Sweet 16: The GORGEOUS Mikela

I met Mikela one B.E.A.UTIFUL Friday evening out at the beautiful countryside home of Mr. and Mrs. John Cantrell in Charleston, TN.  They’ve created a fantastic place for portraits, events, and weddings!  You’ll see…there’s SO much photographic greatness!  “Valley Events” is the name of their business and they have a fantastic party BARN for all your parties or events.  I just had to plug them because they were so willing to let us shoot!

Mikela’s mom Jennifer has been a fan of my page for a while now, and when she messaged me about shooting her red-headed beauty’s Sweet 16 portraits I couldn’t help myself!  I wanted to shoot somewhere I hadn’t shot before, and the Cantrell’s were so happy to have us!  I mean I’d been there I can’t count the times for parties, cookouts, etc… and now to actually shoot….I was in heaven!

Let me tell you this….Mikela is a riot!  She’s in the Band at her highschool, has the brightest blue/green eyes (and I say they’re blue green because upon review of the photos after the shoot depending on the light her eyes were a different color!), and has a sweet spirit about her.  That’s not something you can say about a lot of teenagers these days unfortunately…but I think she gets it from her momma!  Not to mention she likes to “move it!” 😉

It was such an honor getting to capture this milestone in her life.  I wish “Sweet 16” pictures were something that my folks had done because it’s a long span between 8th Grade Graduation/Prom pictures to Senior Year pictures, and in 4 years that’s a whole lot of changing that goes undocumented! 😦  And NO, before you ask “yearbook” pictures don’t count!  That’s NOT your child’s personality….it’s a BLAH headshot!  They need photos that capture them…real, natural, TRUE….NOT cookie cutter fake smiles that every kid in the joint has to get taken!  So, let’s all take a lesson from Jennifer and capture these precious moments in time…the right way!  REAL!

Now without further adieu I give you the SWEEEEEEET Sweet 16 shoot of Miss Mikela!  And please, if you like them and the idea of Sweet 16 portraits, Share this post with your friends and family. 

The “Golden Hour” in the evening is by far my favorite time to shoot!  No wonder…the lighting is A.MAZING!