I'll Be There For You

The Senior Edit: Friends Edition

Right before the beginning of our senior year, Obie, Amy, and I took a spontaneous road trip to Marfa, Texas with our plan consisting of booking an Airbnb and winging it. Fortunately, we didn't drive each other crazy after spending 7 straight hours in the car together, and we decided somewhere on the highway between Austin and the desert of West Texas that we would take our senior photos together.

It was a lot of fun shooting with these two (seriously, how did I end up with such gorgeous friends) even though Amy left her stole at her apartment (many Lyfts were involved in the production of these photos), my tripod was broken, Obie was in a time crunch to get to an event that morning, and it started raining. Sharing these moments where things don't go according to plan and seeing these two respond with grace and patience remind me of why these friendships are so important to me.

So without further ado, I'll let you know a little bit of the process behind shooting a group of friends.

I make plenty of time for individual photos during these sessions as well as photos together. Since it does take up more time to coordinate when you have more people sharing a slot, we kept the number of locations minimal to: the communications bridge, Gearing gates, the blue door, the tower, and the lawn in front of the tower.

INDIVIDUALS

Obie // lacy blue midi dress

I'll let you guys in on a secret: Obie totally rush-ordered this dress a few days before our shoot. But doesn't it look stunning on her? And yes, blue dresses do look good in front of the blue door, especially if you go with a soft shade of blue with delicate details like the lace and off-the-shoulder of this one. Also, blue is one of my favorite colors to pair with the golden yellow stole!

Amy // purple flower embroidery

Another secret: Amy definitely bought this dress from Barton Creek Mall the night before our morning shoot. But hey, this one worked out too! You can never go wrong with wearing a white dress with any color stole -- except maybe if your stole is white (sorry COLA). I liked how this dress kept it simple, but still included the off the shoulder ruffle and purple flower embroidery for a little bit of flair.

GROUP

Midi dresses, high heels, and complementary colors

So, a few weeks before our shoot we were texting about color-coordinating our outfits so A) we wouldn't all show up in white dresses, and B) so we could have a cohesive color palette (is this my most used phrase on The Senior Edit?). If you read what I wrote above, then you know we pulled all of these dresses together last minute based on what we could find. The purple dress I'm wearing in this photo I grabbed from my closet where it had been sitting for a year since I bought it from Nordstrom Rack. And somehow, we still managed to get colors that looked great together, and all wear midi dresses!

So my only advice to you in terms of what to wear when shooting with friends is this: yeah it's great if you can choose outfits that complement each other, but honestly don't sweat it too much. We couldn't have planned this, and the most important thing about your session should be having fun and celebrating that you finished this thing together.