Michaela’s Senior Photo Session at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens

I have to warn you that I have been pitifully slow to get my blog of this session done, and that it actually took place two months ago, way back in late July.  That will help explain the beautiful sunshine and gorgeous flowers in these photos.  Not going to see these flowers again for at least 8 months!  While I was able to get the photos edited and back to Michaela quickly, I was too busy with weddings and other senior photo shoots to find time for a blog posting.  But hopefully you will feel that it was worth the wait when you see the photos.

I was contacted by Michaela’s mom Kathryn in early July.  Michaela was going to be starting her senior year at Inglemoor High in the fall, and Kathryn had located me on the internet and she and Michaela had liked the photos they saw on my site.  We talked for a bit about possible locations, and settled on the Bellevue Botanical Gardens, one of my favorite places for just about any kind of a photo shoot, especially during the summer when there are lots of flowers blooming.

The day of the session was pretty near perfect, nice sunshine but not too hot.  We had scheduled the session for a time of day that I knew would give us great lighting, and the sunshine meant that we’d have a good chance to get some nice backlight.  The Gardens are quite large, and I always warn people who I take there for photos that they should be prepared for quite a bit of walking.  And also that the only restrooms (and changing rooms) are located at the entrance to the park, so changing clothes during the session can be tricky.  Kathryn and Michaela came prepared with good walking shoes as well as some fancier shoes for Michalea for some of the photos, as well as a possible change of clothes.

The way the park is laid out, there are some wonderful gardens with lots of different kinds of flowers quite near the entrance.  These gardens are also completely exposed to the sunshine, with no shady areas to hide in, which can make things interesting for photos on a sunny day like we had.  Michaela quickly proved to be an excellent subject, and as I showed her the results of the photos she was eager to try for different lighting effects to take full advantage of the different flowers and the varying opportunities that they gave us for photos.

While we could have stayed in this part of the Garden for an entire session, there were other places that I knew would also give great photos and that Michaela was excited to visit.  The three of us started to work our way toward the far end of the park, where there is a very cool suspension bridge that I absolutely love to use for photos.  Along the way we took advantage of the great filtered sunlight coming through the trees for other photos.

We finally reached the bridge, and both Kathryn and Michaela loved it as I showed them the shots that I was getting of Michaela.  We took a short break while Michaela changed outfits behind a convenient tree, and then got more photos on and around the bridge.

Finally it was time to head back up the trail to the park entrance, but along the way we found more good places for photos and took advantage of as many as we could.

Here is a small sample from the session, I hope you like them!