Some of my favorite photography sessions is when we go for a walk and have fun taking photos along the way. And that's exactly what happened for this family and senior session. This family of three drove from Happy Valley down to Salem to meet me at Minto Brown Island Park on a Saturday evening and we had the best time laughing at jokes, goofing off, and exploring some trails.

I really do think telling my (horribly funny) dad jokes and just chatting can really bring out genuine smiles, and of course having fun along the way might help a little bit, too.

I hope you enjoy this family photo session, celebrating their high school senior before she moves to Arizona to attend college. It's always a great idea to take family photos before anyone moves away for school, even if they will be home in the summers.

This weekend was a little rainy with some patches of sunshine. I'd have to say that it was almost perfect weather for some senior photos (minus the wind and precipitation)! I had the pleasure to capture a senior session for twins and I'd have to say that I pulled out all the stops with my punny dad jokes for double the fun, aka eye rolling at my dry sense of humor. Yes, you've been warned that I've got the bad jokes and I will use them and sometimes they do work for bringing out smiles.

We spent an afternoon exploring the fall colors, searching for skipping stones, and hanging out under and on a bridge over at Wallace Marine Park on the west side of the Willamette River. Then we ventured over to the Salem Riverfront Park area for a quick family photo and of course hitting downtown Salem for some classic urban shots. I'd have to say that we found some cool spots with old brick, faded painted advertisements on walls, and some new black brick, which all made unique backdrops.

And if you bring a dog to your photo session, I WILL take photos of the pupper! ;-)

David is a senior during a pandemic, not a lot of people can say that. He's distance learning online and still plays his clarinet. We took an evening to explore a nearby park and took advantage of the wonderful landscaping of his parents' backyard at home with their koi pond. Part of the exploring included going down a side trail and finding some awesome moss covered concrete barrier pieces that were great to sit on!

These are just a couple of my favorite from David's senior pictures and make sure to look at the end for some fun poses with his clarinet. And I always love to take a photo of the senior with his parents. ;-)

This morning I headed out to Wallace Marine Park in West Salem for a Senior Session with Ethan. We got to explore the gravel bar just north of the old Union Railroad Bridge, which is now a footpath bridge. I pulled out all of my puny jokes so that Ethan would crack a smile, but for over half of them he was shaking his head because they were so bad! Hahaha!

Here is part two of Jenna's Senior Photo Session (see part one here). It was the perfect Oregon day, overcast. Clouds filtering the bright sunshine actually is very flattering and you don't have to worry about squinting eyes!

But back to Jenna and our time on the Oregon State University Campus in Corvallis. We started at Furman Hall and ended up at Gill Coliseum, while stopping at Langton Hall and other scenic places along the way.

Nowadays, cell phones can take great photos, so people may want to have their friends take photos of them with their mobile telephones. But there’s a lot more than just snapping an image.

One of the major perks of hiring a photographer is that they know how to pose you. Sure, all the ladies can just have your hands on your hips for all your photos, but looking at picture after picture with hands on their hips can get a little redundant. But this pose does have it's place, especially with a little variation.

There's so many more options for posing and there's a flow that you can direct your models/clients through. Just have them do a couple things at a time and make sure to move your feet to capture different angles. Never stand in just one spot while taking photos, unless there's no where else for you to stand.