Senior photos have come a long way since I was a graduating senior in 2004! I love the creative willingness of kids today and how they own who they are and what they love. For Belinda's senior photos, she sent me a Pinterest board of images she loved and from that I derived two central themes: Food & Fields. 

We decided on two set-ups/looks: one centered around the fridge and her favorite snacks (chips and cereal) and another centered around a chair in a field at sunset. I highly relate to these two moods for I too am either in an oversized shirt snacking out of the fridge or fancy--or anyway, I used to get fancy when I places to go be fancy in. Maybe I'll be fancy again someday. Or maybe, like this photoshoot shows, you don't need anyplace to go be fancy in. You can be fancy in a field just for the joy of it. 

I loved creating these! If you are interested in getting creative with your Senior photos, shoot me a message!

This was a super fun in studio photoshoot with musician and poet Molly. Her inspo board she sent me was full of bright colors and moods. She wanted photos to use to promote her upcoming album, and possibly for the album cover art as well. We collaborated on the direction in the weeks leading up to the shoot, passing phots and ideas back and forth. 

She brought her boyfriend along for moral support and my dog Olive also joined us in the studio to help with moral and soundtrack snoring. We collaborated on her outfit and then I did hair and make-up while Lizzo filled the studio with pump-up music.

For the shoot itself, we switched over to ABBA for some different vibes and began work on creating sparkly, moody, colorful work. I love how these turned out! What do you think?

If you like what you see and are ready to book me to help make your creative vision come to life, shoot me a message and let's get started!

I remember the first time I went to Culture Flock--it was the grand opening of their brick and mortar. I was so pleasantly surprised to discover a place like this existed in Springfield, MO. An inclusive, inspiring, creative environment with all kinds of fun trinkets, clothes, and gifts--plus, a workshop space and fun events?! What!

I remember thinking how cool it would be to work with them--at the time I had just started my business and it felt like a far off dream. Then, not long after that, they reached out to have me do some photos for them and have been using me consistently ever since. And I still feel like I've been called to sit at the cool kids table every time. 

Happy 8th birthday to Culture Flock! I'm so glad you exist here. And I am so grateful to be a creative collaborator with such a cool group of people. 

Also, Happy Pride Month! Culture Flock has new pride shirts in three different colors! Support your local LGBTQ+ owned shop this month with a new shirt or gift from Culture Flock and an empowering, creative photoshoot with yours truly!

This was such a fun family photoshoot. I love shooting families that genuinely enjoy each other's company. I also love families where the kids have a billion ideas and are excited to just play and have fun during the shoot. All these things were in play on this day--Plus, it was just a gorgeous day, after a week of storms so the greens were lush and the sky was beautiful!

If you love what you see here, shoot me a message and book me to capture your family!

I think this was the first photoshoot I actually got nervous butterflies while driving to the shoot. Can you blame me? This level of cool is intimidating!

These Senior Photos were like no other because this High School senior happens to be a teenager who has been flying planes for 2 years! 

We shot two looks with some of the planes she's flown. One look was a blast from the past, Amelia Earhart inspired session.

And other look was a modern session...AKA Ally looks like she's starring in a TV drama about a badass CIA agent.

We also did a session out at Fellows Lake, along with family photos--which I'll post in a separate blog because frankly, I have too many favorites! 

Not only is Ally undeniably cool, she is also incredibly down-to-earth, respectful, kind, and fun. It was a joy to capture her at this stage in her life and I can't wait to hear all she will undoubtably accomplish in life.

If you like what you see here, contact me to schedule a shoot for the High School senior in your life.

Teenagers can be scary to adults. They can seem like an enigma. A mysterious energy that can make you feel uncool or dumb. You might find yourself using "youth-slang" like "girl" or "wassuuup" even though kids don't talk like that anymore...even though YOU don't talk like that anymore (usually).

All that to say, this shoot could have been another embarrassing tale of "Andie tries to relate to the youths as if she isn't nearly 35." However, it WASN'T! As it turns out Josef was none of those highly generalized attributes above. He was down-to-earth, an old-soul who loves photography and vinyl, and probably possess the least amount of ego I've ever met in a teenage boy. All that to say, he was kind, personable, creative, and open. The ideal model. 

We blasted Red Hot Chili Peppers in my 70's retro studio and worked together (along with his Mama) to create a couple looks based around the outfits and props he brought to express his personality in this, his final year of high school.

I can't imagine graduating high school right now--in the middle of a pandemic. The world in this strange in-between flux just at the moment you're thrust out into it. What a challenge lies ahead for these young adults. And what a joy it was to capture the happiness, the strangeness, the celebration of a big accomplishment, and the interests that helped get this kid through this last year.

Rock on, Josef! We'll be rooting for you. Go out, do good, make smart choices, and be brave. 

Josef has dreams of becoming a photography teacher at his old school. I think that's awesome. What an honor to photograph a budding photography teacher. I hope when he is older, he looks back on these photos and smiles--remembering all the highs of his last year as a high school kid and all the lesson that the lows taught him. I hope he carries these with him into adulthood, and into the classroom...and I hope he retains the kind of teenage confidence and cool that keeps him from saying "Girrrrrl" in a panic when trying to relate to his students. 

You always want the kids to learn from your mistakes, don't ya? Do you have any wisdom to impart on this year's graduating seniors? Leave it in the comments below.

Peace-out homies. Catch ya on the flip side. Hit me up if you or someone you know wants some unique, vintage, editorial senior photos!

I've been fortunate to work with Culture Flock for a few years now. I love creating photoshoots for them--not only are they my favorite place to shop for gifts for myself and others, but I also just love being able to work with another local, queer, women-owned business! They have always been so encouraging and let me take full creative control with these shoots--what a dream!

This Spring 2021 T-Shirt line of theirs is my favorite they've done yet. I mean--look at these shirts! So freaking cool. The illustrations, designs, colors...love! I can't pick a favorite. Can you?

For this shoot, I spent the whole day at Nathaniel Greene Park shooting back to back with each model. I had a different area of the park, props, and a general theme idea for each shoot relating to the shirt. 

The models Trevor, Sheristen, Mindy, Heather, Hannah, Johnny, and Brennan killed it!

I hope you enjoyed seeing a few of my favorite shots from this shoot. Let me know if you have any questions! 

​Be sure to check out Cultureflock.com ​to grab these shirts.

When Chloe at Hey Babe Curated reached out to me to shoot the lookbook for her Valentine Collection of vintage lingerie and handmade fine jewelry...I was instantly inspired and excited. I've shot Chloe in her own vintage finds before and it's always a blast. Ever since she launched her own business, Hey Babe Curated, I've been drooling over her inventory and even snagged a pair of her gorgeous earrings for myself (#treatyoself). 

When she dropped off the inventory (which was a lot more than I expected), she said that just wanted me to have options to create whatever I felt inspired to create (god, I love clients like that!) and boy was I ever inspired! Before I knew it, I had pages of ideas and I passionately wanted to create them all! So, I did.

I came up with 8 set ups I wanted to do and styled 8 looks for each of them and planned what props I wanted. Then, I set out to browse the valentine aisle at the local drug store, rummaged my own inventory, and went hunting down the aisles of a few flea markets to get some props. 

I reached out to Micayla Storm to model and she said yes. This was her first time modeling and she killed it! Then, I set the shoot schedule for the day to optimize our time. Once the preplanning was done, all that was left to do was shoot. We had a lot of fun creating these looks back to back!

My whole idea behind each of these images was a self-love valentine... feeling gorgeous and sexy in your skin for yourself. Pampering and showering yourself in love... either through chocolates, a facemask, a good cup of coffee, relaxing in pretty lingerie, playing card games, or just plain enjoying your own damn company. Feelin' yourself...you feel me?

I think whether you are in a relationship with someone else or not, Valentines Day can be a great day to show up for yourself and write yourself a love letter of all you've accomplished, been through, survived, and really express your appreciation of all the gifts you have to offer the world.

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL.
YOU ARE WORTHY.
YOU ARE ENOUGH.
<3

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When Season reached out to me to create some photos she said she wanted some couples portraits with more of an editorial vibe. My favorite! She said that they weren't really into traditional couples portraits and wanted something different, more artistic and unique. She sent me a few reference photos so I could better understand the look they were going for.

We started at their home (see photos below) which was a gorgeously decorated downtown loft full of art and large windows. Swoon! 

Next, they changed into their second look and we headed out to C-street. We parked at one end, hopped out and started walking, stopping wherever we felt inspired...which was, like, a lot. I swear I could have kept shooting these two for hours...but it was freezing cold and I already had shot about 1,000 images so we called it a day.

I went through all the photos, tossing out the bad apples and redundancy along the way. Then, I edited about 800 of them with a first round color correction in Lightroom and then did another round of zooming way in to find unwanted blinks, slightly out of focus (in the not cool way), and more unnecessary redundancy and narrowed it down to a final count of about 320 final photos. I then exported a few more for some additional retouching in photoshop and then presto finito! I'm done and the photos are off to the client within a week of being shot.

I used the Template app to create these cool collages of the photos. I love how they turned out! 

Are you looking for a couples shoot that's a little different? If you like highly artistic, creative shoots...shoot me a message! Let's create some magic. 

Hannah is a dancer, model, and sophomore in High School. This is my second time working with Hannah to help creative some creative editorial portraits for her growing portfolio. I love working with her and her mom, Emery. 

Usually for these types of shoots I start by asking if there is any particular style, theme or idea the client already has in mind...if not, I'll brainstorm a couple different ideas and create little collages to help the client visual each idea so they can choose which direction they want to go in. 

Then, I figure out the set, lighting and sometimes the styling, hair and makeup looks. For this shoot we went with a combination of three ideas: 1. Colorful car shoot, 2. Water shoot, 3. Outdoor urban night shoot. These were easy enough to combine all in one location (on the roof of a parking garage in downtown Springfield). 

I brought one of my regular lights and two color led lights along with a power converter plug for my car so I could make sure I had power to light the shoot. I love how it turned out.