Boy, oh boy, do I love a surprise (and a surprise is especially great if it involves photography)!! Rewind back to the fall when a young man contacted me about the possibility of doing his high school portrait session as he was in his senior year and was going to be graduating the following spring.  Now, I know this young man, Scott, as he went to school with one of my sons and they were both in FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) and played football together at Green Level High School in Cary.  I gave him rides home after a few practices back in the day and got to hear a little of the guys' football talk about their upcoming season.  Man, I do miss those days!  

Scott's family didn't end up booking with me and that was completely fine.  Not everyone who inquires, books, and that's ok!  Time went by and as the end of the school year approached I heard back from Scott.  He wanted to hire me.....key part is HE wanted to hire me...and it was going to be a surprise for his mom and grandma! Oh my goodness, I loved it!!  This had me written all over it!! Turned out he spoke with his dad and Scott told him he thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and get senior portraits done and that his mom would love that he had had them done.  His dad agreed and they both said they'd keep quiet about the plan.

Scott and I met up over coffee to plan out his session: location, clothing choices, what he envisioned for his pictures, when we were going to photograph him and all the details he'd need to know in order to plan for his session.  He wanted an urban kind of feel and showed me some sample pictures of what he had in mind.  

The day of his session finally arrived and we met over in Raleigh to take his portraits.  I brought a football and we made sure to leave plenty of time to get shots in his jersey; he had mentioned he knew his mom would love to have a framed picture of him in his jersey in her office at work!

Scott did great in his session: he took direction well from me, was willing to try several different spots in the area for a variety of backgrounds and obviously has a friendly, welcoming smile which can light up a room.  I absolutely couldn't wait to hear of his mom's reaction with the surprise reveal.  When I asked Scott how it went he had two words for me:  "She cried".  I can't ask for a better response than that!!  Wish I could have been a fly on the wall for the surprise.  He also said, "She absolutely loved them" (and that makes my heart happy, too)!

Scott wrapped up his high school days with a bang: he was chosen to speak at graduation.  He's got a good head on his shoulders and I'm sure he did great!  Back at our "coffee session-planning meeting" I had learned of Scott's future plans.  He is going to continue his education by going to college and will also be continuing his football career!  Maybe we will be taking more jersey pictures in four years?!  It will be fun to follow his new chapter and he promised he'd return for Green Level High School's Homecoming this fall.  :)  In the meantime, I'm looking forward to seeing his mom's office newly adorned with a picture of Scott in his high school football jersey.  ;)