What an unbelievably (or rather unbelibbyli) great senior session with one of my favorite human beings ever. I have been lucky enough to get to know Miss Libby Li for over three years now from birthday parties and movie nights to word puns and an intercontinental vacation this young lady has been an absolute blast every minute of the way.
Libby is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. A genuinely beautiful soul all around. Salutatorian of her class and planning to attend University of Mississippi next year to begin her studies in her career of becoming an Ophthalmologist. Yes it hurt my heart to know she wouldn't be attending my alma mater of Mississippi State University but as long as it makes her happy I am happy! She's one of the VERY few people I would ever put on an Ole Miss T-shirt for but for her.... it would happen.
And a bit about our shoot. We did a 2 part session for Miss Libby Li. One we spent a beautiful afternoon in Starkville, MS (what you see below) and the other a bit different (what you see at the end).
Me with 2 of the 3 Listers. Joyce (far right) is one of Libby's big sisters as well as my helper and girlfriend.
The "Red" series was something I have had in mind for a while and finally made happen. Libby is a dancer and her senior recital is coming up so we decided to dedicate a series to her dancing (what you see below). The powder was ordered off Amazon and went much farther than I expected. I only used around half of what I ordered. The setup was a 4 light setup with 2 gridded strip boxes for rim lights. One white beauty dish directly above camera and one bare overhead light, again for a bit of a highlight in her dark hair. I also threw in a table top/cd player in there because I don't believe a photo shoot should happen without good music. It's like peanut butter and jelly ya know?
I also have to give a very big thank you and shoutout to Sam Stevens Motors for allowing me to shoot this series in their car wash bay making for an easy cleanup (I thought). The powder was EXTREMELY fine (finer than flour) and it ended floating through the air and settling on a very nice vehicle being stored in their garage. Luckily it only needed a good washing but still made me a bit nervous. That is just a story and helpful hint to any photographers out there debating about throwing powder in your studio.... beware it gets everywhere and onto all your gear... much of which mine (especially fabrics) still have a red tint. If you ask "Why didn't you do it outside" was because it had been raining for about 3 days at this time and was still raining during the session but didn't stop us.
Makeup: Katie Leach
Light Diagram for "red" series
