I can’t believe it’s almost time for Class of 2012 to graduate!  I decided to specialize in Senior Photography back in the beginning of the school year and it’s crazy how quickly time has passed since then.  I’m really going to miss chatting with all these girls that I have gotten to know over the last several months.  Before graduation though, we have Prom!!  Have you seen how girls get asked to prom these days??  So many cool and creative ways!  As Prom season approached, it got me thinking about what more could I offer high school seniors.

Let me explain a little bit of how this shoot came to be.  Most of you already know that I once thought I would become a wedding photographer.  After about 6 weddings, I realized that wedding photography wasn’t for me.  I loved the getting ready part of the day and details though.  Then it occurred to me that I could document Prom or Homecoming like a wedding.  Why not?  Dresses, shoes, jewelry, getting ready!  All the things that I loved about photographing weddings and bonus, it all has to do with seniors!

You’ll have to excuse me – this post has A LOT of images!  :)

Thanks to Connor, Casey, David, Stephanie and Keimon for putting up with me!

Thank you so much to the Thompson (and Briscoe) family for welcoming me into your home and letting me document Connor’s last prom.  You all trusted me that day, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.  Not just for the photographs, but because as you know, you guys have all become like a second family, right down to little Clementine and Winston.  :)

Have a great week everybody!

Makeup:  Laura Briscoe

If you want to stay up to date with all the most recent sessions, click HERE and “LIKE.”

Before we continue with Vicki Hallman’s Senior pics, I have to go back to July and the Tartaro Family.  I photographed them right before I decided to focus strictly on High School Seniors.

Then, the months got away from me and I realized that I never shared this cute little family session with you!

You have seen this gorgeous family before on the blog, so they may look a little familiar.  

Cute little pig tail braids!  :)

It was a hot summer morning, but that didn’t stop little Hailey from enjoying herself!  

To see more images from this session, click here.

Thanks to my mother for tagging along that morning.  She was a huge help, as always!

See you back here soon for more High School Seniors!!

I have been hinting around to changes lately.  After photographing families, weddings, children, events…I finally have decided what suits me and my photography style best.  I will now be specializing in High School Senior Portraits.  Now, this isn’t the plain old cap and gown or that drape we had to wear back when I was in school.  Not at all!  :)  My style has always been taking a fabulous fashionable person and find a dirty, not so pretty location and let them pose as if they are in a fashion magazine.  I’m inspired by fashion and editorial style shoots where smiles aren’t always necessary.   What I have learned in the past few years is that my style and what I love to photograph is exactly what High School Seniors want to have in photographs of themselves.

The first most obvious change is the Portfolio page of my website.  I have removed the Children, Family, and Boudoir sections.   I always hear that you should show the work that you want to attract and for me, that is Seniors and Individuals & Couples interested in Fashion & Editorial inspired photo shoots.   The second most obvious change is the addition of the High School Senior gallery to the Portfolio page.  From time to time, you may still see a few family sessions appear on the blog, because I do have lots of friends with children.   I just won’t be focusing on these types of sessions anymore or targeting them as part of my business.

I have also named the High School Senior Portrait side of my business {Twelve}12 and created some new logos to match.  I just wanted a bit of a separation from Tricia Toker Photography.

That’s the big news for now!  Soon I will be announcing the details of the Class of 2012 Spokesmodel program, where Gwinnett County High School Seniors will help promote {Twelve}12 and receive free photo sessions and/or products in return!

Helloooo!!!

Sorry, I have taken so long to blog again…and no, I haven’t been off buying more shoes!! Well…maybe just one more pair of Iron Fist Shoes made it into my closet, but that’s a story for another blog post.  :)

Last month started my busy, busy time for sessions.  You’ll remember the Cunningham family from previous posts.  This time though, I got to photograph the extended family as well. While the day was mostly about little Mia, it’s easy to see where she gets her posing skills from with all the beautiful smiles in this family.  :)

This is the third time that I have photographed little Mia in a year.  Each time, I would say she has gotten more and more comfortable with me and the camera.  Let  me tell you though, this time, Mia busted out some moves like she has been watching America’s Next Top Model!

A few more family shots….

And back to “working it!”  

Everyone knows how much I love photographing cupcakes, even fake ones…she clearly knew how to get my attention!  

I can’t wait to see what Mia has in store for me next time!

I know I mentioned that I would catch up on blogging, but first I need to share how I spent this past Sunday with the Cofer Family.  Christy and I have been talking for a couple of months and I was so excited to finally meet her.  I met the family early in the morning in Downtown Winder.  I was very happy to see all the cool old buildings in this town!  I just love little towns with so much character.  I will definitely have to go back.

Christy and her beautiful family were up for anything I asked and were so great about going to a variety of locations in a short amount of time.

The little boys are so obviously close and so sweet with one another AND look at their eyes!!  Actually, not just the boys, all four of them have beautiful piercing blue eyes!!

Little Brady was such a ham.  He totally loved posing for the camera.  He didn’t need a reason, but it certainly didn’t hurt when I brought out a bag of foam toys.

My favorite spot of the day was behind the buildings near an alley.  My mother actually found it and I am so glad she did!

Christy did mention that she wanted to try to get a few pics of her and her husband Jimmy.  Luckily, since my mother was with me, she kept the boys occupied while I got a few of them alone.  This one is my favorite!

Thanks to the Cofer family for hanging out with me and making my job so easy and thanks to my mother for tagging along and helping out!  :)

I had no idea how close to impossible picking only ten would be!  
I literally started writing down every favorite and my piece of paper is a mess because I kept writing more and more.   So many things were great about this year and the people that allowed me to photograph their lives and memories.   Picking only ten pictures was incredibly difficult, but I narrowed it down as best as I could.   I ended up with 20 instead of 10.  Honestly, it could have been 50 though.  :)
I have noticed that seldom is my favorite the same as a client favorite.   I’m not sure how or why that is, but we all have very different opinions and I’m learning that more and more as I photograph people.   Why I choose a favorite could be a number of reasons: composition, texture, a certain look caught unexpectedly, or the way I got the shot that I didn’t think that I could.  Mostly, it’s how the picture makes me feel.  What type of emotion it has…whether a person is in the picture or not.  I know that sounds strange but I have to look at a picture and have it wow me.  I hope that in the course of this year, I have wowed you a little bit through my work.  It’s been a wonderful year and I truly thank all of you who have trusted me enough to be part of capturing your memories.   


soooo here it goes…My top 20 of 2010:

Well, it’s November now and the year is flying by!  I’m getting ready to start one of my busiest months having a session every weekend!  Everyone wants to get pics done for their Christmas cards.  I only hope the weather cooperates since we don’t have too many weekends to accomplish this!
Before I get too busy, I wanted to share some pics from sessions from the past few months that I haven’t had a chance to blog about yet.  


First up, Melissa & Jamin.  I really loved the location – lots of cool architectural elements.  Melissa wanted to specifically do more night shots than day shots, which I have no problem with since I actually prefer those.   I think we got some cool daytime ones though as well.

That’s all for now.   Can’t wait to share all my upcoming holiday sessions!

I can’t even tell you how much I loved photographing Angela & Ernest last weekend!  First off, I haven’t seen Angela in several years, so it was great seeing her again and catching up.  It was so nice to finally meet Ernest, after hearing so much about him.  
I have been wanting to do something different for awhile, not so formal, a bit funky and when Angela agreed to the location, I was so excited!!  
This was also the first time I used my light at sunset, and I love, love, love the pictures!   
Since I can’t possibly pick a few that I like, here are a lot that I like!  :)

These are the pictures I promised….after a quick wardrobe change for Kyler, we all headed back out for more pictures.   :) 
I’ve known Jamie & Niki for years, so it was a lot of fun spending the afternoon photographing them and cute little Kyler.  
Doesn’t he have the most beautiful big brown eyes?!?!  and I absolutely love the cute little outfit Jamie and Niki picked for him! 
check out the super snazzy hat! 

I was so excited when I saw what this weeks challenge was!!  I just knew the perfect picture to enter:

I was so excited when I learned that the very first couple I photographed had gotten engaged last October. 

Melissa & Michael will be getting married this year in June and I’m so excited for the two of them.   I tagged along a couple of weeks ago for dress shopping with the bride to be.  I really felt like I was part of the TLC show “Say Yes to the Dress.”   It was a lot of fun!