Seniors 2012 - Allie

Let's go back about...14 years.  I was almost 10 years old, starting 5th grade at a new school.  I made one friend, her name was Whitney.  She remained my closest friend for years after that.  We had fights, like everyone does, but we were friends for 11 years, until the day she died in a car wreck, engaged to my cousin's cousin.

Whitney had a niece, Alison, who went to pre-school with my brother when we started at that new school.  I haven't seen her since the funeral nearly 3 years ago, but she asked me to do her senior portraits.  I was honored to, because when I was younger, this was my second family and I missed them.

Because my air conditioning is broken and it's been REALLY hot lately, I took my backdrop setup to Allie's house for yearbook portraits.

After that we went to Ambridge High School and took some photos of Allie in her letterman jacket and band jacket.  She plays the piccolo, which I'm not really sure I spelled right....  It was pretty cool, I had my 75-300mm lens on and stood in the stands while she was out in the middle of the football field.  Definitely different.

We hit up one more place after that, a park a few minutes from the high school.  There was a gazebo there and I broke out my manual focus, 50mm, f2 lens.  GORGEOUS!!!

So yeah.  Super psyched to see Allie and her mom again, super psyched about how pretty her pictures turned out, it was all around a really good shoot!

Seniors 2012 - Becca

Becca is my brother's ex-girlfriend, but she still wanted her pictures done by me which is just proof to how awesome I am.  No, seriously.  Anyway, she's pretty awesome herself, especially since she also likes photography.  And, like mine, her family owns a bowling alley.  Weird, right?


We actually ended up splitting up the outdoors and indoors photo sessions - I usually do both in the same day but due to time constraints it worked out better to do them different days.  The first was the outdoor session, which is what all these pictures are from.  I let Becca pick which to put up and she liked these best.  (Also, pretty much the best thing in the world is being told that someone expected picking photos to be much easier but everything is so beautiful that it's impossible.  Thank you, Shelley!!!)

We went to a park near the river in Sewickley and I got totally lost on the way there and had to call Becca's mom Shelley to figure out just where I was headed.  Once I got there though, all was well.  There was this cool little train thing, and railroad tracks, and a pavilion and all kinds of prettiness.

I kept telling Becca to "gaze off into the distance" and such, and she kept laughing and making funny faces and telling me she's used to being on the other side of the camera.  TOO BAD!  We also had a worrisome moment when her dog, Joey, ran off and she had to go run and catch him.  Joey was getting his picture taken too, which apparently he absolutely hates.  However, I had my 70-300mm lens in the arsenal and was able to step back and get some ridiculously cute pictures of the two of them.

I gotta say, it was the perfect day to photograph.  Nice outside, bright, but overcast enough that the light was soft and beautiful.  No weird shadows, great colors!  I brought out the reflector once or twice to get a little more light on Becca's face, but that was it.  Do plan on buying a Vagabond power source for my Alien Bee's soon though, so I can light outdoors shots as well as studio stuff.  Speaking of studio, I'm putting a shot of Becca in the Tattoo album on my Facebook page, so if you want to check that, it'll be there!  www.facebook.com/elenadeephoto

Seniors 2011 - Kayla

On Saturday I had my first senior portrait session of the summer.  Kayla's actually graduating this year (2011) not next, but she needed senior portraits done, so I was glad to help!  She's a cool kid who likes zombies and is going to go to school to be a chef.  Because Kayla's so awesome and she and her mom were so prompt in coming to review the photos from our session, I let her pick which would go on the blog.  So here ya go, Kayla!  Facebook away!

Her cat, Tigger, is huge compared to my two little kitties.  I swear he was almost as big as Kayla and it was pretty adorable.  This shot is the only one like it and everyone (everyone being Kayla, her mom and myself) thinks it just awesome.

We also did some chef portraits in the studio.  Kayla and I were getting along pretty well because we seem to have a similar sense of humor and she ended up "executing" a stuffed cow she brought along to the shoot and then serving him up on a giant spatula.  So horrible, yet so very funny.

After all that ridiculousness, we went to the park for some outdoor shots.  What we didn't realize was that there was a Relay for Life benefit or some such thing going on, so decided against our original plan of bringing her fake gravestone and zombie head along with us.  It might have scared the hundreds of people who aren't normally there.  So instead we did some pretty normal shots, as well as a few variations on an idea she had gotten from a book cover.

I LOVE the tree/leaf idea; it turned out so well.  You did great, Kayla.

Beauty Shoot

Today I had an "event" sort of thing that turned out really well!!  I'm quite proud of my organizing skills, actually.  My friend Jessica North is a hair stylist/MUA but due to health complications hasn't been able to do much recently.  To celebrate her recovery, we had a beauty day and some models came over.  She did hair and makeup and I photographed them.  It was really fun!!

First shoot of the day was with Alex.  I did her senior pictures last year, so it was fun to see her again and talk about how college going for her.  She brought her sister Kacie with her too, who was my helper in getting great smiles out of Alex.  Kacie also stepped in for a few cute sister pictures.  Jessica put Alex's hair in these beautiful soft curls and gave her bright red lipstick.  I think she ended up looking a bit like Sandy from Grease, when she gets the makeover.  It was great!

Second model of the day was Kelsey, one of my sister's friends.   I love Kels, she's an AMAZING model, despite the fact that she doesn't actually model much.  She's also a pretty cool kid, and works at the tattoo shop I got my camera half-sleeve at.  And where I need to go to get it finished.  Kelsey was, by the way, my vampire pin-up, which remains to this day one of my absolute favorite photoshoots ever.

Next was Olivia, another of Christy's friends.  I did her senior pictures, too, actually.  Liv is adorable, and can pull off the 80s look amazingly well, so we put her in a pink sweater I just finished knitting last night and Jessica gave her this poofy side pony-tail and bright eyeshadow to match the sweater.  The total effect was too cute.  At one point during her shoot, my punk rocker friend Adam wandered in to pick Kevin up for band practice and I made him pose with her for two quick frames.  He wasn't really sure what was going on, but it looked pretty sweet.

Last official shoot of the day was Kara, who is erich's DJ friend Trix (not my friend Trix)'s sister.  She messaged me on Model Mayhem awhile back, so I invited her to our event.  She has a super cool asymetrical haircut, so Jessica put the longer side in tight curls, slicked back the other side and spiked out the back.  It looked gorgeous.  She ended up holding Kaleigh's dog Mickey for a little bit and it turned out really cute.

Mickey also got his own little photoshoot, which was extremely difficult as he had no desire to stay on the background.  I managed to get a couple insanely adorable pictures of the little pokemon though.  http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/506.shtml  <-- click this link.  I'm telling you, this dog looks JUST LIKE the pokemon Lillipup.  And yes, I'm 23 and still play Pokemon.  It is awesome.

Jessica left after Kara's session - she was exhausted after a long day!  I was tired too, but after taking a quick look through the day's images, got my energy back.  Trix (my friend, not Kara's brother) did makeup for herself as well as me and we had a dance party to Lady Gaga and Kesha and took pictures of each other.  It was was really silly and very fun, and we got IHOP after.  Definitely a good (and productive) day!  I am going to sleep well.

PS I'm super in love with this pic Trix took of me and my tiger rug with her iPhone (I WANT ONE!)

Creeps and Cars

A couple weeks ago, I photographed horrorpunk band Blitzkid.  Yesterday, I photographed a pretty girl with a sexy car.  Let's review!!

Blitzkid played at The Fallout Shelter, where I bartend.  It's fun when they come through - they bring a big crowd and are pretty cool dudes.  This time around was singer/guitarist TB Monstronsity's last show, which was a huge deal and kind of depressing.  I got to take some portraits of the rest of the band.

It was the first time I got to use the gigantically long black backdrop Trix gave to me (aside from test shots with her earlier in the day), so I was excited.  Plus two light setups are still kind of new and shiny.

So yeah, there's that.


Yesterday, I did a super-gorgeous shoot with a model named Shannon and an Audi R8.  This translates into:  I hung out at and got to shoot in the Audi dealership.  COOL!  They even gave me tea.

And yes, I know that girl-with-car shoots are amazingly cliche.  But this one.....this car.....well, see for yourself.

Senior Model 2012 Application

2012 Senior Model Application for elena dee photography

Here’s what you need to do:

Be graduating from high school in 2012.
Be fun, friendly, have great style, and bring props!
Be comfortable in front of the camera.
Tell everyone you know about elena dee photography.
Have your parent or guardian sign a model release form.
Agree to have your senior portraits done by and represent ONLY elena dee photography.





Here’s what you get:

A FREE senior portrait photo session, that must be shot by May 1st, 2011.  You have the option to shoot again before October 1st for half off the session.
A CD of 10 lo-res images with the elena dee photography logo on them to use on sites such as Facebook.
Model cards with your image on the front (your friends get 12 free wallets for turning them in!)
Free mini book of your images


I will only choose two models from each high school, so not everyone will be selected.  You can email applications to elena@elena-dee.com or inbox me at facebook.com/elenadee.


Name:   __________________________________

Address: _____________________________________________________

Phone: ____________________   Email: ____________________________

School:  _____________________________________     GPA: _______

Facebook?  ________________________


Hobbies/Extracurriculars: 







Why do you want to be a senior model for elena dee photography?







Describe your style and personality:








How did you hear about elena dee photography?







Anything else?  Dreams?  Goals?  Fun facts?  I want to get to know you!

Recap of last month

I know, I know, I haven't updated in a ridiculous amount of time.  Like, 6 weeks.  Ooops.  So let's recap!!

Mid-February, I photographed Danielle and Jason's wedding.  Beautiful wedding and you should see this dress!!!  Oh wait, you can.

Gorgeous, right?!

Almost immediately after that I got the flu, so was out of commission for about a week.  It was terrible, but I'm better now and ready to shoot!

Got a new Alien Bee B400 (it's pink like my hair!) in at the beginning of last month, so that's been crazy exciting.  So far I've taken pictures of my brother, myself, Trix, and my friend Artie's insanely adorable little girl Rowan.  Gotta say, February was (aside from that whole flu misery) a pretty good month!