Payton, from Texas!

This review made me smile!

Thank you, Heather! I had so much fun photographing Payton, and truly enjoyed meeting your family.

This past Thursday, I had the pleasure of photographing a beautiful young lady named Payton, who travelled all the way to Michigan for senior portraits!

Payton and her family live in Texas and visit Fenton every summer. They felt this would be the perfect time to get some photographs of Payton during one of her favorite times of the year, their summer getaway!

I was so excited about this downtown Fenton photoshoot, as Payton has a special place in her heart for my hometown of Fenton.

We started our photoshoot at the Fenton Firehall where there are gorgeous flowers, pines, and ivy. There is even an old red truck next to the Firehall that made a fun prop for the shoot!

Next, we moved further into town, near the gazebo. Then we stopped at the studio for Payton to change into a dressier outfit, and headed back out into downtown in front of The Laundry for more beautiful photographs. The owners of the homes, there across from Scoop, allowed us access to their properties to take even more amazing photographs in their beautiful gardens. (If you’re reading this, you are so kind and you have an amazing green thumb! Thank you, again, for allowing us to use your space).

Just prior to wrapping up the session, we stopped at the little bookstore, where Payton wanted a few photographs inside. Those turned out absolutely adorable (and gorgeous with the beautiful string lights hanging behind her in the background). Also, we stopped in at Scoops for Payton to get an ice cream (her favorite which is Superman ice cream), and I got a few really cute portraits of her with her ice cream cone.

This photoshoot ended up being rather challenging, as there was some rain throughout the session, as well as direct sunlight, some wind, and some overcast (overcast is ideal). We had a bit of every type of summer weather, inside a two-hour photoshoot. I am thankful for all my experience shooting weddings, as I am able to quickly adapt to weather changes and other unexpected changes in the surroundings during a photoshoot.

For the techies: I photographed this session with my Canon R5, 50 prime lens, 24-70 2.8 lens, the CLx10 video light with soft-box, and a 3ft white / gold / silver reflector. And my amazing assistant, my husband, Carl Blaine Helka who so graciously helped me lug around my equipment and held my CLx10 and reflector for me. :)

Thank you Payton, and family, for visiting me and allowing me the pleasure of creating portraits for you!