Nicole's Birthday Shoot!

Remember how Tim & Kelly met on an airplane and now they're married? Well my friend Nicole and I met in a bathroom on one of the first days of college during our freshman year. We were both commuters and didn't really have a friend group like everyone else who lived on campus. Nicole took a shot in the dark and started up a conversation while we washed our hands. Turns out we were both heading to the same class so went together and we've been friends ever since. Fast forward about 6 years and she asked me to do a birthday photoshoot for her 25th! Nicole has been through some changes this year by leaving her job to go back to school to get her Master's in Mental Health Counseling as well as being newly single for most of 2018 and spending the last few months finding herself. She wanted to do this shoot as a celebration for how far she has come since turning 24. I hope 25 is good to you Nicole! 

When Nicole first asked me about this shoot I was little worried about finding a location since I work almost exclusively outdoors. I did a shoot like this for my sister's 26th but that was in May and the beach was a shoe in for her location since she had a light and airy theme... what would be a good backdrop for the bad a** look Nicole was going for? What would she wear to stay warm but also not be bundled up in a jacket seeing as it's the middle of December? But Nicole had the answers to all of my questions! She suggested we do a set up like one I had done for a photo-booth a few years ago. The only problem with that was the photobooth set up was tiny and we were going to have to go BIG. My mom wound up find some white sheets on sale while I was still in the brainstorming stages and she snagged me a couple. I didn't think it was gong to work out, but huzzah! it did! Within a few minutes I had a make shift studio set up in my basement with the help of a few soft boxes and my on camera flash! Not bad for a DIY! Nicole and I had a lot of fun with this session, so much so that I'm considering doing one for my birthday!