This weekend I had the opportunity to do my first "portrait" session.  I haven't done this in the past, but my niece's family asked if I would take some shots that might be used for her senior picture.  I did explain most of my shots are of events and not portraits.  However, after assuring them I would do my best, we went out to the JC Arboretum in Raleigh.

Thinking the arboretum would provide some good back drops, we went over in mid afternoon.  Bright sun, lots of shadows.  Yup - you photographers are correct - pretty poor conditions.  But we gave it a shot.  My niece, Ashley, was very easy to work with.  After finding a couple

of fun shots, the good old "hair flip" being one, we both relaxed and had some fun.  She, her mom, dad and sister were also on hand, however for most of the time it was just Ashley, her dad and me walking around the grounds trying to find some interesting scenes with workable light. 

While it was quite a fun time, I truly believe it was due to working with friendly family.  Not sure I would want to do this for a living, but an occasional outing like this would be fun.  Now to see if they select one of MY shots, or go to their fallback position of some professional shots of which they had proofs.  No matter either way, as I gained some valuable experience and a bunch of lessons learned!