Senioritis!

Lauren Burgess

Lauren Burgess Senior portrait

Some of you may know, many probably don't...and lots of you might not even care, that one of my other main interests in photography is shooting Senior portraits for rising high school seniors each year. I love to find out what their passions are and then figure out a way to illustrate that in their portrait sessions.
If they're athletes then its usually pretty simple to come up with something to show them in their element. So to help me build awareness for my Senior portrait services I started my "Senior Models' program this past Spring and signed up nine local students, Juniors at the time, to be in my inaugural class. One is super-swimmer Meg Wiggins, of Fort Mill's undefeated swim team, and three others play volleyball; Lauren Burgess (NaFo), Caroline Gesell (FM) and Joely Cantelmo (FM). Well, last week was Senior Night for both volleyball teams, and the Fort Mill swim team had its Senior Night a few weeks ago on September 25. I had intended to go to both volleyball Senior Nights last week, but when Tuesday's predicted storms cancelled all the evening's events, I had to miss Fort Mill's match because it was moved to Wednesday, which is middle school football night for my son's Banks Trail 8th grade team.

Bayles Mack 

I did make it to NaFo's Senior Night on Thursday, however.
This was the second year that I was asked to create a commemorative poster for each Senior on the Falcons' team. This year there were only two; the previously mentioned Lauren Burgess and Bayles Mack. So I had them both over in the studio for some quick portraits, combined them with a few action shots, the school logo and, ta-da! a commemorative poster was born. These were presented to the girls by their teammates during the pre-game Senior recognition ceremony last Thursday prior to the match with Rock Hill.
Both Lauren and Bayles have been integral parts of the Falcons playoff-contending teams over the past few seasons, according to head coach Carrie Christian,   'Lauren and Bayles have elevated our program due to their consistent leadership and competitiveness.  Both girls are willing to put the team before themselves and set a great example for our younger players.  They are hustle players on the court and impeccable students off the court.  Both will be greatly missed!'



                           
        









I did these posters for last year's Seniors as well, when team parent, Joyce Burgess (Lauren's mom) called me when she couldn't get a response from whoever had done them in past years. That's how I found Lauren and recruited her to be on my Senior team. She then helped me get Caroline and Joely on the team, too. Speaking of Caroline and Joely, their Senior Night was last Wednesday in a match that was moved from Tuesday because of the threat of bad weather. So I missed their match, but I did grab a few action shots of Caroline back in September at the first match against NaFo. Unfortunately Joely suffered a knee injury in the very first match of the season and was sidelined for her Senior year. But both were able to make a big impact on the team this season. "Both Caroline and Joely were great Senior leaders. Caroline's energy and enthusiasm were endless. She was a fantastic role model for others. Even though Joely couldn't be on the court due to an injury, she remained one of the most dedicated players on the team. Her heart was in each and every point all season long,: said Fort Mill head coach Gina Farley. 

Joely Cantlemo

Caroline Gesell

   

Joely Cantelmo Senior portrait

Caroline Gesell Senior portrait

The great thing about having a Senior Models team is that I have my own little talent pool of models to pose for me whenever I come up with some crazy idea. Like the one I had back in May to create my own version of the popular Gatorade commercials featuring pro athletes performing while seemingly covered in flowing Gatorade. Caroline and Joely joined in on that one, as did one of my other Seniors, Savannah Morgan. Savannah played for the Fort Mill girls basketball team. So They came over on a Sunday evening and we took pictures in my front yard with water balloons and my homemade rainmaker. Adding just a little bit of Photoshop magic, I came up with these two images:

Senior super-swimmer Meg Wiggins

Meg and parents on Sr. Night

Meg swims the breaststroke

 And finally, the Fort Mill swim team had it's Senior Night on September 25 during the meet with NaFo. Meg Wiggins is a member of the girls team and a member of my Senior Models team. I met Meg because her little sister, Molly, is a Banks Trail 8th grader and a friend of my son's. Molly was at our house for a party early in the year and her mom came to pick her up. During our chit-chat I learned that Meg was a Junior and a swimmer. At just about that exact moment I had an idea for a portrait that I wanted to create. About six months later in early July, I got that image (actually better than I had imagined): It's always exciting to me when the image I make turns out like the one I imagined and this was one of the those times. Meg and the Fort Mill swim teams (boys & girls) just finished their season with a team silver medal finish for both at the state meet in Columbia on Oct. 11. Meg earned a silver medal in the girls 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:05.09, and a sixth place finish in the 100 m butterfly event.

Ok, well enough with this case of Senioritis. I'll no doubt come down with another case of it in the near future as some of my other Senior models include a Fort Mill dance team member and NaFo cheerleader. I'm going to wrap up this edition and start another one with updates on last week's and this week's Banks Trail football and volleyball action. I've even visited the tennis courts to get some Timberwolves in action as members of the undefeated Fort Mill girls tennis team, which opens post season play this afternoon at home. The volleyball teams made a strong showing in post season play and the football teams finish up their regular seasons tonight with a chance to sew up division championships. The 8th grade team looks to finish off an undefeated regular season by beating Gold Hill in the nightcap of tonight's double-header at Fort Mill HS's Bob Jones Stadium. So come on out and support our teams, starting at 5pm. I'll be there taking in the action....from the sidelines!

Oh yeah, there's still time to take advantage of my family portrait Holiday Card special! Give me a call and let's set up your session!