New Orleans Portrait Photography

Death to my Youth Portrait Session

You’re turning 30. It’s an important milestone that some people look forward to and other people dread. To many, it feels like a departure from youth and an entrance into full-fledged adulthood. Lacy wanted to celebrate the occasion with a “Death to My Youth” session in a New Orleans cemetery. I had never done anything like that and as a self-professed weirdo, I was more than happy to spend an afternoon running around a cemetary with Lacy and her friends.

This was the second part of what ended up being a two-day shoot. The original plan had been to start in the cemetery then head to the New Orleans French Quarter for a girls’ trip session with Lacy, Stacey, and Alisha. But makeup ran long (as is often the case!) and by the time the gals were camera ready, the cemeteries had already closed for the day (Hey, New Orleans, can we keep those gates open until sundown pretty please? This mid-day light is not my friend!). So we met up in the quarter for a windy hour of portraits around Jackson Square and planned to get back together a few days later to hit the cemetery.

I chose Metairie Cemetery for a few reasons. While I would have preferred a less manicured cemetery, it was a sunny April day and Lacy was likely to melt surrounded by so much concrete. Metairie Cemetery has a lot of big, beautiful trees that most of the cemeteries here don’t have. They provided shade for better portraits as well as cooler temps. Metairie Cemetery is also not a popular tourist location so we were able to move around without encountering any big groups of fannypack-laden tourists.

Light was definitely a challenge. The cemetery closed at 5 and with sunset not until after 7, we had full sun to contend with. Fortunately, Lacy’s friends were down to help! Alisha became a “cloud”, holding my diffuser to block the sun where I couldn’t get the shade of a tomb to take care of it. She was taller than the rest of us and did a good job of chucking the diffuser up on top of graves to block the sun too. (insert laugh cry emoji here). For the final shots, Alisha crouched behind Lacy to floof out her dress and keep it from blowing in the wrong direction. Best friends for the win!

We all had a really fun time out there. I would have loved to have hit the town with those three! Late in the shoot, I pulled out a prism to utilize all that sun behind me. Alisha saw it and said “This is a whole ass art form!” (more laugh cry emojis here). Yes, Alisha. This is a whole ass art form. And I’m damn proud of how gorgeous these shots turned out!

Enjoy this selection of images from Lacy’s New Orleans Portrait Photography session.

Want to book me for your own Death to my Youth Portrait Session? Click here!