Natalie Beck Photography

 One of the first things Hunter said to me was that he didn’t like smiling. I was ok with that, I always want my seniors to feel comfortable and be themselves during their session. But as a parent, I also know how nice it is to have at least a few smiling photos.  And in the future, he may actually like it too. But as we were talking, he started talking about his interest in photography and he started to smile. It was such a genuine moment, and I knew I had to try to capture it. He really has a great smile! I absolutely love talking about photography. I love hearing about what others are interested in and their creative dreams. I really hope Hunter continues to explore, it’s such a wonderful way to see the world, and I can’t imagine doing anything else myself! I was so worried about the light!  Usually the sun sets an hour before actual sunset here, but the sun was so low and close to the top of the mountain... I was like did I mis-calculate??? And then it just kept goi...

 Adian was so excited about doing rugby pictures! I could see his passion from the first time I met him, it was awesome to witness how much the sport means to him. But first we had to do some of the “normal,” not-so-fun senior pictures 😂 It was pretty clear that what he really wanted was to get straight to the rugby part. But for me, this was super helpful!  There’s always a bit of a learning curve with every senior, I often take more in the first outfit because I'm still getting used to how someone photographs and how comfortable or uncomfortable they are. It gives me sometime to figure out how to get them to smile or relax a little bit more. Once we got to the rugby photos, Adian completely changed. You could feel the energy shift, he was so much more comfortable with a rugby ball in his hands! I love sessions like this, where we get to celebrate not only who someone is right now but also what they’re passionate about.  We were so lucky to get such good colors!...

 The day we did Hunter’s senior pictures started out so windy! I had actually rescheduled another session earlier because of how crazy the wind was, and I was a little worried it might be the same for Hunter. But thankfully, the wind calmed down just enough and by the time we started, it turned into such a beautiful day! Hunter is part of my senior influencer team, so I’ve seen him at group shoots and events before, but this session was the first time I really got to hang out with him one-on-one. It was so nice to get to know him outside the team setting and see more of his personality come through. He’s genuinely funny and has such a great sense of humor.  He has some great ideas about what he's going to do in life, I loved that they weren't fully formed!  I feel like so many kids are pressured to make full fledged plans at such a young age and by the time they're in their mid-20s, they're really coming into who they are as a person. Despite the unpredictable weathe...