Senior portrait photographer- Longwood Gardens

I love where I live, we've got beaches, farmland, old wooden barns, and a little bit of urban landscape, all of which make for great photographs. Thousands of people come here to vacation, many of them have their family portraits taken while visiting. The majority of my wedding clients come here just to get married on our beautiful beaches. However, to be honest, sometimes it feels like the scenery never changes, but it also pushes me to be more creative. When I look at other photographer's work, I can almost instantly tell where the images were taken.  So it's always nice to get away from the area and photograph someplace else. I've photographed weddings all throughout the region and done a few engagement portraits in Washington D.C. But I've never done a senior portrait outside of the area.

I've been wanting to photograph a senior portrait at Longwood Gardens for some time now. Living two hours away, it's not exactly practical though and not many seniors want to go that far for pictures. I managed to talk Reneé into making the trip and it was well worth the travel time. Originally, she wanted to do her photographs on a local college campus, but after seeing pictures from Longwood, she was all for it.

Photographing in a place like Longwood makes things more interesting for me. Exploring little areas within the expanse of the place and creating a photograph that incorporates someplace new is exciting and drives me creatively. There are so many more locations within the gardens to use, I'm looking forward to the next client who wants to go there.

There are also other locations that would be great for senior portraits including some of the state parks in northern Delaware and southeastern Pennsylvania; cities like Philadelphia, Annapolis, Washington D.C.; and college campuses around the region. Where would you like to go? Let's make it happen! I have a passport :)

Here's a few of my favorites from her session:

Feeling appreciated!

At the last wedding, the father of the bride was welcoming everyone to the reception and thanking everyone for making the day special. He thanked the couple, the other parents, all the guests who came from near and far, the florist, the venue, the DJ...and the photographer. He called us all the "best in the business!" :)
Shortly thereafter, I was sneaking into the buffet line and he came up behind me. He proceeded to tell the woman he was with that with that when his daughter got engaged, one of the first things he did was to look at photographers. He talked to his daughter and told her that he found the best photographer in the area and he wanted to try to book him. However, she had her own ideas and had already had her heart set on someone else. Knowing that it's his daughter's special day and it was ultimately her decision, so he asked who she wanted to hire. He was overjoyed when she told him she wanted to hire Sam Ellis Photography (he actually did a little dance when telling the story) because that's who he wanted to hire too!
I do love being a photographer, and it's nice to hear that my clients appreciate what I do! Here's a photo of this awesome father after dancing with his daughter: