This is Ezra.  He is one of the nicest, sweetest, well rounded high school seniors I know.  He is also so cute, and I had a very hard time picking just a few pics for a sneak peek.  Ezra is my pastor’s son, I was honored and blessed to be asked to do his senior pictures.  Ezra is an avid snowboarder and was more than excited that it was only 45 degrees and cold the day we did his pics.  He was wishing all the rain coming down was snow.  While I don’t share his passion for snow and the cold winter months, we do share a passion for Christ and sharing His love with the world around us.  He is involved with Snowboarders and Skiers for Christ and also a team rider for Marhar snowboard manufacturer here in Grand Rapids.  What else can I say, this kid is awesome!

As I was looking back over past posts, I realized I had not posted a bunch of my senior guy sessions from this fall.  Here are a few of my favorites from this year, 2011.  It’s funny, because out of all the seniors I photographed, only two sessions were girls…all the rest were guys.  Which is fine, usually means less outfits, less hair issues and less makeup changes.  I also have to laugh, because at every single senior guy session the following dialog would occur:

Mom:  Come on _________ (insert name here)!  Smile.  Smile nice.  Smile your real smile.  That is so not your real smile.

Senior Guy:  I am smiling Mom.  This is my normal smile.

Mom:  __________(name), please.  Just do some good ones for me.  I know you really don’t want to be here, but I want a nice shot for the yearbook and I would like a nice picture for the wall.

Senior Guy:  I know Mom. (grunt, eye roll, loud sigh)

Mom:  _________ (name), now fix your hair.  It’s hanging in your face.  (To me…) He really needed a haircut, I can’t stand it so long and hanging in his eyes.  (She walks up to him and starts fixing his hair) Do you want me to get the hairspray out of the car.

Me:  It really is the style right now, the girls love it.  He looks great.

Senior Guy:  Ugghh…Mom, it’s fine.  Don’t touch it.  No, I don’t want any hairspray.  Just leave it.

And on it goes 🙂  I just smile and try to make the guy as comfortable as I can, and make Mom happy in the process.  Not always easy, but definitely rewarding when I can show them some fun, good looking shots.  Enjoy!

Ok, to say I had a hard time narrowing this sneak peek down would be an understatement. Jake is the son of a good friend of mine and I’ve been waiting excitedly to take his pics for some time. Thanks for hanging with me downtown for the evening, it was fun. And thanks for the lesson on the difference between a mural and graffiti 🙂 For the record, he is as sweet as he is handsome. Have a great senior year!