If you are going to do it. Go all in!

I know this will be hard to believe but Lizbet was not going to take senior portraits - even though she was graduating from UCR (University of California, Riverside).

Lizbet didn't even contact me to take her senior portraits (and she knew I am a senior portrait photographer). The reason she wasn't planning on taking her senior portraits was because she just didn't think that experience was for her. Whaaat? Although she knew graduating was a big deal and something that she wanted to commemorate she just didn't know if senior portraits were the right way for her.

Enter a kind friend. Lizbet was lucky enough to have worked with someone who thought a great graduation gift would be to gift her a portrait session. Her friend contacte me about buying a gift certificate and we got started. After the friend told Lizbet about the gift certificate she contacted me so we could work on planning the perfect session for her. We met over the phone, she shared her reservations and I shared how I could help out. Posing worries - I got you. What to wear - lets work on that together to find a wardrobe that best represents you. Need a cap & gown - I'm here for you. Need ideas on what to do with the pictures - I'm your guy because I have some really great options for you to be able to share and display your images. Armed with all the support she would receive, Lizbet was all in. You can see in the images here that we took some traditional graduate portraits as well as some creative images that were both fun and beautiful. That is exactly what I mean when I say, "All in." Lizbet trusted me to put her into some great images that showed both her joy in graduating, her confidence, and were just great shots. Was Lizbet nervous? Of course she was at first but after just a few moments of us working together she found her stride and it went from just taking pictures to working together to make great portraits.

When Lizbet saw her images she was absolutly thrilled. She went from not being sure what she would do with her images to getting a wall gallery for her new apartment, a sweet framed print for her Mama, and a stack of gift prints to give to family and friends who have supported her.