I tell my seniors don’t procrastinate, or you’ll be stuck doing your senior portraits in January in freezing weather. Well, Emily only put it off until early November, but it was 27 degrees when we started, which was even colder than the January session I did before. We could have rescheduled or moved indoors, but Emily pretty much wanted to get it checked off her to-do list, so we forged ahead. And she was amazing. She didn’t flinch or complain at all.

We started at dawn, literally. Spring Grove opens its gates at 8 a.m., and sunrise was at 8:11 am. The forecast was sunny, so I knew we wanted the sun to be low to really take advantage of all the beautiful architecture and landscaping Spring Grove offers, and they would be closed by sunset. And Emily didn’t protest. She showed up with a carload of her favorite sweaters and–books. Lots of books. Now Emily is involved with choir and musical theater, but I guess it’s hard to bring a choir or an ensemble cast, so she brought books.

When we started off the session, she reminded me of Disney’s Mulan. And in some pictures, her hair reminded me of Jasmine.Then after a few pictures, I realized that she was more of a Belle. She was so happy with her books, I really felt bad pulling her out of them to go to a new pose. But we went through four sweaters, one cold-shoulder shirt (yikes!), and one sweatshirt that had her teacher on it dressed as a Jedi. And a duck named Rinaldo. or Renaldo. I’m not actually sure. But he was cute, and the cold didn’t bother him any more than Emily. Maybe Emily is more of an Elsa?