Several years ago I had the privilege of photographing Sam’s sister for her Cleveland High School senior portraits. Sam’s sister Abigale and I had a blast taking her senior pictures, so I was expecting to have a lot of fun with Sam. And she sure didn’t’ disappoint!

Sam wanted to take her senior pictures outdoors in a place that had some variety, so we settled on the wetland park in Happy Valley, Oregon.

The park features a really great wooden boardwalk that meanders for about a 1/4 of a mile through a young forest and wetlands. There’s even a small duck pond in the middle of it and the outskirts are lined with some small bridges and white wooden fences.

As things go in Oregon, it ended up being a pretty cold and windy day, but Sam and her mom showed up in good spirits ready to tackle the late fall weather. Many of the leaves had already blown off the trees, but we tried our best to capture some of the remaining autumn colors.

The boardwalk through Happy Valley Park is pretty cool. There’s really nothing else like it in our area. Every time you turn the corner there’s a new view that provides a near perfect accent for a senior portrait. It’s also a great place for family pictures too, as the wooden walkway creates it’s own “containment zone” and keeps the kids from wandering all over the park.

The boardwalks and fences contribute artistic leading lines to the compositions, and the cattails and young forests offer their own soft, beautiful backgrounds.