Working with a young person with a vision and a sense of unique aesthetic is always a treat and make for the best artistic senior portraits. I met Addison last year during our trip to Japan. We spent two weeks together, though not much actual one-on-one time (we were on two separate buses and the accommodations / itineraries rarely overlapped). Even then, with her then-shaved head and quiet, watchful eyes, I knew she was someone I’d love to photograph. I remember standing in the hotel lobby in Osaka on our last night and wishing I could pull her aside for a head shot. Would that have been weird? Would that have seemed too solicitous? In retrospect, I wish I had. Her mom and I have since become friends and we all share the bond of traveling together, so it was an honor to get to photograph her a year later for senior portraits.

One of the coolest parts of photographing Addison was that I knew she would value a unique look and location. We ventured to Goldner Walsh Garden & Home in Pontiac on a beautiful April day. I photographed for a Neiman Marcus editorial shoot here in 2014 and always wanted to shoot here again, but it’s not the typical go-to spot for most people. It’s grungy, a little random (in a good way), not in a great part of town, and a bit far for my clients on the west side of town.

A week later, we headed downtown for Part II at John King Books, another of my favorite spots (the lighting along edges of the building is prime)! The divine light streaming through the four-story former factory (open since 1965 and run still by John King himself, now filled to the brim with rare and used books) and the shadowy corridors make for a labryinth of color and light. I photographed here a few months earlier, in the winter, with the insulating plastic covering the windows, filtering the blue, winter light. Check out that shoot as well.