I was super excited for Jake’s senior session last year for many reasons: It would be the first time I shot at a greenhouse and the first time shooting a swimmer in a pool (and the first time I worked with a llama)! Jake and his mom chose Scheeringa Farms Produce & Greenhouse as their location because it’s near and dear to the family’s heart. Jake had worked there since he was 12 years old! It’s such a part of who he is and has helped develop his incredible work ethic. It’s a large, beautiful family owned greenhouse and farm with a sweet little petting zoo. There’s a farmstead, u-pick, and fun harvest-time activities for the family. I fell in love with it while shooting Jake’s session and will be bringing my kids back in the fall.

Senior guys aren’t always super excited to do senior portraits at first so I always tell them to just be themselves and make their shoot about their interests and have fun. In Jake’s case, he was at home at the farm and liked the idea of posing with his Jeep. He wore a Purdue T-shirt and posed with the American flag to represent his future endeavors.

Look at how sweet these little guys are! They were definitely happy to see Jake and just mildly amused with my camera. There were more interested to know if I had brought them a treat. Jake and Jack the donkey have been long time friends since Jake was just a boy in middle school.

For the second part of our shoot, we were lucky to have access to Jake’s high school’s swimming pool. Jake was captain of his swim team and being a swimmer was a huge part of Jake’s high school life so I wanted to make sure that was represented in his session. I kept it simple with one off camera flash so we could move quickly and easily around the pool. It was a fun challenge for me and Jake was such a great sport. He’s clearly very at home in the water too!

Jake is currently an Air Force cadet in the ROTC and still swims competitively against other branches.

He’s in the Aeronautical Engineering Technology Program at Purdue in the Polytechnic Science School and a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He competed and earned a silver medal in a German proficiency test representing Purdue Air Force cadets.

On top of all that he’s going to start lessons this summer to get his private pilot license! The sky is apparently not the limit for this guy!