Lauren is a senior at Chautauqua Lake Central and is graduating this year (2013).  Usually senior photos are done over the summer between a student's junior and senior year or at the beginning of their senior year.  Because of the weather and other extenuating circumstances Lauren's photos were taken just a few weeks before graduation.

For the past couple of years I've donated a free photo shoot to St. Susan Center in Jamestown, NY for their annual Basket Fair fundraiser.  The Basket Fair is usually held sometime in April and this year Lauren's mom Beth won the free photo shoot.  She thought it would be nice to use it to get some photos of Lauren to commemorate her senior year and to use for graduation announcements.

Lauren plays softball and we've had a very wet spring this year so a lot of her games had been postponed.  Now it was nearing the end of the school year and her team was playing practically every night trying to make up all of the postponed games, which made it a little difficult to fit in a photo shoot.  We finally found a Saturday evening in mid May when we could finally get our schedules to cooperate and off to Chautauqua Institution we went.

Lauren has a great smile that just sems to always be there.  It's so great in fact that it wasn't until I was doing the post processing on her photos that I realized I hadn't done any serious shots of her.  Ooops.

Lauren also has this uncanny ability to change clothes in the back seat of a car faster than anyone I've ever known.  She can seemingly get in one side of the car and then immediately get out of the other side with a completely different outfit on.  It was amazing.  It was like something you'd see at a magic show in Las Vegas.

One time after an outfit change I noticed what I thought was part of a birthmark on her left thigh but didn't really think much of it.  Later during some shooting her mom suggested Lauren turn the other way because you could see part of this huge black and blue mark on her left thigh where she had been hit by a softball.  Upon further inspection her birthmark was indeed a doozy of a black and blue mark that looked like it was made by a bowling ball instead of a softball.

I had a great time working with Lauren and her mom.  It took a while to get there but we finally made it and I think her photos look great.  Congratulations Lauren on your graduation; great things await you!

(camera: Canon 7D, lens: Canon EFS 17-55mm 2.8 IS)