Alexis V: Hartwood Acres Mansion Senior Photos

Hartwood, florals, the most beautiful sunshine = the perfect night for senior photos!

Alexis is a senior at Chartiers Valley who hopes to work in speech pathology post high school graduation! She is also musically inclined and is on her school's drill team. And as you can see - she's stunning! All of her outfits were absolutely perfect choices for the Hartwood grounds... and I love that she chose one short dress, one long dress, and one outfit with a pair of pants. It let us get so many different posing options and tons of variety for her gallery!

Alexis also brought some additional florals for us to work into her photos, including two bouquets and some long stem flowers that we chopped the heads off of for the “laying in the flower” photo. Her mom actually went and hand picked all of her flowers to match her outfits… which I think is the sweetest touch!

Congrats on your senior year, Alexis - thank you so much for the honor of getting to celebrate with season with you!

Brynn A: Hartwood Acres Mansion Senior Photos

Meet Brynn! She is graduating with the class of 2024 and is hoping to study business post high school graduation. Fun fact... I photographed her two sisters for their senior photos, too, beginning back in 2017 (Morgan & Payton). I can't believe how fast time flies!

Brynn is such a sweetheart, and as she puts it, the perfect mix between her two sisters. She's the youngest of three and was a joy to photograph!

Congratulations on your senior year, Brynn! ❤️

Josie K: Hartwood Acres Mansion Senior Photos

Meet Josie! She is graduating with the class of 2024 and braved a VERY early morning photo time slot (starting at 7AM!) for some beautiful morning light! I don't know what it is... the light just hits different in the morning (but that time slot is totally not for everyone!).

Josie brought some beautiful sunflowers with her to incorporate into her photos, which was so much fun! She is musically talented and very involved at her local church (love it!).

Congratulations on your senior year, Josie!

Vincenzia V: University of Pittsburgh White Coat Photo Session

Meet Vincenzia! She is a future physician who recently completed a degree in bioengineering, and who is starting med school - and she wanted to celebrate with a photo session (which I LOVE!). Earning a degree is a huge accomplishment - certainly something that deserves to be documented!

We started off Vincenzia’s session in front of Pitt’s Med School, and then headed to the Mellon Institute, and Pitt’s lower campus, including Heinz Chapel, the Cathedral of Learning, and the Schenley Fountain.

Vincenzia chose to wear her white coat (which she had just received days prior!) and a bright blue Pitt colored dress for her first outfit, then the same colored jumpsuit for her second. I love how she tied the school’s colors into her session… and the blue was such a great “pop” of color against the Oakland backdrops.

Vincenzia is the third in her family who I’ve had the pleasure of photographing! (See the first here and the second here), so it was a treat to be able to photograph her, too!

Congratulations on everything, Vincenzia! And best of luck at med school!

Gina G: Hartwood Acres Mansion Senior Photos

Gina: the picture of the red dress emoji 💃

We had the absolute BEST time taking photos of Gina a few weeks ago at Hartwood Acres Mansion to celebrate her senior year! Gina is a bundle of fun, and hopes to study nursing post high school. She loves Mad Mex (good taste ) and brought her A game to her senior session with some absolutely beautiful outfits!

Gina's mom is an AMAZING wedding photographer, which made getting to take her senior photos even more of an honor. And since Gina grew up with a photographer mom, you know she was a pro in front of the camera

Congratulations on your senior year, Gina!

Sophia A: Hartwood Acres Mansion Senior Photos

Meet Sophie! She's a Mt. Lebanon senior who is graduating with the class of 2024. She wanted tons of flowers in her senior photos, and there was no better spot than Hartwood!

Sophie started off her senior photos in her more casual outfit, then moved on to two beautiful dresses - one pink, and one blue! I love that she chose lighter colors to compliment the mansion space. Both of her dresses worked perfectly with the mansion architecture and in the colorful gardens!

Congrats on your senior year, Sophie! ❤️

Bri S: Hartwood Acres Mansion Senior Photos

I love when seniors bring props that represent who they are - and Bri, an avid reader, brought some of her favorite books for us to incorporate into her session at Hartwood yesterday evening!

My personal favorite book she brought was Persuasion - it complimented the garden/feel of Hartwood so perfectly with the color and style 😍 And of course, it complimented Bri’s skintone perfectly!

Bri is a rising senior at Shaler who plans to go into teaching post high school (she especially loves history).

Congratulations on your senior year, Bri!

Annelise H: Woodlands High School Senior Photos

Annelise is a graduating senior with the class of 2023! She graduated the week of her senior session from Woodlands High School. I kind of love that she opted to wait for her senior photos until the spring of her senior year! There are definitely benefits to having them done prior to your senior year or during your senior year, but it was such a fun way to celebrate the true end of her high school career with these photos!

Annelise is an accomplished actress at her school - she played Mayzie the Bird in her high school’s rendition of “Suessical” and even had the opportunity to perform in the Gene Kelly Awards (the area’s high school musical award competition).

For her outfits for her session, Annelise chose a pink patterned dress (as her first outfit) and white linen pants with a patterned top (as her second outfit). Both of her outfits complimented the Hartwood flowers and mansion perfectly! We opted to use a more natural/flowery setting for the dress outfit, and chose the mansion backdrop to compliment the visual structure of the second outfit. And with two amazing outfits - we were able to get tons of variety within her photos!

Congratulations on your senior year, Annelise! It was such a pleasure to take these photos for you!

Elizabeth P: Hartwood Acres Mansion Senior Photos

I had the pleasure of taking Elizabeth’s senior photos on a gorgeous day in May!

Elizabeth is a North Allegheny senior who plans to study marketing post high school. For her senior photos, she wanted a plethora of flowers - so Hartwood seemed to be a great fit! There were some gorgeous bright pink peonies in bloom around the mansion, and Elizabeth even brought a few bouquets of flowers for an added floral punch! (Click here to view my blog post about ways to incorporate more florals into your photos!)

Elizabeth, it was a pleasure to take your photos! Congratulations on your senior year!

Mars Prom Photos

This past weekend, I had a type of photo session I’ve never had before: pre-prom photos! And they were so much fun!

While lots of high schools in the area had prom, these photos are of some seniors from Mars High School.

If you’ve ever been to prom or been a parent/sibling of someone going to prom, you know that pre-prom photos can be a little chaotic - one parent (or multiple parents) have to take charge - people are looking at different cameras and giving different instructions, etc! But after the photos were over, several of the parents thanked me for taking the lead and giving clear instruction, because it gave them the opportunity to just enjoy the moment without having to worry about getting the perfect photo. And now the whole group has some photos of everyone posed well, in good light, and looking in the right direction!

If you’re interested in having pre-prom photos taken, please feel free to reach out to me by clicking here!