{Salina Senior Portraits} Jaden, Class of 2016

Jaden stopped in Salina a few weeks ago to have her senior portraits taken. We tried several times to schedule her senior pictures in Wichita, but the weather was just working against us, and the December days were flying by - so she came up here for what I know will be one-of-a-kind portraits among her classmates!

We grabbed a few urban/downtown senior portraits in Salina, before heading to hit the rural life.

Jaden is the first senior I've had who brought her tassel to the session, and I loved it!

Can't beat that amazing Kansas evening light!

Jaden loves rural Kansas, so incorporating a vintage tractor into her senior pictures was a given!

Saved my very favorite portrait for last! :)

Wedding Photography • Family Portraits • Senior Portraits

{Salina Senior Portraits} Spencer

I met a few weeks ago with Spencer for his senior portraits in Salina. A baseball, basketball and football player, we wanted to incorporate a little of each sport into his session.

Even though sports is a big part of Spencer's life, we squeezed in a few casual portraits in Downtown Salina, too.

It was an overcast day & even though the sky was gray, I knew once we got onto the baseball field and added some light, the sky would really become dramatic.

Final fave from the session!

Wedding Photography • Family Portraits • Senior Portraits

{Salina Senior Portraits} Xan, Class of 2016

I met Miss Xan when photographing at the Salina Community Theatre. She is one talented young lady! We met up in central Salina for Xan's senior portraits. Xan brought a ton of energy and life to her session, which is always fun.

I love it when seniors have a fun location request for their senior portraits. Xan wanted to use a small, independent used bookstore. Of course, being the literary geek I am, I jumped at the chance for the unique location for senior portraits! I love how whimsical and fun they turned out!

Xan is a theatre girl through and through. She was very excited to take some of her portraits in the dressing room, with the lights & mirrors.

I love how diverse this session was. Some photos are innocent, others like this have a little sass in them ... capturing the multiple sides of a senior during their portrait session is something I enjoy so much!

Balancing on this chair only LOOKS easy. This girl, as a dancer, rocked it.

Last photo to share: A fun on-stage pic. Xan, thanks for such a fun time during your senior portrait session!!!!

Wedding Photography • Family Portraits • Senior Portraits

{Salina Senior Portraits} Ale, Class of 2016

LOVE these portraits from our session with Miss Ale! This amazing dress in a sunflower field - ah-maaaaaazing! We met up a few weeks ago for Ale's senior portraits in and around Salina. 

What beautiful eyes!

Since Ale is a horsewoman, of course her senior portrait session included equine companions. 

Thanks for choosing us for your senior portraits, Ale! We're so excited to share your album proof in the upcoming weeks!

Wedding Photography • Family Portraits • Senior Portraits

{Announcements} Heartland Photography & rue21salina team up for Model Senior Sessions!

Following up from yesterday's blog post about the best time to have senior portraits taken in Salina, I wanted to make a BIG EXCITING announcement!

Heartland Photography has teamed up with rue21salina to offer model sessions. Right now, rue21 has their popular rueBUCKS going on (stop by the store to find out more). In addition to the rueBUCKS, they're handing out extra special savings cards worth $40 off your senior portraits (session must be booked by June 15 in order for the savings to apply).

In addition to that, when your session is taken between now & June 15, you will be a rue21salina model! .... wait? A model? Yeah, that's right! Bring your most awesome rue21 outfit to the session, rock it out, and your photo will appear in local instagram/facebook promotions for back to school.

There will also be a special VIP shopping night later in June ... so be sure to chat with me or stop by rue21salina!

Wedding Photography • Family Portraits • Senior Portraits

{Senior Portraits} When is the best time to take Senior Portraits?

Summer is here & all anyone wants to do is lie around & spend the rest of the time at the pool. I get it. I do, too! 

June is the month I strongly recommend taking care of senior pictures. 

Why? The kids are out of school and there are fewer commitments of time. It's just a little slower pace of life. And believe me, when senior year starts, it will kick into high gear QUICKLY! Schedules will fill fast & all of a sudden your yearbook advisor will be sending urgent emails telling  you the deadline to have the senior pictures in the yearbook is 2 weeks away. That is the LAST time to think about senior pictures! I promise. Photographers are often busy with fall family portraits by the time school yearbook deadlines come up and it's unlikely you'll get a session scheduled (believe it or not, I have 3 family sessions already locked in for Fall 2015 .... I take a limited number of sessions during the fall and it's truly first come, first served!)

June is perfect because while the temps are warm, we often aren't completely dripping in sweat during our on-location shoots the way we are in July or August. Nothing cuts our session short faster than an uncomfortable subject.

Also ... I have some amazing things going on with rue21salina .... STAY TUNED TOMORROW FOR THAT BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!! :) 

{Photojournalism} Hayden High School State Baseball

From time to time, I get assignments to photograph events for newspapers. This weekend, I was covering 4A State Baseball in Salina for the Topeka Capital-Journal. It was the paper where I had my first collegiate internship, so photographing for them was a special treat. :) Of course, I referred to myself by my maiden name in the last 5 days more times than I have in the last 12 months, but that's OK. 

As you can guess from the photo, Topeka's team, the Hayden Wildcats, won it all.

These next photos are from the semifinal game earlier Monday .... I focused more on action in the semi game & reaction in the final game.

... when we call ourselves Wedding Photojournalists, it's because our roots are in newspapers & we still take the occasional newspaper assignment.

Hope you're having an amazing start to your summer!