Want to love your job? Photograph a teenager. Just when you thought you were charmed, humored, humbled more than possible, the next teenager comes along to raise the bar.

Sure, I love babies. Heart-melting, sweet, chubby adorable faces that change expressions each second. Toddlers and preschoolers have dress-up and Big messes, my jokes are hysterical even when the studio team rolls their eyes. Grade schoolers charmingly tell me how to operate the camera, serve the beverages, encourage their pet to smile, accurately. Middle schoolers are most brilliant of all ages. I get to simply take their lead on these energetic sessions. No matter how much we plan, we detour down the path taken at this fleeting moment.

Teenagers are often excited to help plan & design their own photo session. Remarkably different from the year before, I capture the theme unfolding, sometimes leading the action, more often following. From this teen-time on, I know my most important collaborator is no longer the parent designer of yesteryear, but the unfolding teenager now before the camera. With the design work done, let’s play!

Jane was a gem to work with. Enthusiastic and positive in mind, determined to ignore the cold in body.

Test: How old is Jane? She celebrates her Bat Mitzvah this weekend.

Answer: 20 of course!

Or 26?

Congratulations on your Bat Mitzvah, Jane. Looking forward to photographing you and your family at Temple Beth Am tomorrow. And thank you for the great downtown Ballard session! Ballard looks good on you.