I’ve pretty much known this young man all his life, from when he was just a few days out from making his entrance into the world, breaking his mama’s tailbone in the process. (Ouch.) And I have watched him grow from a precocious neatnik youngster (who made me fix my vacuum crevice tool so he could vacuum my baseboards) to an engaging and intellectual teenager. I also have lots of stories on him that really would not be fair to him to share on the blog, because he doesn’t have any memory of these indiscretions, and besides, the pictures will make that much more impact when I slip them to his parents for his wedding.

So I will settle for sharing these pictures, which I think are fair game.

boy portrait

 

Boy portrait

Fast forward to his senior year in fall of 2018. He’s active in the theater lighting crew at his high school and an Eagle Scout with a perfect ACT score. And such a nice guy that you somehow forgive him for it.

We did his outdoor pictures right outside the school on a nearby trail. We also did his family portraits as well.

Autumn boy senior portrait Autumn boy senior portrait Autumn boy senior portrait

Inside the school, we used the Black Box Theater to shoot a few quick portraits in his crew jacket. In my opinion, every location needs one of these rooms. It was so handy for playing with lighting. Riley let his younger brother pick his background color gel, which turned out to be Rosco Purple Jazz.

Theater senior portrait Theater senior portrait

From then on, with the Purple Jazz stuck to my background flash, it was just too much to resist coloring everything purple, including the main theater .

Theater senior portrait

We also took a few quick shots of Riley doing his thing. They have big gun lights with nice big gels. I am told there is a room nearby with sheets of gels in every color and type. But wisely, no one took me there. I’m already regretting not sticking my flash with the Purple Jazz in the background as an up light with very low power.

(Are there any Stephen Cartwright fans who like to play Find the Duck?)

Theater senior portrait

We did get to play with some light painting, though.

Theater senior portrait

Thank you, Riley, for humoring my lighting geek impulses, and I hope you are still speaking to me after this post goes public!