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senior & family photos in Des Moines, Iowa

June 17, 2020

Nick + Elaine

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My time as a high school teacher taught me how to instantly connect with teens and make them feel comfortable in front of the camera. I love photographing high school seniors all over the Greater Des Moines Metro and Midwest (yes, I’m willing to travel). 

Hi, I'm Carrie

We’ve now reached a serious milestone on the Menke household: Carson is taller than Elaine! I can’t believe this young man used to fit in a Christmas present box under the tree for our first session together back in 2008(?). What a joy to watch families grow up over the years in front of my camera.

Elaine opted for a downtown location and we had fun integrating pops of color in her outfit. My challenge of the session was two-fold: find layers in their family posing that worked with their new height statuses and lessen the glare on Brecker’s glasses. We had a great time in this area of downtown and came out with some nice options for their family portraits this year!

These boys are ninjas. And by “ninjas”, I actually mean Ninjas. They can climb any surface you give them better than Peter Parker and have done some serious ninjas warrior competitions across the state. Give them a challenge and they will accomplish it with our without shoes-it doesn’t deter them from the climb!

A short walk over to the pedestrian bridge and I love how the white beams reflected and bounced light everywhere-including their faces. Nick’s bright blue eyes didn’t, but we did this as quickly as we could! 🙂 (Note to young photographers: if your client has bright blue eyes, chances are they are light sensitive easily and your client will squint strongly unless you are in shade with them. Otherwise, do our trick of “Close your eyes and I’ll count to 3 to open them.” You’re welcome!)

Also, fun fact: Elaine was named Norwalk CSD’s Teacher of the Year this year and Nick was given that title a few years back as well. To be in the Band Dept with them continually pushes me to be a better educator and they have done an incredible job for our band program in Norwalk. They are truly a powerful duo!

Oh these boys, we will always take a photo of Carson carrying Brecker on his back-probably no matter their age!

Elaine + Nick: Thank you for trusting me year after year! I know you’ve said it feels great to have a photographer who knows your family well and allows the boys to be silly. But I have to let you know, it feels great to be on that end of the relationship and know that your friend/client trusts you to continually come back year after year! I know this coming school year could be the most logistically difficult of our careers but whenever my brain starts to go into overdrive, I remind myself that we have the Dynamic Duo and together, our department can work through it and come up with innovative solutions to give our students something amazing, daily. Thank you for all you do and for patiently allowing me to grow alongside you.

Be Well,

Carrie

PS You can view more of our time together HERE.

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Hi, I'm Carrie

My time as a high school teacher taught me how to instantly connect with teens and make them feel comfortable in front of the camera. I love photographing high school seniors all over the Greater Des Moines Metro and Midwest (yes, I’m willing to travel). 

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