shleby1I had the sweetest time with my cousin and her daughter, Shelby, while shooting her Senior session!  Shelby is genuine, caring, smart, humble, courageous, a leader, and beautiful, inside and out!! She has had such a sweet, rewarding life thus far and that is the result of a lot of commitment and hard work towards things she holds dear to her heart!  She is a Senior at Ariton High School where she is SGA President, an awesome softball player and the school mascot, the Purple Cat!! She has an amazing resume and a beautiful heart… continue reading and you will agree with me!IMG_0024shleby2Shelby is a country girl at heart and has a love for agriculture!  The state of Alabama is blessed to have Shelby on board with their FFA Association! This year she was selected as Alabama’s FFA Treasurer and she was elected Alabama Junior Cattlemen’s President by her peers. She writes an article each month for Alabama Cattlemen’s magazine and she recently won 2013 Alabama FFA Star Farmer! Needless to say she is a busy girl!IMG_0197

shleby3 IMG_0231_1IMG_0364IMG_0335IMG_0379The next few images below are some of my favorites!  This is Shelby with her show cow, Savannah!  I have photographed dogs, just recently a cat and now I can say cows have made it in front of my camera!  Believe it or not, I even had a 4-H cow when I was younger!! His name was Peanut! When show time came my cow wasn’t very calm, so my dad didn’t let me “show” him in the ring…. he found a high school guy to show him for me and this guy was on the ground, holding on to the rope attached to Peanut, being drug into the arena! Peanut didn’t win any awards and was not worthy of having his picture taken with me like Savannah, below.IMG_0440-2IMG_0416IMG_0419-2 IMG_0400The image below captured the past 9 years of Shelby’s life, all in a snapshot! Her mom wanted a way to get all of the memories and awards in one picture and I must say she did an amazing job!  As her mom said… this image captured “Shelby’s 9 years of hard work, commitment and success in the show ring”!
IMG_0506 shleby4IMG_0512Shelby has applied to Auburn and plans to pursue Ag Education as her major.  She wants to teach and continue working with Alabama’s FFA promoting agriculture and building future youth leaders. I’d say she is the perfect candidate for this role!  To add to Shelby’s amazingness, she also owns over 100 Charolais cattle through her operation, Hillside Charolais!! She wants to continue raising cattle and increase her operation!  I feel confident there is more in store for this girl and I look forward to seeing where God leads her!  “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11.   I am thankful I was able to capture the sweetness of Shelby’s heart, I know these are images her family will cherish forever!  Click here to view more images from Shelby’s Senior session.