Shelley Paulson Photography Blog

Spring Seniors Week - Rico

The Koth’s have a great house on a property just behind IHOP that I used for both my field trip and for several senior sessions while I was in KC. I got to know the family just a bit by being around and just love them! They have adopted more kids that I can remember, but we talked about a family session this summer that would be around 21 people (including adults, biological children and grandkids)! They used to live in Minnesota, which further bonds our friendship!

Rico was adopted just a few years ago and his story will touch your heart. He has such a vibrant spirit and was great fun to photograph.

Canon 85mm, f2.8, 1/640, ISO 200

Canon 85mm, f2.8, 1/500, ISO 200

Canon 85mm, f2.8, 1/320, ISO 200

Canon 85mm, f3.2, 1/1000, ISO 200

Rico runs Cross-Country, and as you can see, he’s good at it too.

Canon 85mm, f4.5, 1/640, ISO 500

Rico in action!

Canon 135mm, f3.5, 1/640, ISO 500

Posted on 05-15-2008 under Seniors

Spring Seniors Week - Jessica

Jessica is one of my photography class assistants, a budding photographer, and a very good friend. We spent quite a bit of time together while I was in KC, mostly with cameras in hand. Jess is an old soul and a deep thinker, strong in her faith and convictions. I’ve rarely met someone her age with such depth in God. At the same time, she likes to have fun and be goofy. I love that balance in her! I feel so blessed to be a part of Jessica’s life and really look forward to seeing her giftings, especially in photography, grow in the coming years. I’m hoping she’ll come spend some time with me in MN this summer so we can shoot together a lot more!

Canon 85mm, f2.8, 1/160, ISO 500

Canon 85mm, f2.8, 1/250, ISO 500

Canon 85mm, f2.8, 1/800, ISO 200

Canon 85mm, f2.8, 1/400, ISO 200

Canon 85mm, f2.8, 1/640, ISO 1000

Canon 85mm, f2.8, 1/1250, ISO 1000

Canon 85mm, f2.8, 1/2500, ISO 200

Canon 85mm, f2.8, 1/1000, ISO 200

Posted on 05-13-2008 under Seniors

Spring Seniors Week - Zach

While in Kansas City, I did a number of short senior sessions for friend’s kids and seniors at The Daniel Academy where I taught photography class. This week (and probably into next), I’ll be sharing the photos.

First up is Zach. He is the oldest son of our friends who moved from MN to KC. He was six when I first met him!

When asked where he wanted to do his photos, his response was “The culvert down by Dinsmore’s house”. I thought, “okay, we’ll start there, but then we’ll find a GOOD place to take photos.” Boy was I wrong! The culvert was super cool!

I don’t normally like to work in overcast conditions, but I had already rescheduled this session three times due to sickness, and we were running out of time. It turned out that the light fit the mood perfectly and the fact that he wore a hat helped to keep him from the unattractive under-eye circles you can often get when working out in the open under overcast skies.

Another interesting note: the guitar you see in these photos used to belong to my husband Tracy. He gave it to Zach about four years ago and it has seen good use. Zach is a really good guitar player and plans to attend Forerunner Music Academy, IHOP’s music school. One of the best things about this shoot was that Zach would often play while I was shooting and it was so calming and inspiring.