Frankfort Graduation Session | Bella | GCP by Nicole

There is nothing better than kicking off Senior Sunday with a session this gorgeous!

Bella is starting her senior year at Lincoln-Way East High School and already has some very exciting plans for what comes next. She has been accepted to South Dakota State University! She’s also a member of the swim team, where she has been absolutely rocking it, and she is genuinely one of the kindest girls. I have a feeling she has an incredible senior year ahead of her.

We met for her senior session on what looked like it was going to be the most beautiful evening — gorgeous light, perfect temperatures…and WIND. So. Much. Wind. 😂

But if there is one thing I’ve learned from photographing seniors over the years, it’s that sometimes you just have to work with whatever Mother Nature decides to give you.

And in Bella’s case? We decided we weren’t dealing with wind. We had a Beyoncé-inspired wind machine. 🤣

Honestly, it ended up being perfect.

The movement in her hair gave so many of her photos that effortless, natural feel that I love, and Bella completely embraced it. Instead of worrying about every hair being perfectly in place, we used the wind, kept moving, laughed our way through it and created some seriously beautiful images.

And Mother Nature apparently decided to reward us for going along with her plans because we even ended the evening with the prettiest glowy sunset.

Senior sessions are always some of my favorites because this is such a huge season of life. There is so much excitement about what’s ahead, while at the same time you’re capturing the very end of a chapter that has been years in the making.

I want senior galleries to feel like the person I’m photographing — not just a collection of perfectly posed portraits. We’ll absolutely get those beautiful, classic photos, but we’re also going to move, laugh, play with the light and let a little personality come through.

Bella’s session gave us all of that and more.

In fact, this session was SO good that I couldn’t even fit all of my favorites into one post. Between the gorgeous landscape images, portraits, Beyoncé wind and that glowing sunset, this one definitely deserved a little extra space on the blog.

Congratulations, Bella! I hope your senior year at Lincoln-Way East is everything you’re hoping for and more. I can’t wait to see where this next chapter takes you — and South Dakota State is lucky to be getting you! 🎓✨

Nicole ~ Frankfort Graduation Session/GCP by Nicole