Oooh, am I ever stoked to share Maelyn’s University of Montana graduation images with you today! When Maelyn’s mom contacted me about making grad photos for her college graduation announcements, I was excited to get to work with her. Especially when she told me she wanted to go off campus to make her photos. (We opted to photograph towards the campus and have it just visible in the valley below.) Heck yes please!

Making these images to celebrate such a major accomplishment is always so special to me. I can’t help but remember that time in my own life, and how giddy, excited, nervous, and exhausted I was. I was beyond ready to graduate, while simultaneously terrified about what would come next.

Maelyn’s also “so ready to graduate,” and I don’t blame her. She’s been working hard in school these past several years, and will walk across that stage with not one, not two, but THREE degrees! She’s been studying Ecology, Organismal Biology, and Wildlife Biology — talk about wildly impressive!

As we meandered around the property close to where she lives, she told me that she made her own earrings (with feathers) and has been doing so for ages. She also ties flies and fly fishes. Upon heading into the trees, Maelyn’s experienced eye noticed some upturned rocks where a bear had been active. But thankfully the only critter we encountered during our session was her sweet cat, Tiger.

Maelyn and Tiger have been together since she was a kid. At age 19, Tiger is one of her best buds, and a really awesome adventure cat! Maelyn told me that Tiger is sort of a dog-cat — she likes to hike and ski with her! How cool is that?! These two clearly have such an incredible bond, and I was just so glad to capture it for them. (Big props to Tiger for being such a sweet participant, even though she really wanted to go on a hike and smell all the smells.)

Thank you again, Maelyn, for such a fun session, and for fitting it in amongst all the things I know you’re wrapping up with school! It was such a pleasure to meet you and Tiger. Happy graduation to you, too! 

I hope you all enjoy a little peek into Maelyn’s college grad session!

On the docket:

Portraits and weddings and more! Stay posted!

See another college grad session here!

Cheers,

-Kristine

You know how you feel when you’ve just accomplished something simultaneously so difficult and so rewarding? Pure joy! And Jordan embodied that feeling perfectly during her University of Montana graduation photos the other day. (She literally kicked up her heels from happiness!)

We had such a great time making these photos for her to celebrate her December graduation. Jordan’s getting her degree in Math (something I greatly respect as someone who is forever challenged by numbers). In between making photos near the beloved Griz statue and Main Hall’s clock tower, we popped into buildings around campus to warm up, one of which was the Math building. As luck would have it, we found a room that wasn’t being used, and Jordan had fun writing a quick equation on the board that we could use as a backdrop to some of her images.

I’ve also got to give her major props for braving the chilly temps when we weren’t indoors. A few snowflakes were coming down as we made her images, but even though she was freezing, you would have never known it!

Another one of our warm up pit stops was at the library, an old haunt of Jordan’s since she used to work the late late shift there. We had a good time playing with the leading lines of the endless shelves full of books, and captured some images of Jordan pseudo-studying. (And I promise, we were quiet while we made these photos!)

Jordan! Thank you (and your most excellent sister assistant) for such a fabulous session! Your joy and energy is contagious in the best way possible, and I left with a perma-grin on my face (always a wonderful thing). Here’s to you and all your hard work to reach this point, and congratulations again on your graduation!

On the docket:

After a little holiday break, portraits and weddings! Stay tuned!

Cheers,

-Kristine

If there’s one thing I’m a sucker for it’s someone who will have just as much fun laughing as I do. Enter Kaitlin! She contacted me a while ago about photographing her for her University of Montana graduation celebration images to document this time in her life after having successfully completed her studies. And as soon as I met her (and her lovely mom) I knew we’d have a total blast making images together.

Not only does she clearly exemplify the French phrase joie de vivre, she was gung ho to do anything I suggested and make the absolute most of the beautiful day we had been treated to on campus.

As we wandered around the University, she told me that she was just about to graduate from the University of Montana Business School with a degree in management and entrepreneurship with an entertainment management focus. Talk about impressive! She’s even already got an internship lined up in Arizona – color me doubly impressed!

She does have a super soft spot for Montana in her heart, though, so it was important to her to be able to document some of what she loves in these photos. That also included her mom! Kaitlin told me that she and her mom don’t have a ton of great photos together, so she was really excited to have her mom join her for some images too. And I’m SO glad she did! These two are like two peas in a pod, and it was such a treat to see their fun-loving relationship with one another. I won’t spoil the surprise here, but just do yourself a favor and be sure to find the set of images featuring mother and daughter. They had me absolutely busting a gut laughing. :)

As we progressed through our session, it came to light that Kaitlin has even perfected her Beyonce hair flip moves. Not only this, she’s a pro at making the “swooshing” sound effects to go along with the hair flip – which of course, had us all cracking up all over again.

Somehow we also managed to luck out with some absolutely stellar weather and light for Kaitlin’s session – rain and cold and snow had been threatening all week, but I think Mother Nature knew Kaitlin’s session deserved a little extra special “sumpin’ sumpin,”” so we were treated to some absolutely beautiful light and long shadows. Those shadows got my creative brain going and, as it turns out, Kaitlin told me (or rather, I think Kaitlin’s mom told me) she’s known for her midair heel clicks. Et voila! It was meant to be – long shadows, heel clicks, great light. What’s not to like? We even got to make those particular images right near the Business school, which is where Kaitlin has spent quite a bit of her time during her studies. If a midair heel click doesn’t scream celebratory exuberance, I don’t know what does!

As our session came to a close we were all grinning to beat the band, my face hurt from smiling and laughing (always a good thing!), and we ended it all with hugs all around, copious amounts of well-wishes, and a huge congrats to Kaitlin on her upcoming graduation. Which I’ll reiterate here again! Kaitlin! What a wonderful session it was – I just loved getting to meet you and your mom, and I want to wish you yet another giant congratulations on your accomplishment! You’ve got such a wonderful way about you, and I just know you’re going to do some amazing things in this life! Here’s to you and your future! Cheers! :)

On the docket:

Portraits and weddings and editorial work! Stay tuned!

Cheers,

-Kristine

College graduation is such a time of excitement, joy and pure anticipation of getting out there in the real world and practicing what you’ve learned! I always love making graduation portraits – whether that’s for seniors in high school or seniors in college. So when Emily contacted me about making college graduation and couples’ photos with her boyfriend, John, I knew we’d have a fantastic time making these images to celebrate such a wonderful milestone in her life.

It was a bit of a windy, chilly day for our session, but Missoula in springtime is just gorgeous no matter what the weather decides to do. We had such a fun time on the University of Montana campus hitting up the symbolism trifecta (the Griz statue, Main Hall, and the M). And Emily added a little pizazz to the party by bring along some glitter to use in a few images (I admit that I totally yelped out of pure joy each time we made those shots – so fun!)

Our session then morphed into a couples’ session that John got to star in too! We really had a great time roaming around some funky little spots in Missoula, and making images of Emily and John – who clearly are smitten with one another. Those smiles!

Thank you again, Emily and John, for such an enjoyable shoot! It was so nice to meet you both, and here’s another big congratulations to you on your graduation! Here’s to a bright future – glitter included! :)

On the docket: portraits and weddings!
-Kristine

Graduation weekend at the University of Montana means there’s a certain happy, excited energy in the air around Missoula that is always such a cool feeling, and makes me think back upon my own experiences graduating from college and graduate school.

You’re nervous, you’re happy, you’re relieved, you’re stoked for the next chapter of your life, and you’re grateful for those who helped support you in your academic pursuits – usually your awesome family and friends.

Such was the case for Dylan, and we got together to make some portraits of him to celebrate his graduation from the University of Montana with a degree in Geology. He had family in town as well as a friend, so we had a pretty darn good time photographing all of them together.

Dylan and family – thanks again for having me do this for you! It was so nice to meet you all, and Dylan, I wish you all the best in your next endeavors! Here’s to you and the degree you just earned!

On the docket: more portraits and weddings! Don’t miss out!

Cheers,

-Kristine