I met Sydney at the senior rep introduction meet & shoot and it didn't take long for me to realize she is a spontaneous, creative, energetic human with a wild side - ...and it's contagious! Each shoot that followed solidified my view. I love Sydney's enthusiasm and her welcoming demeanor. I learned a lot from our creative shoots together and have grown to very much adore her (and her entire family).
It's not surprising where Sydney's character traits took root. Her family owns rolling hills of fields and pastures where she's grown up chasing cows, riding horses and knocking out chores on the farm. She's not afraid to get dirty and work hard. She's also exceptionally humble and very driven.
Sydney's hobbies include riding horses, listening to music, reading, flying airplanes (I know, right??), traveling, hanging out with friends and family and lifting weights. When I asked her about her favorite of the mix, she said flying airplanes. She said "not only do I have the chance to experience something a lot of people don't get the opportunity to, but I truly enjoy it and hope to become an airline pilot in the future. Learning how to fly is challenging and difficult, but it is so worth it. It is so rewarding to master something that you were having trouble with just a few flight hours earlier." She is logging the flight hours as we speak and is on track to earn her private pilot's license this spring! Imagine! Her goal for her senior year was to achieve that. I am selfishly geeked for a shoot with her and her planes this spring!
Sydney is currently taking all of her senior year classes at Kalamazoo Community College and is not attending her actual high school. When I asked her this past summer what she was looking most forward to in her senior year, she said 'watching sports'. It makes me happy that some of the fall sports were eventually allowed amidst COVID, but I'm sad for her that they just announced another halt. Hopefully things will back up soon for these seniors. Maybe it's time for some of her Netflix faves to make another appearance...New Girl, Las Chicas de Cable, La Casa de Papel, Supernatural and Criminal Minds.
There's so much to look forward to, but I asked Sydney to reflect on her favorite memory of being in school. She said 7th grade camp. She loved that she got to spend a whole week doing fun activities with her friends. Making new friends was also a highlight. She seems to do that with ease. After high school, Sydney sees herself becoming a commercial pilot. This would be hitting a big dream of hers and she seems to be taking the necessary steps to actually create that reality herself. She will also look at being an airplane mechanic and feels that could come in handy for any pilot. I imagine that would indeed!
When asked about her biggest role model growing up, she said her mom. "She was an occupational therapist and loved her job, but once she had my siblings and myself, she found out that we have celiac disease. She completely changed her career path and started her own bakery making gluten free foods so we would be able to have delicious food to eat. To this day she still owns the bakery, Gluten Free Sensations, and I am incredibly inspired by her braveness to completely change her life for her family." I love the family unit these awesome humans have created. It is clear to me that when one is need, they all rally. Honorable lessons lived and learned there. My own momma heart loves this <3
I joke with Sydney - but not only does she have a magnificent smile that brings instant joy to whoever receives it, she KILLS her serious look! BOOM. When we are on shoot and I say 'give me thoughtful' she can instantly shift into this. Here are some examples...see what I mean? Killer. Stop ya right in your tracks, that one.
Sydney was asked about her bucket list. At 17, what kinds of items could find there way on this list? She has two: learn at least 3 languages and travel. She calls herself a seeker and told me day 1 of us meeting each other, she wants to skydive. She wishes to travel to 'hidden jems' on the planet and to snorkel. Being a pilot might just make that dream an easy reality I would think. Dream destinations? She has a list for that too; Linapacan Island, the lost city of Petra in Jordan and the Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia. She has been fascinated with languages and is currently learning Spanish. American Sign Language and German are also targets, with French and Dutch stretched into the future.
The summer rain shoot I did with Sydney was something her and I both wanted to happen. When I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to see most of her family ready to jump in and help...from manning the sprayers, to helping her decide on wardrobe, all played a helpful role and I had incredible fun! In fact, anytime we would brainstorm or I would suggest a shoot, Sydney would jump in right away - with both feet. I truly love her enthusiasm and excitement to play with the camera :)
As a 2021 Senior Rep, Sydney was provided a handful of opportunities for themed mini shoots pre-season (May-July) for no charge. These sessions are geared to provide more images for the seniors in their milestone year. But they also provide me with creative freedom and a willing crew to kickstart the senior season (July - Nov) with promotional images that will inspire future clients and showcase my work. The promotional win is just as valuable as the extra images for the seniors. I will be putting out a model call in February 2021 to pull in 2022 Senior Reps - be watchful if you have any interest! I will be looking for 4-5 excited individuals to represent my senior brand. Stay tuned.
I asked Sydney what she liked most about the rep program. "I really enjoyed the freedom of the shoots. I could suggest a setting to Daniall and by the time we got done talking, the shoot was scheduled! Not only were some of the shoots personalized to me, but we also had group shoots that were so much fun! Meeting all of the other senior reps was also really amazing because they were all so much fun to talk to. It was a really laid back setting and was very easy to feel comfortable with the amazing group that I got to work with. Lastly, we got to keep all of the pictures we took! This is a HUGE plus for me because I have over 100 pictures that I can now use for senior pictures!"
Thank you, Sydney. You were SUCH an asset to the first ever Senior Rep program. I appreciate you more than you can imagine! I wish you the very BEST this year and on into the future. I am crazy excited to see where you take life. The skies the limit, they say, and for you it's true :)
~Daniall
