Eric's Senior Session After The Storm:: Columbus Ohio

When you take senior portraits, you are telling a story. For the senior, the story could be what college they plan to attend, what sports the excel at or simply, they've reached adulthood. For the parents, you are telling the story of their child, who has grown in the blink of an eye. It could be their last child out of the nest, or their only. You can be capturing their first professional photos in years, or for the first time in their lives. Either way, you are commemorating a moment that has come quickly to both the parents, and the child.

Telling the story of a person's life is what photographer's do best, so when I was asked to photograph my childhood best friend's brother, I was overjoyed. Not only because I had known Eric since he was born, but I knew these pictures meant a lot to their family. You see, one month to the day before, my friend's father lost his battle to lung cancer. His passing was a deep cut to their family, and myself. They wanted to surprise Eric's mom with these photos, in hopes to cheer her up during a dark time.

Eric drove down 2 hours from Akron to meet me at my favorite location, a farm in Pataskala, Ohio. We began our session, and as luck would have it, on my ONLY October weekend free, a storm suddenly rolled in. "Great" I thought, "My only weekend, and it rains. Now we have to cancel and I can't get his pictures done in time for yearbook, or for his mom." I was beyond discouraged.

You see, Eric's dad, Keith, was quite the prankster, always sarcastic and would explain misfortune with "Well, that's just it". And I thought, Well, that's just it. Dark cloudy day, raining like crazy and not a hint of sun for miles.

"You know, your dad could send us some good luck right about now." I told Eric. He laughed and said "Yeah, well, he very well may be behind this". And just like that, the rain cleared and the sun peaked from behind a storm cloud. As we looked over into the fields, there was a rainbow.

Now, I'm sure most of you heard "After every storm, there is a rainbow". The storm represents a loss, and the rainbow represents a new beginning. I think Keith knew we needed some help, and a little reminder that he was there with his son that day.

#columbusohioseniorphotography #GahannaOhioSeniorPhotographer #RusticFarm #FarmSeniorPhotography #Footballseniorphotography #ColumbusOhiophotographer #PataskalaOhio