Golden light IS the good stuff! Photographer

Sep 23, 2010 · In Family Pictures · By Allison Carenza

I was excited about the shoot because the day before Jon and I had scoped out the location, and we knew it was going to be killer.  But at 6:00 pm, I wasn't so sure as I drove down I-70.  With my clients following, I was watching the sun slowly set while hiding behind the clouds.  I needed the sun, and I needed it to stay in the sky.  My “oh no” radar started sounding, and that's about the time I missed the turn off and had to weave back through the city to get back and try again.  No worries, I was back on track with an hour of light.  Be fast Allison was the only thought I could really focus on.  Well, fast and creative.  I stopped the car, hopped out, smiled at my clients.  They probably thought I was crazy, or maybe they thought they were crazy for trying to follow me.  Remember I'm not the best driver, according to Jon anyway.  Lucky for me, Peggy, Mackenzie, and Kylie are the sweetest people ever, and totally understanding.  It didn't even seem to phase them.  That's probably why we were able to capture some of the most amazing pics ever!

We started in this field just off the road.  The setting sun was still hiding in the clouds, which was great, it was like a diffuser for me.   These pics are right out of camera.  Peggy is gorgeous which makes my job Easy!  Most the time it takes people a few shots to warm up to the camera, but Peggy was good to go right off the bat!

Sometimes it's the moments between the pictures that matter most.  These 3 are so close.

After working the field it was time to move on so I took the girls to the dark tree covered road, where I was looking for the juicy light.  You know the kind that makes people look amazing.  I think I found it.  It was super golden which is why their skin is a little orangish, but I love warm light.  It's real.

Hands down one of my most favorite shots of all time!  LOVE LOVE LOVE!  It's not just the setting either.  These girls have a powerful connection.

Kylie was feeling fierce!  Rawr!  I can't wait to take her senior pics in 2 years, I can't even begin to imagine how amazing her pics will be.

One of the reasons I brought the girls to this location was to shoot in front of the waterfall.  Haha.  Right as I got the girls set up the thing shut off!  I'm not even joking.  Just turned off.  We laughed and I kept right on going.  When we scoped the location out there was a guy on the side of the road cleaning his car with water from the waterfall.  Pretty funny.

We ended our shoot in front of this castle looking house, with the coolest doors ever!  Lucky for me the owners were out so I asked if I could use their front steps, and gorgeous flowers for some shots.  They were happy to share.  In fact their son is a headshot photographer in LA so they were very understanding.  I sat and talked to the owner Serena for 45 minutes after the shoot.  I mean I had to, she owns the only castle in KC.

Seriously Peggy you are one lucky lady!

Mackenzie was one of my students my last year teaching.  That class was one of my favorites, partly because she was in it, partly because it was my last, but mostly because I had a fun group.  Mackenzie loves to play sports, wear her hair in a ponytail, and give me a hard time.  She does not like to have her pics taken, however, I think she did a great job!

The pic above was the last one I took of the night.  I squeezed every last ounce out of the sun to get the shot.  I shot with my 50 mm 1.4 with 800 ISO.

This last pic pretty much sums up our time together.  I had a blast!