How much can change in a year?

On May 27th, 2014, my oldest daughter, my first born baby girl, graduates from high school.  It was just over a year ago that I decided to get serious with my photography again, just in time to begin senior pictures.  We had decided that we really wanted to commemorate her entire senior year with sessions for each season and activity.  As I have looked back at each session over the last year one thing really sticks out.... how much has changed in such a short time!  From Taylor's hair to the quality of my photography, and the quality of our editing.  In all things, you either grow and change or become stagnant. My daughter is about to set out on the great adventure called life, growing and changing into a full grown adult. I am set to continue to grow and change in my photography, striving to get better with each session. We are both on a journey.

This image was from our first session.  We were still in the very early stages of learning and understanding post production.  We were using a free editing software and thinking we were doing some pretty great stuff. Looking back now I can see that this image is very soft!

Also from our first session, the color is way off.  We definitely had a long way to go.  Note Taylor's hair is very red and fairly straight. Keep watching to see how it changes.

As we moved into the fall, we were doing quite a bit better in post production. Having begun using and learning Lightroom, the color and clarity of the images has improved.  I had also been gaining a better knowledge of natural lighting.

Note that this time her hair is less red and quite curly.

With her winter session, we braved the elements to get some pictures in the snow.  It was extremely cold and we only lasted about 15 minutes.  I took this opportunity to try to step outside of the traditional and get more creative.

Taylor decided to try cheerleading for the first time as a senior, so of course we had to get the cheerleading pictures,  I was battling mid day sun with this session, as we only had so much opportunity to get out to take these.  Thank goodness for shade!

Now her hair is very straight with long bangs pulled back.  Yet another transformation.

And finally, last week, we got the cap and gown pictures.  She had gotten her braces off earlier in the week (YAY!) and had cut off over a foot of hair about 2 weeks before that.  Yet again, battling bright mid day sun due to a time crunch, I positioned her to be backlit.  As you can see, our post production has become clear and sharp, with proper color and exposure.

What a lot of growing and changing both of us have done in this last year.  I couldn't be prouder of this beautiful young lady.  She has brought so much joy to my life and I am excited to see what life has in store for her.  The Lord has blessed me with 6 wonderful kids and I am proud of each and everyone of them.  Taylor is the first one I get to see graduate and go off to college.  If you are the praying kind, please pray that I make it through without too many tears.  In the fall I will have another senior and I hope to show her full journey as well.  I'm a happy mama!