About 5 years ago I swore off shooting High School Senior boys. I distinctly remember calling my husband on the way home from a session and saying "If I ever book another High School Boy for Senior photos please slap me in the face"
You see, I love my job. I mean Capital L-O-V-E it. And it is such a bummer for me to shoot photos of someone who would rather stick a needle in their eye than be there.
This seemed to be the case for about 2 or 3 high schools boys in a row that I had sessions with. They were only there because their mothers had forced them. Those same mothers stood behind me as I shot and would try and adjust their boys shirts, ask them to stand up straight, and look at their dingy beat up sneakers and ask "Are those really the only shoes you brought" we both already knew that answer.
The boys would roll their eyes, mumble smart mouth things under their breath and ask me every 10 minutes how much longer we would be. I love my job too much to deal with crabby kids who don't want to be here. I was fed up.
Slowly, the last 2 years or so, I have been allowing Senior boys back into my line-ups, but I have long talks with their mothers first via-email. When Luke's mom, Leslee, said he wanted his jeep, his girlfriend and his hunting rifle in the shots I knew he had some personality, had ideas of what he wanted his photos to look like, and actually contributed some ideas, so I was totally game. He also wanted the photos on his parents property way out in the boonies.
Y'all, I had to pick a grasshopper out of my camera bag before I drove home...the boonies I tell ya!
Not only was Luke totally cool, did everything I said, and even laughed at my stupid jokes. He had an adorable girlfriend who wanted to jump in a few of the photos. They were so stinking cute together I couldn't stop shooting!
OMG! Can you imagine having photos of you and your boyfriend like this in High School? How freaking awesome!
Thank you Luke for helping change my opinion about grumpy high school boys. I'll end this blog with a couple shots of Luke and his other girlfriend...the jeep! A really awesome jeep that his parents should let him buy from them (Hint Hint, see Luke, I got your back!)
