Vivaldi's Four Seasons: Anna's Senior Photos

I was the photographer for Anna's senior photos. She really didn't want me to hire a photographer, have outfit changes, have all that stress. I completely understood. So we took it one season at a time. At first I didn't really have an idea for each season. I really just wanted to space it out throughout the year. But once my lens caught the light on this photo I knew what I wanted to create throughout the year. (first musica) 

Here is Autumn... 

The light, the way it back lit her, caught the organza in her dress, and lit up her hair, the autumn all around, the viola in her hands, and I knew the first of the Four Seasons was born. 

Months later... 

I remember our snow day in February. We already had tons of snow and ice on the ground, mounds by then, and there was another snowstorm that day. Right in the middle of the snow day I told Anna, "let's do it!" So I helped her quickly with an outfit {her light blue coat, books, dress} and off we carefully drove to the same park as the autumn photo. It was magical. Pure magic. I knew we had found just the right spot because I felt like I was in Narnia... 

“If ever they remembered their life in this world it was as one remembers a dream.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

A magical afternoon of snow filling up the branches like a blanket. Feet of ice and snow under us, snow in her hair as it fluttered down. Too cold this time for her beloved viola. But not too cold for her adventurous spirit and her smile.

The second in my Vivaldi's Four Seasons idea I have for her senior photos. In this one, the branches, the woods, the snow, and the cold... it reminds me of Narnia.

And here is Winter...

Along came spring {the longest wait of all it seemed}. We had a April vacation week and the cheery tree right in our backyard was in bloom. 

Spring ~ the third in a 'Four Seasons' senior year photo shoot with Anna.

In his book, Nurtured by Love, Dr. Schinichi Suzuki said, “Teaching music is not my main purpose. I want to make good citizens. If children hear fine music from the day of their birth and learn to play it, they develop sensitivity, discipline and endurance. They get a beautiful heart.”

In May (link to that post is here) was Anna's Suzuki Senior Recital. The first of many 'lasts' this spring. In her thirteen years playing the viola I have never heard her play more beautifully. She played live - with a zoom audience of all of her past teachers. My thoughts and feelings on this day, of the Suzuki program, and of the viola in my daughters hands is on a post in my blog 

Photo Description: Anna stands in front of a weeping cherry tree in full bloom... a place where I've taken a portrait of her every single year since she could stand. The blossoms on this tree last only three days each year and then they fall and fill with with green leaves. The tree was a gift from my first grade class many, many years ago to remember my Grandpa.

Anna may pack up her beloved viola and take it with her this fall, but her music will always be in my heart.

“Beautiful tone, beautiful heart.”
― Shinichi Suzuki

Here is Spring:

And summer, well that came up f a s t ! I had to get those photos done very quickly to be able to get her Graduation Announcement out on time (the week of graduation) 

The fourth in "Four Seasons" senior photoshoot... summer.
As we near the end of the year and the season turning I am have on my heart Psalm 139:1-3 for Anna, "O Lord, you have searched me and and known me. You know my downsitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar off. You sift and search out my path and my lying down, and You are acquainted with all my ways." And with that knowing my mama's heart has peace.

Photo Description: Anna, a senior, sits with a huge smile across her face. She is surrounded by roses on all sides of her. Wearing a whimsical stripe, organza dress... The beautiful park background pales in comparison to the joy radiating through her. For she knows Who knows her and Who has the next steps planned for her.

Here is Summer, the final in the Four Seasons:

I used all four seasons photos and one extra that I took in the fall to create this graduation announcement.