April 2012 – Alice Kuo Shippee Photography

I have always loved that the graduation ceremony is called “commencement.” How poetic & forward-thinking that person in academia was when they decided to call it that–& how glad I am that it has persisted through the ages. It was such a pleasure to do these portraits for Carly; I know her parents & little brother from my daughters’ school. Carly has the same smiling, sparkling eyes as her mother, Sandy. And in the first moments I met her, I could tell how genuinely warm & real she is. She also happens to love photography! We had a great time at the arcade on the Redondo Beach pier, & I could have shot her dazzling eyes for days…Congratulations, Carly! I have no doubt that this is the commencement of a very bright future for a truly sweet gal!

I’ve been working on this post for the last couple weeks, because this session was made truly special by Razzaaq, the man who contacted me via a mutual friend (thanks, Dina!) to set up a portrait session for himself & the woman that he loves. I’ve been dying to share these pictures, & I wanted to make sure that I could tell the story of what unfolded during our session with the kind of cinematic drama & aesthetic beauty that would do this director-designer couple justice.

So our session began as a fun, fashion-y shoot–as planned by Razzaaq, to take into consideration Mashawnta’s taste for style & architecture. She is the producer of her own magazine, MASH. And Razzaaq carefully chose our location, knowing that its urban, industrial feel would be loved by Mash, because of her native Detroit sensibilities.

Scroll on through…you’ll see: mid-shoot it became a REAL engagement session…!!