A Passion for Film- Senior Pictures by Dallas Photographer Lisa McNiel

Austin's favorite quote is "Pain is temporary; film is forever."

So that about sums up his career goals, doesn't it?

But not who he is... In addition to making short films and graphic design, he is involved in Boy Scouts, Taekwondo,  Choir, and he plays the piano.

His favorite songs are New Machines, Selene, Color Green, Stand Tall, Demon Days, and A Charlie Brown Christmas (by Aair).

Austin's favorite memory was sitting alone in a boat in the Florida Keys watching the sun set on the water. I'm thrilled that we got to include a shot or two that echoed that experience!

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Austin has always loved story telling since he was a small boy. Since middle school his passion has been telling stories through video. His films have won several LISD film fest awards including People’s Choice award. He has been accepted to UT Austin into the Radio, Television, Film program and would like to be a film director. Austin is also a black belt in Taekwondo, an Eagle Scout, and a National Merit Scholar. In his spare time he enjoys playing video games with friends, playing piano, playing with his dogs Meggi and Molli and traveling. Austin has traveled throughout the US, Mexico, Aruba, and various Caribbean islands and has been on multiple cruises. He plans to go to Europe.

Grapevine Faith Senior Photographer - Pictures by Lisa McNiel

The lovely Isabelle, Izy for short, in her deep red prom dress with three dimensional flowers, in a white on white sweater set with skinny jeans and strappy heels, interview ready in a black military style suit with shorts and heels with an ankle strap, that can change into a shorts with black ruffled high-low skirt for evening, and in her letter jacket! Smiling, cheerful girl with dark wavy hair and a lovable manner.

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Brother and Sister Senior Pictures - Flower Mound High School by Dallas Photographer Lisa McNiel

Twins Kyle and Nicole are heading to college this week! I imagine it's going to be quite a change around their house!

Nicole does competitive dance including contemporary, tap, jazz, solos and duets, and teaches dance to little ones. In her free time she hangs out with her boyfriend and friends.

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Kyle incorporated his shotgun and uniform from the Flower Mound High School Clay Target Team. His favorite music is classic American jazz and rock, like Elvis and Frank Sinatra. In his free time he likes to have board game parties at their house, do computer gaming and programming. Programming? Wow!

This is what his mom had to say about him.

Kyle is the easy-going, people-pleaser. He has never caused any trouble. So we were surprised when he was caught (toddler age) with his twin sister Nicole, flushing toys down the toilet upstairs until it overflowed down to the first floor! Believe it or not, that's the worst thing he's ever done.

He has a great sense of humor and loves play computer and board games with friends. He organizes game parties at the house to play various strategy board games.

He is on the Clay Target Team at Flower Mound High School and has competed against many schools around Texas at local, regional, and state competition. He shoots Trap, Skeet, and Sporting Clays.

Kyle will be attending Texas A&M for Computer Engineering. His first year will be at the Galveston campus on Pelican Island.

Senior Pictures of a Gorgeous Cheerleader by Dallas Denton Photographer

This is "Turtle." How on earth would this 5'11" quirky, fun, modelesque, disciplined, smart, kind, smart athlete get that nickname?

She is the youngest of three girls and when she was always totting slowly behind her sisters, trying to keep up as a little girl, they called her "Turtle!" 

She's also known as Jolo because her middle name is Joli, but she couldn't pronounce it so she said it Jolo. Too cute!

Her actual given name is Emily Bladel and she was voted Miss Ryan High School (voted by the teachers and staff at Billy Ryan high school in Denton, Texas. She's a Varsity Cheerleader and a VOE student. She want's to become a Veterinarian and will be starting her path toward that at Texas Tech this month. 

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Emily's favorite quote is "Don't be afraid of being different, be afraid of being the same as everyone else."

Freshman homecoming is her favorite memory. She said it's the only time she felt carefree and insanely happy!

Her favorite songs are Purpose by Justin Bieber, Fix by Chris Lane, Give Into Me by Garrett Hudlund, Here's to Never Giving Up - Avril Levine, Facetime - 21 Savage, She's So Gone - Naomi Scott, and any Koe Wetzel song.

As you can imagine, she was insanely fun to photograph and after her Senior Session, I asked her to model for me in a project with 15 Senior Photographers across the nation as we sent one dress around and each person photographed the dress with their own models and locations. It will appear on the Twelvth Year blog and I will also share the photos. Wait until you see what we did with hers in the Dallas area!

L.D. Bell graduate - Dallas Senior Photographer Lisa McNiel

Paul was pleasant and cooperative, even though he and his dad had arrived at the location early and had to wait. That was his vibe, cool, calm, collected - focused on the task at hand, but still could enjoy the moment and make a memory with his dad.

But then we arrived at the lake.

All bets were off.

There was a boat on the lake playing easy tunes that reminded you of Saturday nights with your best friends after skiing all day. The sun was beginning to set and you could feel that it was a special moment, one you wanted to hold onto in your head so you could pull it up in the cold of Winter, in the wake of Dallas traffic and the frustrations of I-35, in the stress of finals, perhaps even when you were too old for water sports.

He stopped and looked around. I tried to pose him, but he was respectfully distracted with a smile on his face. He wasn't on his phone. He wasn't thinking about what he would be doing later, or the newest video game. He was completely in the moment, in nature, in communion, smiling at the scene, the lake, the boat, his dad. I wanted to know what was in his head, but my youngest child and my husband have that same connection with nature. It centers them. It calms them. It is a gift they treasure.

Eventually, we did get our lake photos and then just lingered there for a bit until we talked about what restaurant they should eat at before they headed back as they had travelled to get there. When I asked what kind of food they liked, they said, simultaneously, Italian. Maybe I should have guessed that with the last name of Rizzo, they would know authentic Italian food. I sent them to Grimaldis and hoped for the best.

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Paul brought a suit with a great tie and shoes, a blue shirt over a white T-shirt and his favorite black converse shoes so he pulled off the business man look as well as the James Dean look.

Senior Pictures with Your Dog - by Dallas Photographer Lisa McNiel

Following my seniors on Instagram gives me a sense of how to do their session and helps us get in the "groove" more quickly. Annabelle had photos from the "Grass Bash" at Marcus, prom, concerts, her group of friends, and birthday shoutouts, and then this cheerful, bubbly girl also had a post with a sunset that read, "This week my church and I traveled to New Mexico to help the community of Dulce by doing various laborious jobs, but the people we met gave 100% back to us through generously providing meals, a place to stay, and sharing their stories and culture. I saw Christ so much this week in the people of the Jicarilla Apache Nation and of course my amazing friends of St.Phillip's!" And this made me feel like I got to know her heart a little better.

We had a quick session, but it was filled with doggy love and beautiful light. 

Since then she went to Europe and I had to click through all her photos on Instagram! She was posting pictures of the "Bubble Lady" in Berlin, and an enormous yellow Burmese python wrapped around her and her best friend as they traveled Europe together, then mugging with white birds, and photos of ancient architecture.  She took selfies with local artists and overlooking beautiful Budapest.

From Prague, pictures of elegant meals, locks on gates, statues, canals by homes, beautiful sculptures, toasting glasses, and local musicians filled her Instagram feed with a description of her day... waking in Berlin, touring in Dresden and ending up in Prague. Her tour guides surprised the group by taking them to the John Lennon peace+love wall and brought spray paint cans. What a day!!!

 And then she was back home having fun with a friend in front of a graffiti wall near the Denton County Courthouse, making the mundane an adventure!

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To see more photos from senior photographer Lisa McNiel, click Dallas-Photographer or follow 

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