Aili’s senior pictures in Houghton MI came together for the perfect evening chock full of wildflowers, puppies, and the prettiest pastel sunset.
When Aili reached out to schedule her Houghton, MI senior pictures, she said her family really loved Mikayla’s blog post and wanted a similar feel. As we talked on FaceTime during her planning call, Aili (pronounced eye-lee) shared her dreams and ideas for her Upper Peninsula senior pictures.
Aili’s family currently lives in the lower peninsula, but her mom grew up in Houghton and her sister currently attends Michigan Tech and is part of the mushing team. This means Aili comes up here plenty and already had locations well in mind. Connections through her family meant we were able to shoot on some private property that I wouldn’t have even known about, let alone been able to shoot at! Suffice to say, this was definitely a one of a kind senior session 🙂
Summer Senior Pictures on Quincy Hill
Aili’s mom had only one request for Aili’s session – a picture on Quincy Hill overlooking the Portage Lake lift bridge. Her older daughter had a similar picture taken during her session, so of course we had to make sure she had a matching picture for Aili! We met at the mine after closing time so the tram tracks were clear and safe. Quincy Mine is a popular spot spring, summer, and fall. It was so fun having it all to ourselves after hours!
We planned Aili’s senior pictures for a Tuesday evening, and I think having a weekday evening also contributed to the quiet atmosphere. All morning the sky was heavy with clouds, and up until almost 3 p.m. we weren’t sure if we would be able to shoot due to the threat of rain. Thankfully, a system pushed all the clouds out and we had a beautiful blue sky evening!
I absolutely adore sweet pea fields. This light blue dress was the perfect contrast against the grass!
Aili loves to do iPhone photo shoots with her friends on the weekends and is totally comfortable in front of the camera. This was really fun for me because there was no warmup time required – we got right into getting some amazing portraits! I’m so glad Aili was such a pro, because we had limited time before we left for our next location.
Houghton MI Summer Sunset Senior Pictures – July
There is so much variety at Quincy that we could have easily spent the entire evening right there – but the drive was SO worth it to our next location!!
As I mentioned earlier, Aili’s sister Kiira is part of The Mushing Club at Michigan Tech. The entire family loves to spend time in Tapiola at the sled dog training center and help with feeding and caring for the over 50 Huskies on site. Aili knew there would be a litter of pups to play with and wanted images on the field with the puppies. Of course, we were totally game!!
Upper Peninsula Senior Pictures at Sunset
The light held soft and smooth as the evening progressed. After a quick transition to secure the puppies we were able to get some more great images for Aili’s Houghton senior pictures.
Little photography digression: The combination of light clouds and the angle of the sun (dipping just behind the trees) gave us perfect golden light for these shots. I don’t always love direct sun on seniors, but it was diffused enough that Aili wasn’t squinting. This is exactly what I hope for every session!
Something I really love about shooting summer senior pictures in Houghton MI is all of the wildflowers! I could shoot in locations like this every night.
More On The Mushing Club:
After we finished Aili’s Houghton MI senior pictures she changed into casual clothes and helped with the evening feed routine. Rob and I were fascinated to learn more about the Otter River Sled Dog Training Center and their mission. The owners, Tom and Sally, are truly the most gracious hosts and have so much knowledge about sled dogs and their care. While Rob and I love attending the Copperdog 150 in Calumet each year, there is so much work that takes place behind the scenes. The dogs train year-round and Tech students come out every day to work with them.
Saying that we were humbled by this experience feels cliche to type, but I’m not sure what else I can say about this incredible evening. (Goes off to Google synonyms, comes back to this tab.) We have so much admiration for Tom and Sally and all the Mushing Club members – your knowledge and passion are so evident when you share about the sport!
Rob and I encourage you to click the links above to visit the Otter River website and fall even more in love with sled dogs, just like we did. And if the day wasn’t memorable enough – the ultimate was when we got to snuggle some of the wee little pups ourselves!!! (Oh, if we didn’t live in an apartment we would SO be adopting a puppy …)
In summary –
Aili – thank you so much for choosing Enjoy the VU Photography for this epic destination senior session. We had such a fun evening getting to know your family and learning about mushing. Whatever your future plans hold, I am sure you will succeed!
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