Kelsey’s Senior Portraits at Little Island Park in Sandbridge

Kelsey’s Senior Portraits at Little Island Park in Sandbridge

Senior Portraits on the Beach in Sandbridge

Kelsey’s Sandbridge senior portraits at Little Island Park were photographed alongside an extended-family session for her mom, Angela. Since we were already spending the evening on the beach, we set aside part of our time specifically for Kelsey. That gave her a senior session of her own while still allowing the whole family to be part of the evening.

Little Island Park is a great location for senior portraits because there’s more available than just the shoreline. The dunes, sea grass, open beach, and water give us several different looks without having to travel between locations.

However, there’s quite a bit more to Kelsey’s story than her senior portraits.

An Unexpected Connection to a Cause

Just three weeks before her mom was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Kelsey had joined the Student Visionaries of the Year fundraiser supporting the fight against blood cancers.

Suddenly, a cause she had chosen to support became very personal.

As Angela went through treatment, the family learned that Kelsey was a match to become her mom’s stem cell donor. The transplant was successful, and Angela has since completed her treatments and is continuing to recover.

That is quite a story for anyone, much less someone finishing high school and preparing for whatever comes next.

Kelsey has also continued her involvement with the Student Visionaries of the Year fundraiser. Her campaign supports the organization’s work toward curing blood cancers and improving the lives of patients and their families.

Giving Kelsey Her Own Time in Front of the Camera

Because the evening began as a large family session, I wanted to make sure Kelsey’s Sandbridge senior portraits still felt like their own set of photographs.

We took time away from the larger group and focused completely on her. The simplicity of the beach worked well for that. Rather than adding elaborate props or complicated backgrounds, we could concentrate on creating a good variety of senior portraits while using the natural scenery around Little Island Park.

Senior year already marks a major transition in life. For Kelsey, it happens to come after a year that included circumstances her family certainly could not have anticipated.

I’m glad we were able to use part of their family session to give Kelsey something that was simply about her senior year. Her story adds meaning to the photographs, but they can also just be senior portraits from an evening at the beach with her family nearby.