For some schools, the senior portrait rush is coming to a close with the eminent deadline for senior yearbook photo submissions. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t get creative senior portraits taken before your senior year is over. I had a blast photographing Carson on a sunny, yet windy, fall day in Portland. He did a great job putting up with my numerous location selections for our shoot in the Pearl District as well as a somewhat longer, drawn out session on the field at Westview HS. Destined for good things to come, I continue to be impressed with the senior clients that are coming through my studio. Congrats on all of your accomplishments. Can’t wait to have you see the rest of the images! Enjoy your sneak peek!

If you saw the the previous post, we now bring you Hayden AND his family. Now that school is fully in gear, trying to coordinate 5 busy kids’ schedules and get both parents all in the same place, at the same time…on a weekday….when it’s sunny is a near impossible feat. However, mom pulled it off! And successfully! What a beautiful family is all I gotta say. Somehow we managed to photograph everyone, and get group shots all in less than 2 hours. With time to spare to do a little shopping when it was all said and done. And, just as most of my shoots have stories, this one has  no exception. Dad was having fun teaching kids how to compact my reflector. Open, close, open, close…no big deal. I’ve had this reflector since the beginning of time…and although I would never admit it to myself, it was my ‘go to’ reflector. Somewhere, somehow, the reflector became floppy and wouldn’t fold. No big deal…I had another one. And…I’m not telling this story because I want to make dad feel bad. I actually want to thank you because I was overdue to replace it. And, have since purchased a new one that I absolutely LOVE! So, whether it broke or not on your watch, I owe YOU one

Meet Hayden from Sunset HS. I had a blast photographing his senior pictures AND photographing his family all within a week of each other. I think Hayden has had his fair share of paparazzi and camera time in a one week period to last him a lifetime! Now that it’s October, it’s crunch time for many Portland area high school seniors with yearbook deadlines fast approaching! Hayden & fam…your family sneak peek is coming soon! Enjoy your senior session sneak peek!

So I’m told that summer is ending on Friday. Given last weekend’s weather conditions, I think everyone within the Portland metropolitan area was disappointed to see such a fast departure of summer and the quick tease of fall upon us. Fortunately, the sun is back for a while and we had good weather for Annalia’s senior portrait session last week before the rain came. Annalia’s beauty, humor, and charm made for an awesome senior session! Enjoy your sneak peek!

I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’m really starting to think that my ‘guy’ high school senior clients are watching America’s Next Top Model just as much as my ‘girl’ high school senior clients. I’ve had some guys through the studio lately that have just been rock’n their senior portrait sessions! Although, Austin’s session had to be quick, we snuck in a lot of variety in the amount of time that we had to tool around the couple of blocks radius of my studio. Again, another mom assistant that knew how to rock the reflector! It made for really easy shooting and Austin pretty much knew how to sport his style and the variety of clothing he brought was great! Unfortunately, there were too many images that I wanted to share, so, Austin, I will put a plug in here that you are a big Wazzu fan. The images of you in your Cougs shirt are killer but you’ll have to wait for your private online gallery for that one! An avid baseball fan and athlete, Austin nailed the baseball image we got of him with Westview’s new baseball scoreboard in the background. Austin (& Michele), enjoy your sneak peek!

Haven’t scheduled your senior pictures yet? No worries, shoot an email to info@melissahathaway.com and we’ll get you scheduled. Don’t wait too long. Session availability is limited for September and we are booking October dates now as well!

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of photographing Tanner from Westview HS’s senior portraits. While it’s pretty standard to have mom tag along, I had the privilege of having both mom AND dad along for the shoot. It’s usually pretty rare that I have a dad tag along, and while I do have a ‘the more the merrier’ approach when it comes to tagalongs, I won’t lie….sometimes dads make me (and sometimes my subjects too?) nervous. Although, having Tanner’s dad along was for a special need, it was great to have him along to help out, as I always enlist any tagalongs to be my ‘assistants’. I’m pretty sure with the number of family assistants that I’ve had on senior shoots, all of them could go on to being hired as my assistant for ALL my photo shoots! I truly had an awesome time during Tanner’s shoot in the Pearl District as well as finishing up in the fields in the Bethany area.

If you are going to be a senior in the Class of 2012, and want to schedule your senior photography session in the Portland area, give us a call 503.770.0647. Don’t wait too long! Yearbook deadlines will be here before you know it. We are almost booked for September and October dates will go fast!

Meet Emily, another upcoming graduate of Westview’s Class of 2012! Emily brought her mom and her peppy charm and they both kept me laughing during her portrait session. It’s been getting pretty warm lately during these afternoon sessions, so we had to take a quick sidebar into Starbuck’s to cool off and rehydrate. We tried out a few new locations that I haven’t had the opportunity to shoot in and around the Pearl District. In addition to sneaking in a sports portrait with her cheerleading outfit! There are actually some cool action shots, but I’m going to save those for her private viewing. Emily, enjoy your sneak peek!

If you go to Westview HS and want your senior pictures done by Melissa Hathaway Photography, your deadline is October 31st! Don’t wait to long because September is just about booked and October dates will be filling soon!

My senior Model Rep process is about to come to a close with this post. I’ve had a blast getting to know some members of the future Class of 2012 and am exciting about what the summer holds with more fun and exciting photo shoots this talented incoming class of seniors. Hannah is definitely no exception. I had one of the rare opportunities this spring to get outside with her and try out some new tricks of the trade. I love exploring and getting to know each of my senior clients as well as having fun hanging out with their parents (usually mom). I think by the end of my sessions, my parent clients could be hired as photographer assistants because they do so well with helping me out!

Meet Hannah, a fun and bubbly student from Faith Bible Christian HS and Model Rep for 2012…here are a few things you might not now about Hannah….

1. 3 words to describe you: positive, outgoing, bubbly (I actually wrote ‘bubbly’ before I saw what she had written
2. Favorite food: Ice cream by far!
3. Current FAVE get ready SONG: Rolling in the Deep by Adele
4. Fave MOVIE: Zombie Land and Julie & Julia
5. My favorite car is a 1970′s Volkswagen van
6. I’ve been to over 7 countries and 23 states
7. I want a pet gold fish REALLY REALLY BAD! And I would name him Henry
8. My biggest fear is failure
9. My favorite video game, Natzi Zombies
10. I want to go to Hawaii

Rachel is currently a high school senior at Westview High School just weeks away from graduation. We photographed her senior pictures in downtown Portland earlier in the season this past fall. You can check out the images from her senior session here. Rachel also wanted to have some basketball sports portraits taken as part of her senior photos. And…we needed to get it done before she graduates! Rachel and her mom came to the studio and we did a few things in the studio and also outside. I always have a blast coming up with something different every time I photograph a sports portrait, especially when we get to go outside the studio in the Pearl District. Rachel, enjoy your sneak peek!

The sun is out in Portland and spring is definitely in the air! I would only wager to guess that the entire Class of 2011 has definitely got a bad case of  ’senioritis’ and the Class of 2012 is ready for the summer before their senior year to be here.  Meet Alli – another Senior Model Rep from Westview HS. Alli brought a ton of clothes to choose from and I had a lot of fun picking out clothes from the closet of wardrobe that she brought, in addition to playing with lights in the studio. I was really happy that she brought her mom along (aka ‘my assistant’ ). She was a great sport and I always laugh because moms will ask, “What do you do if someone isn’t here to help?” To which I responded…”there is almost always someone that tags along because they want to watch…and if there’s not, I make do with what I have.” It’s just easier sometimes if someone is tagging along to give them something to do. However, I am grateful that you were there to help out Ginny! Alli told me that she was interested in fashion/make up design so I wanted to make sure that one of her images captured something that had to do with fashion. Beautiful, stylish and she knows what she wants! I’m looking forward to our senior session this summer with Alli and her besties!

Enjoy your sneak peek!

Some things you may or may not know about Alli:

1. 3 WORDS that best describe ME: fun, friendly happy
2. Fave MOVIE: The Notebook
3. Fave get ready song(s): anything RIHANNA
4. Fave place to hang with your besties? Anywhere as long as I am with them.
5. One piece of technology I can’t live without: my cell phone
6. I am shy but I love to meet new people
7. My twi best friends I have known since I was 5!I love you guys!
8. I don’t have a favorite animal or color because it is too hard to choose!
9. I want to get a tattoo someday even though I am deathly afraid of needles
10. Before HS is over, I would love to go skydiving!

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