Tonight was my annual photo session with two of my favorite people, Lexie and Katie. We were going to try something new tonight, so I was very excited about my trip to the beach. I was, however, a little concerned about what we would find at the beach. The storm that pummeled our coast this week did quite a bit of damage to the beach and dunes at Topsail. Even though I had seen news reports and pictures in our newspaper, I wasn’t prepared for how much the dunes had been eaten away by the wind and waves. I had checked the tide tables and knew that we would be getting to the beach at about high tide. But that usually isn’t an issue. Tonight at high tide the water came within a couple of feet of the dunes. There truly wasn’t room to set up for portraits except at the end of the public access crossover. I positioned myself right in the middle of the dune at the crossover, while Lexie and Katie were at the high tide mark. I still had to use a much wider angle lens than normal to get them in. I hope they are able to push some sand to shore up the dunes quickly because another storm could be disastrous.

The something new I wanted to try tonight is actually an idea I stole from a couple of very talented and cutting edge photographers, John Micheal Cooper and his wife Dalisa, of AltF Studios in Las Vegas. They do it SO much better than I, but I’m going to keep trying until I get it right. Their idea is to show their clients as they are – with the things that are important to them. I tried it tonight with Lexie and Katie. I asked them to bring props that were things they used in their everyday life – what they like to do. Like JMC, I used an inflatable couch (which took a bit longer to inflate than expected) and had them settle in and get comfortable. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Lexie is very creative in both music and art – so she brought her keyboard and sketch pad. Katie is a cheerleader and candy addict – so she selected candy and pom poms for her props. Both are teenagers, so cell phones play a very important role in their lives. Lexie is a talker and Katie is a texter. I hope that when they look at these pictures years from now, they’ll remember what was important to them at this time in their lives.

Later, we did some portraits of them together and separate. These girls were such good models for me. Lexie even smiled for me, which she would really rather NOT do. I love her serious look, but I wanted a smiling picture to show those gorgeous teeth. Katie is always fun to work with because she actually likes to have her picture taken. And she’ll do whatever I ask, as will Lexie.

In the last two pictures, you can almost see how high the tide was – and this was after it dropped. The debris you notice behind Katie’s head is actually about a foot before the beginning of the dune grass. The high tide mark is just below Lexie’s hip. That’s as high up as we could go without getting on the dune. And, I was very careful to stay off of the very fragile dunes. I love our beaches so I hope we’ve seen the last of northeasters for a while!

I had a great time photographing Lexie and Katie tonight and am already thinking about what we can do next year!