Drama and Innocence, A Dream Session for Nora

Nora is 14 and she is fun, has a great sense of humor, and is so sweet! She put up with me singing to her and putting her in this elaborate mask during our session. She was the perfect candidate for the drama that I wanted to convey with this session with her giant green eyes and pale skin. She loved my music choices and we had a great connection. These images show the intensity and the joy of being her age. I also see a strikingly beautiful girl coming into her own. 

I feel so strongly about girls having a real sense of who they are and feeling confident in that person. I know so many women I talk to want the same things for their daughters too. I think it's important to love and be connected to the body you live in. You get it for your whole life. If you can get and stay comfortable in your own skin you have a real advantage in life. Being comfortable and confident gives you the power to face the tough parts of life knowing that you trust yourself. I believe that trusting yourself comes from being at peace with all the pieces of who you are both inside and out. These tween and teen years are when big changes happen. Keeping yourself connected is huge. 

I think that these years are a forgotten age for portrait photography. We take all kinds of portraits of our children when they are little. Then life gets busy and we get that school portrait every year. These sessions are about breaking out of the norm of just getting the school portraits. These teen years that have so much going on. I think this age is the time when you aren't quite old enough to do so many things that you feel ready to do. You want to be grown up, taken seriously, and have your opinions matter! You still also, secretly want to play a lot more than you get to. I remember these years so well myself. It's a tough time. 

It's also a beautiful time. A time when you are still playful and have a bit of kid left in you. When you are able to openly express all the joy and the drama that you have inside. This is a time that seems gone too quickly when we look back on out life as adults.

In Dreams - Jen