‹ Maryland + DC Portrait Photographer

Senior Shoot – Kai.O

personal / senior session / slideshows / 0 Comment / April 30, 2012

Shooting Kai O was neither easy or difficult . It was just how we had imagined it to go, I suppose. After trying to get her to pose for me for years, I had just about given up. I was waiting for her to break the news to me that she wanted someone else to take her senior pictures so when she came to me and asked “when are we going to do my senior shoot?”, I jumped…. for joy! You see, and if you have one you know, teenagers are different and challenging, happy and sad, joyful and painful, excitable and undisturbed, playful and stand-off-ish, silly and serious….all wrapped in one little being with a pulse. I don’t judge anyone with teenagers anymore cause’ I now understand the misguided idea that what I want to happen is going to happen on any given day. I no longer take for granted the smiles and laughter I witnessed during adolescence. When they, the smiles and laughter, come my way I snatch them and hold on tight to the images so I can remember them next time. you know, the time when they come down the stairs for breakfast and you say good morning, all smiles, and they look at you like you have five heads. I used to say, “if that was my child, I’d….” shut your mouth…. you can’t speak to it until you have one. Not a child….a teen. They are two totally different beings!

So, I’m thrilled I was the photographer of choice and I’m thrilled that she wanted my advise on how we should style it, where we should shoot and what she should wear… well almost. She picked her own outfits, I just nodded my approval with a smile. She is our firstborn child, our teen, our bundle of joy, our heart breaker, our shadow, our little bird to soon fly away. I have often said, I was ready for her to go…. I’ve said it for years about all three of them but as the time draws near, I sometimes get a little misty-eyed and have to swallow hard to keep from crying. Laughing and crying at the same time.. yeah, that me. Someone recently asked me if we’d be sad when she’s gone. “Of course we will but the fact that she can go means we have done our job”.

On a brief personal note……Kai, you are one of the great loves of my life and I could not be more proud of you. In my eyes, you are beautiful. It has been remarkable to watch you blossom into a young woman over the past few years excepting challenges when they come and surpassing most of even your own expectations. Good luck to you in all that you do and remember…you can always come back home.