Say Cheese

On Saturday, October 6, the teen and I caught an early commuter train into London for her senior photo shoot.  We were armed with a couple changes of outfits and hoping for sunny skies.  It rained on and off throughout the night, so I also packed our union jack print umbrella... just in case.  However, the weather cooperated and we enjoyed sunny, cool weather for the teen's 2.5 hours with the photographer.

I intended to bring along my camera to document the photo shoot, but then forgot it since I was distracted with barking up the stairs at the teen, who was running late.  Thus these candid, behind-the-photographer shots were all taken on my iPhone.  In the pics above, you can see we started along the Thames River at Parliament and Big Ben.  Sophie, the photographer from New Zealand, did a great job with this "Iconic London" photo shoot.  

After the bridge shots, Sophie led us to a pair of British phone booth on the other side of the river that were conveniently frosted so the teen could change into a short black dress.  When we viewed the proofs a couple days ago, it was in this spot where there were some really great close-ups of the teen that we chose for her large portraits.  

After finishing the phone booth series, the photographer had the teen change into her final outfit for pics at Trafalgar Square.  On the walk from the river to the square, we chanced upon an old school London Routemaster bus not in service that was parked on a side street.  Bingo - perfect place for some more fun shots.  

And it's a good thing we did because Trafalgar Square was partially closed in preparation for some sort of Asian festival and therefore we couldn't access the famous lions for the teen's final location. Luckily, the photographer had a back-up plan and took pics of the teen at the National Gallery, which fronts the square.  I didn't get any behind-the scenes shots of this because I was guarding bags on a nearby bench.  The photographer knows photos aren't allowed on the portico and that a security guard would shoo us away.  So I watched all of our things while the photographer stealthily snapped some pics of the teen with Nelson's Column in the background before they were spied and asked to leave. 

I spent way more money than I intended for the teen's senior pics, like double what I figured it would cost.  And then when I convert the British pounds to American dollars, I feel slightly ill about the hit our bank account will take.  However, these really are once in a lifetime pictures (in London!) that will hang on the walls of our home for the rest of our lives.  

A saving grace for the pricey pics is that they include bespoke (Brit speak for custom made) frames and mats.  We should receive the CD of our 30 favorite shots in two weeks, but will have to wait about a month for delivery of the framed ones we ordered for us as well as our families.