I love taking photos and luckily I get a chance to have multiple subjects that I enjoy experimenting with. Living in Cedar Key, my main subjects are usually beach scenes, birds, dolphins and obviously sunsets off our back deck. Simply because that’s what you see me posting most often, it doesn’t mean that’s all I take.

Before Cedar Key, my main subjects were usually models, product photography or Photojournalism style photography while reporting for various newspapers or magazines.  Cedar Key doesn’t have too many models running around, but every so often, I’m lucky enough to be asked to take some senior photos of some of the local kids.

A few weeks ago, I felt honored to be asked to take my great friends, Heath and Jolie’s daughters Senior Photos. The reason I say honored, is I’ve known and admired this child as long as I’ve been in Cedar Key. Lauren is one of those kids that is wise beyond her years, one of the most polite and well respected kids I’ve ever met and can carry on a conversation with anyone and everyone in the room. When ever we’re sitting around talking at a family event, she’s usually debating one of the foreign affairs going on in our screwed up world and truth be known, she’s usually schooling me on the facts and I end up going home and looking up half of what she was telling me about.

From the first time I met Lauren, we were all talking about what she wanted to be when she grew up and she told me “One day, I hope to be President so I can fix this screwed up country we live in!”

I think at the time, she was in 9th grade and the weird part, is even back then, I thought to myself, “I don’t doubt that you’ll be something very high up in the political field someday.” Let me explain why I feel this way. Lauren is Valedictorian of her school with a 4.3 GPA. She not only attends college courses fulltime throughout her Senior year, but she was also on the Track Team, competing in multiple fields. She was on the Basketball Team and has won numerous awards with the FFA over her high school career for her eloquent speeches she gives. You might not think that is a big deal coming from such a small school like Cedar Key, but wait…..there is more!

This year Lauren went above and beyond what most seniors would expect when it comes to applying to colleges. She was accepted in the United States Naval Academy!! With the lowest acceptance rates among all undergraduate institutions surveyed by U.S. News, regardless of ranking category, the Naval Academy ranked in as the 4th hardest to get into of the Top 100. Lauren will spend next year at Naval Academy Prep School in Rhode Island with full expectations of attending the Naval Academy the following year.

So when I was asked to take Lauren’s senior photos, you know I felt honored! Here is a LINK to an article the local newspaper just wrote up on Lauren.

We had a blast during our laid back photo shoots and I think both of us were happy with our results. To cover her Basketball and Track history, we spent multiple days working around her busy schedule at the school gymnasium and the track. Lauren has always been a huge fan of Harry Potter, so when I asked her if she wanted to pose or do anything that would show her favorite past times, she said that she had dressed up in a Harry Potter outfit for Halloween last year, so we spent some time playing with that theme and both loved the results.

Without further ado, here are Lauren’s Senior Photos that I’m so proud of. Hopefully one day I can say that I took the President of the United States Senior Photos!! Congrats Lauren and I wish you the best in your road to stardom!

Lauren with her Sister Sarah and their crazy little dog Daisy