She is the first daughter of my oldest brother, and sometimes, I swear she reminds me exactly of myself when I was 17. There is a sweet confidence about her, and she is still a complete smartass. Believe me, in half the shots below, she was making me laugh.
We had so much fun shooting her senior pictures. I am a little biased, I guess, since she is my niece and all. It was probably in my top three favorite shoots ever. Not just because they are of Payden (that girl has got the looks, that’s for sure), but because I found new spots to shoot and tried new poses. And the horse! I’ve never used such a big animal before, but she definitely wanted pictures with her Braveheart.
This shoot gave me a different kind of confidence that I have not felt before. I am much more comfortable with the idea of being someone who can shoot people and capture their personalities. 
I didn’t have to give her a lot of direction because she had an idea of what we both wanted. She wanted pictures that were pretty and model-y, and I wanted pictures that showed how laid back and relaxed she is. I wanted her pictures to be the most gorgeous ones I’ve ever done, and bingo, I think we nailed it. 
We shot these on two different evenings, and she wants another spot, which I’ll share later when they are all finished.
carrie l. sunday 
these turned out so great – she’s gorgeous, and you really captured what a cool person she must be. i’m really in awe, because taking pictures of people is SO not my strength (in fact i’m super intimidated by it, even with family) so i really love seeing what can happen when it really works. and that last one is so, so great.
Thanks. I really love the last one too. If every session were as easy as this, everyone would be photographers. I had a great time!
That last one has a sort of perfect beauty to it. These are great.
Those pictures are great!