A few days ago, I had the honor of doing a Pre-Quinceañera photoshoot for a girl who was about to turn 15. This is a very important stage in every woman's life, and celebrating it is a strong tradition in South America.

The girl's mother contacted me for these photos. They wanted an outdoor setting with some flowers, so we chose a pathway in my city. It's very beautiful, surrounded by nature, and has different elements where we could get a variety of shots.

These were the first photos we took:

I preferred to start with some photos of the girl sitting down so she could feel more comfortable and gradually relax, as being in front of the camera can be difficult for some people!

I always explain to my clients that the first photos are a kind of "warm up" and that by the end of the session, they'll be more relaxed and natural.

The girl wasn't a model and had no prior experience with photoshoots, so I had to guide her and explain which poses to do throughout the session. This way, people don't freeze in front of the camera thinking, "I don't know what to do," and they can trust that I'll make the photos look beautiful!

For the next photos, we incorporated a bouquet of flowers they had brought, adding variety to the shots:

For the following photos, we went to the pathway area. I told the girl to lean on one of the railings for these shots:

At that moment, it occurred to me that a top down photo could also look very nice, as the railings would act as leading lines to draw all the attention to the girl. For these photos, we also used the flowers to add a pop of color:

We went up a bit higher and found a "stone chair," and the girl asked me to take a photo of her there. I let her sit in whatever way felt most comfortable and took this photo:

At that moment, I knew I could "style the pose" a bit more to make her look even better, so I helped her a little, and the result was this a photo that looks much more natural and aesthetic:

For the next photo, I wanted to play a bit with light and shadows. I positioned the girl so that a ray of light hit her face, and I darkened the surroundings to create a very interesting effect where all the attention is focused on her face:

We continued exploring the place and found a kind of mini bridge that looked very pretty, and the girl wanted me to take a photo of her there:

At this point, I had already taken all the photos I had planned for this session, so I let the mother know, and we started taking some photos with her family, starting, of course, with her mom:

Then I took a photo of her with her younger brother. They chose that pose, and the result was adorable:

The girl was also accompanied by her best friend, so it was important to take some photos with her as well:

I even recorded some short behind-the-scenes videos to share the atmosphere of the session with you. I've converted them to GIF format to make it easier to watch:

Both the girl and her mother were super happy with the photos we took that day. Their satisfaction was so great that they invited me to be the official photographer for her Quinceañera party. For me, it will be a tremendous honor to document such a special day for her and her family.

All photos were taken with my Canon R8 camera, a 50mm f/2.8 lens, and a speedlite flash with a 50cm octabox.