Brian's Senior Pictures

Senior pictures...they sure have changed over the years. When I was a senior, back in the dark ages, you went to a studio and had a few pictures taken. A few poses, maybe an outfit change...but mostly a traditional photo taken in the studio.

When the many Senior portrait postcards started coming in the mail I started to worry. Too many choices. Beautiful portraits taken indoors, taken outdoors, taken with all kinds of different outfits. Mostly casual poses. Then the hints about how much they all cost started coming in too. Yikes. I did what I do best and put it off for a while.

Then the notice came in the mail about the yearbook. Senior pictures need to be in by October something or other. Hmm. I mentioned to Brian that we needed to start looking for a photographer....he said that all of his friends were having their friends take their pictures...and that he wanted me to take his. ME? Yikes. But no, he needed professional pictures taken. That's what you do when you're a senior.

I can't take his only senior pictures! There were rules in the yearbook about the size of his head, about props, about hands, about all kinds of stuff. He needed real pictures, not pictures taken by his mom. Didn't he? My camera wasn't working well enough, my lens wasn't right, my...well...you get the idea.

So we compromised. He agreed to take some formal pictures in a studio that he could use for the yearbook, but I would take his other pictures, his fun ones outside. Sigh. Ok. But then we realized that the camera really wasn't working right, and then I sort of spilled Diet Coke in the bag that it was in, and then it was winter before we got another camera and his pictures didn't get taken.

The next plan was to take some portraits in Hawaii. But we ended up too busy, or it was rainy, or something. It also didn't seem like the right place. Someplace that meant something to him would be better.

So we decided that the Interstate Park in Taylors Falls would be the perfect spot. Then we had to wait for Spring to come and the leaves to green up. And then we had to find a weekend when we could both do it. And then, when we decided on Memorial weekend, we had to try to pick a time between the rain storms.

Taking a few pictures should be easier than that. But, Sunday after church we headed to the park....and we got 'er done.

They aren't professional, but they are natural. And I like them! We had some laughs....

....we got to enjoy some beautiful scenery together...

....and I'm pretty happy with how some of them turned out.

It helps to have a handsome boy. And it helps that he was very patient with me when I couldn't get the settings on the camera just right.

We took a lot of pictures. There were a lot of people in the park that looked at us a little funny. I did over hear one of them say to their son...we should take your senior pictures here next year. Good idea mom. It's sort of funny though, we were all done with the pictures, on our way out of the park, when I spotted a place that I thought looked interesting. We climbed up a ways, Brian posed for a couple more shots, and low and behold the last picture of the day ended up being my favorite.

I thought, jeepers, why couldn't we have just started with this spot. Then I realized, it was the journey that we took to get there that made it so special. Just like most things in life. The end.

Thanks for stopping by.