by Shelly | May 10, 2017 | musician, senior guys, senior portraits |
Gamer, Guitar Player, Future Veterinarian.
This is Valen.
He’s a laid-back, casual easygoing sort of a guy who’s just about ready to walk the stage and collect his diploma from Bellaire High School.
I loved his easygoing attitude about our portrait session together. With an air of relaxed confidence, he was super personable and seemed very comfortable in his own skin, up for anything.
In his spare time, he enjoys listening to music and playing video games, but as a member of the Guitar Honors Orchestra at his school, Valen is quite a talented musician in his own right.
Guitar Honors Orchestra! I didn’t even know such an ensemble existed. How cool is that?
And on the weekends, he volunteers at Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists.
That place is super special to me and my family because they played a huge role in saving the life of our Grand Dane a few years back. Grand Dane… That’s what we call our Grand-dog who happens to be a Great Dane.
Through this work, Valen has become very comfortable working with all sorts of animals. This internship is setting a great road for him. After graduation he plans to study biomedical engineering as an undergrad, and then turn toward something in the veterinary field, possibly even specializing in exotic animals.
I was so glad that he brought his scrubs and his pup, Kaley, along to his session.
She is one of the cutest dogs I’ve seen in a long time and it’s obvious that she adores him.
Looks like the feeling is mutual too.
Congratulations, Valen on your graduation as a part of the outstanding Class of 2017. We’ll be watching for big things in the years to come.
by Shelly | Mar 17, 2017 | senior guys, senior portraits |
This is Garrett — Class of 2017 at Cinco Ranch High School.
When we initially set up his Senior Portrait session, I knew right away that photographing him with his shiny red pickup truck would become a major part of our plan.
He showed up and there wasn’t a speck of dust on that vehicle. If his mom hadn’t told me during our pre-session planning consultation that he and his friends love to take it out mudding, I never would have guessed it.
That mudding sounds like so much fun! I really wish I could have gone along to experience the adrenaline-rush they talked about, but we kept the vehicle clean during our time together. 
We saved the truck for the end of our session so that we’d stand the chances of a good sunset or at least low, directional sunlight — and when we saw that angry cloudy sky, we knew we were in for a killer perfect image — and we certainly got it.
Garrett’s also an accomplished athlete who has enjoyed playing LaCrosse with the Katy Cavaliers for the past seven seasons.
And he’s smart too. With National Honor Society membership credentials to his name, he’s looking to study Mechanical Engineering in Colorado after graduation.
For fun, he also enjoys snow skiing, water skiing, hiking, and riding his dirt bike on trails. He and his friends like to wrap up their fun adventure-filled days building bonfires and just hanging out.
Congratulations on your upcoming graduation, Garrett. I have thoroughly enjoyed photographing you and getting to know you and your mom this year. Send me a post-card when you get to Colorado, won’t you?
by Shelly | Nov 29, 2016 | musician, senior gals, senior guys, senior portraits, sports |
“They are all so amazing! I just don’t know how I’m going to choose.”
It’s something high-school seniors and their parents say every time they come back to the studio for their senior portrait reveal and ordering sessions.
I love that! Really, I do! It means I’ve done my job. At least part of it.
The images are awesome! If they weren’t, it would be time for me to find some other way to earn my keep. Now the fun really begins. While some photographers simply send out an online gallery with forty-eight bazillion images for the clients to sort through on their own, that can be terribly overwhelming. I absolutely love love love the chance to sit down together with my seniors and their parents as they see their images for the first time. Watching their reactions has always been one of my favorite parts of photographing people.
Sometimes it gets downright emotional for parents who suddenly realize the impact of their child transforming from a teen to a young adult ready to leave home for the next big adventure. That’s okay. We have tissues!
The image selection appointment is an added level of personal service that helps set SPCcreative Photography apart from the rest.
In these appointments we talk about where the artwork will ultimately be displayed and we put favorite images side by side to facilitate the selection process. Wall art, albums, and tabletop/gift prints and CUSTOM GRADUATION ANNOUNCEMENTS all come into consideration, but one of my favorite products is the signature storyboard that we include in a number of our senior collections. These boards can be as big as the wall will allow or as small as 10 x 20 or 16 x 20.
They are a collection of images blended into one piece of art.
Sometimes we select several images from one specific set, while other times we pick from a variety of wardrobes and backgrounds like we did for Jonathan last year.
Our Shabby-Chic Window always makes for a fun composite of images…
As does the famous BOX!
Here are a few more of our favorite examples. The important thing is that we select images that work together and tell a story about a student’s high-school experience.
There’s something magical, whether we look at athletics…
MUSIC
DANCE
OR THE COLLEGE PLANS TO COME
Creating these custom composite images for my clients is one of my favorite parts of my job. I would love to create one for you too. They look great in living rooms, hallways, offices, and dorm rooms, and they make fantastic gifts for grandparents, aunts and uncles, and best friends.
Call today for details about our specialized portraiture services. The senior will feel like a celebrity, and Mom and Dad will have the special memories preserved artistically to tide them over between holidays and vacation breaks when the kids come home to visit.
by Shelly | Aug 22, 2016 | senior guys, senior portraits, sports |
Jonathan was my very last senior from the class of 2016, and I absolutely loved everything about his session.
He’s already up and left town for Texas A&M, and I’m getting reports that he is absolutely in his element training as a Freshman with the Corps of Cadets. It’s hard work, military style, but he’s been preparing for this type of activity for a long long time. He is one young man who will do just fine wherever he goes. College life can be difficult, but Jonathan is an overcomer. He’s beaten obstacles that no one would want to face, and he’s come through like a champ.
The way Jonathan came to my studio is a fun backstory. I first met him back in 2013 when he was just a sophomore in high school. The all around fantastic athlete had been seriously injured playing football and had to leave the sport behind. Still, he was able to return to baseball after extensive rehabilitation treatment with Memorial Hermann Ironman Sports Institute. His story was worth retelling for other athletes who needed to be aware of concussion issuesand who also needed to know that treatment and hope are available. He was featured in an article published in VYPE Magazine.
I went to meet him at Cinco Ranch High School to photograph him for the headline banner. The night we shot, I got to meet him, his parents, and his adorable little sister. We all had a great time visiting that evening on the baseball field and somehow I knew I would see them all again.
Here’s the article!
Time passed and sure enough, we reconnected.
Senior portraits? You bet! I’m your photographer! Let’s DO THIS!
Jonathan is one of those guys who can truly be called an All American. He’s an honor student with a great penchant for leadership.
The diving mask and flippers? Oh, yeah… those are not just for decoration. He knows how to use ’em, and he will very likely one day save lives as a Navy Seal.
Although his earlier injuries kept him off the football field throughout his high school career, there was no keeping away from baseball.
He was also active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and One of his prized possessions is a custom baseball bat, hand-crafted by one of his friends and mentors.
He has dreamed since he was a little boy about becoming an astronaut … and he probably will.
But for now, he’s going to buckle down and study — and do all the other things that Aggie Corps members do.
Best of luck to you, Jonathan. Enjoy your time at college and get ready to make your mark on this universe. You’ve definitely got “The Right Stuff.”
It hurts my feelings just a little bit to say it, but I will. — Just for you.
“Gig ‘Em.”
by Shelly | Aug 16, 2016 | family, women |
THIS post is about my copper-head soul sister, Jessica, and her Total Woman Portrait session.
Hair and makeup: Brandie Seifert – Hollywood Hippie Cosmetics, LLC
There’s a special sisterhood that we redheaded women share. It can’t be described, but if you are one of us, you know it well. You might catch a glimpse of it in our eyes as we give each other a silent high-five at the grocery store. We connect because we understand. We know sunburns, and freckles, unruly curls. People always ask us if our hair color is natural. Our perfume of choice is SPF 30-plus. If two of us are in a room at the same time someone will inevitably ask if we are related. In a sense, we are because we truly know how hard it is to be so blinkin’ awesome. I LOVE my redheaded sistah’s and when I’m fortunate enough to have one walk through my doors, good stuff is bound to happen.
Just a phone-pic selfie: Here we are hanging out on my front porch with my highly prized Redhead Barbie! — She looks just like us, doesn’t she?
Because women are so fascinating and multi-dimensional, I developed these Total Woman sessions to capture many different facets of an individual. We are more than just a pretty face. We are powerful. We are fun. We are joyful. We are intelligent. We are mysterious. We are strong. We are sexy. We are compassionate. And through it all, we are BEAUTIFUL — but sometimes we forget that part. Total Woman sessions bring a woman from the BOARDROOM to the BOUDOIR and capture that special beauty forever. These sessions are good for a woman’s soul. The images we create also warm the hearts of our husbands and children, whether they are still young or have already grown up.
Jessica is one amazing woman. She’s a cross-fit trainer. She’s a wife and the mother of five fantastic sons. That’s just one more reason to adore her. Red Heads who can raise five sons could rule the world if we wanted to.
It was beyond fun working with her to create these heirloom images.
Can you imagine her sharing these with her grandchildren in the year 2046? Won’t they love this? What a TREASURE!
What would you give to have lovely photographs of your mother at the age that you are now?
And … as we often do after these sessions, we met up at the park with the loves of her life, her husband and boys —
because — well because we just HAD TO create a portrait of the family on the same day we put together Jessica’s heirloom collection!
We only had about 10 minutes before the skies opened up and rain started pouring, but that was enough.
These images have been translated to a canvas collection for their beautiful home.
These kids will grow up, but this precious moment in their lives has been frozen in time and they will cherish it — because they will always be able to see it.
