Last spring I was scrolling through my facebook feed when a post in the facebook group " Sanford/Springvale the Happening" caught my attention. A member was commenting about an article they had read that said "49 percent of Sanford youth between ages 12 and 18 reported that they did not feel like they mattered to the community. Twenty percent said they had suicidal thoughts in the previous month.". You can read the article here: https://www.necn.com/news/new-england/You-Matter-Maine-High-School-Looks-to-Make-Students-Feel-Appreciated-483086321.html
High school isn't easy for anyone but to hear so many young people feeling this was startling me. The story stayed with me, nagging at me. I kept coming back to the post over and over again in my mind and wondered if there was anything I might be able to do to make even just one person feel important.
So I decided to use my camera and offered up a free senior portrait session and Dasia was the winner.
Dasia is a confident and smart girl. She's eager to study zoology as an undergraduate when she graduates from Sanford High School. She's also charming and so very sweet,
She came to her session wearing a crop top and a cute pair of black and white straight leg pants. She had shimmery highlighter on her skin and gorgeous long lashes. She was completely put together.
Unsurprisingly, Dasia had a pretty clear vision of what she wanted for her session and she picked McDougal Orchards as the setting.
Dasia really wanted a beautiful field or mountains and I think we found the perfect country spot.
I asked her to skip through the orchard which gave me these adorably playful shots.
We had to add a little Vouge to the shoot.
When Dasia first started chatting with me she really wanted to shoot in a sunflower field but I didn't know of any so we were both so excited when we saw this little garden of flowers on the property.
Oh my gosh, that dreamy golden light of sunset was really getting to me at the end here. It was so lovey.
Thank you so much Dasia for letting me serve as your Sanford Maine senior portrait photographer. You were so much fun to work with; you have so much to offer the world.
Wishing you the very best as you head for college next year, I know you're going to do great.