Sweet Emily B.! In this marathon season of seniors, Emily was a breath of fresh air! Her quiet and gentle spirit was a blessing, and I enjoyed getting to walk around campus with her for her senior photoshoot this week. Emily is from Houston, TX and is heading back to the Lone Star State to pursue nursing school after she graduates in May. One of the things she loved about her experience at OU was the time she spent on exec for her sorority, Alpha Omicron Pi! That’s actually how she found me – one of her sorority sisters is Katie N., one of my 2018 MFP seniors! I love getting to make those connections!

There are a lot of elements to being a photographer, and I think one of those elements is learning how to adapt and get creative. So far this season, I’ve been challenged by the wind, lack of color (no tulips this spring!), changing up my patterns, and working around an overwhelming number of people and photographers on campus. I love knowing that in the midst of a shoot, I’m growing and getting better, simply by having a roadblock or obstacle in the way. I am forced to think outside of the box and work around what is thrown in front of me on the spot. This shoot in particular I was challenged a lot by the number of people on campus and in the background of my locations. One of the ways I combatted this was by switching up my usual route on campus to let other groups wrap up, and then we would loop back around after we spent that in between time at a different location! I also use what I call “body-blocking”. This is when you use your subject to “block” a distraction behind them by framing your shot in such a way and shooting from an angle where you can’t see what is behind them! I think we did a pretty awesome job of making the most of it, and Emily was a natural in front of the camera!

Enjoy a few of my favorites from Emily’s OU senior session!

^ This is one of my favorites! Model shot!!