I first photographed Hayden at 5 months old and in the intervening years, his mom became someone I love. When I asked Hayden and Margot to meet me at 6am for his senior session, they kindly agreed. I was aiming to get ahead of some gnarly weather. Truth be told, I’m not a morning person, and Hayden is a teenager AND the session landed on Margot’s birthday, no less! Everyone was lovely about it. However, by the morning, the unpredictable Flagstaff forecast had shifted. Soooo, I made us all get up early without a compelling reason! As I drove to the shoot, I found my compelling reason, something we rarely see here; eerie and beautiful fog.
Hayden was a patient and compliant subject. It was fun to show some of his many skills and hobbies in the portraits. At some point, I tried to entice him to sing “Happy Birthday” to his mom like a drunken cowboy. (He declined so, obviously, I had to do it.)
The Peaks refused to appear for most of our session, the low clouds and fog occluding them until the very end. As we packed up the cars, the peaks finally began to emerge and we went back for an encore, featuring our little town’s most iconic landscape.
If he follows the plan he has for after graduation, the San Francisco Peaks will be in Hayden’s rear-view as he heads off to college. I was grateful to laugh with him and his awesome mom throughout this bookend session.
Flagstaff Family Portrait Photographer • Flagstaff Maternity Pregnancy Photographer • Flagstaff Newborn Photographer • Flagstaff Child Photographer • Flagstaff Senior Portrait Photographer • Flagstaff Couples Photography
Kristen Dacey Iwai of KDI Photography is a full-time professional portrait photographer based in Flagstaff, Arizona with decades of experience. Making portraits of families, pregnancy, newborns, babies, children, and high school seniors in her downtown studio and on location, she serves clients from Flagstaff, Sedona, Tuba City, Winslow, Payson, Page, Williams, Prescott, Mesa, Scottsdale, Phoenix, Arizona
