Lifestyle Malibu Photographer {Feelin' Mellow in Yellow}

This session stole my heart in every way possible. Our golden girl of the week goes out to Elise, an 18 year old who had one heck of a year. Moving cross country from NYC to California would be hard for any teenager. Having missed her senior year of high school meant - no homecoming, no prom…. only zoom classes in a new time zone. Elise’s parents wanted to do something special for her big birthday and ask her what she wanted to do for her special day. Elise had told them that she wanted to feel beautiful, happy and in the spotlight. When her mom posted on Facebook what she wanted I wrote her and told her I’d love to make her daughter feel beautiful from the instead out. We talked a few weeks before and this 18 year old completely amazed me. She picked out the location, she picked out her stunning dress and told me that she wanted to shoot during golden hour. Being from Chicago, this was a dream to shoot as I am so use to shooting in city landscapes. A few hours before the shoot, I scoped out Leo Carrillo State Beach and found these hidden caves which were so amazing and I knew that Elise would literally light it up. When we finished our session, I showed Elise a few images on the back of my camera and she held her hand over her mouth and couldn’t believe that these images were of her. I know that this wasn’t the picture perfect year for this lovely girl but just for a moment I made this beautiful diva’s birthday wishes come true.