Riley | Cap and Gown Session at the Nebraska Capitol Building | Lincoln, NE

This set has been sitting in my files since April, waiting on its turn. By the time it's finally going up, Riley has already graduated from Thayer Central, which feels right for photos that were always about marking the end of one thing before the next one starts. Riley is a Class of 2026 Thayer Central graduate, and if you've followed her story with me before, you already know she doesn't do anything halfway. She's Vice President of her FFA chapter and a State Champion in both pole bending and barrel racing, riding her horse Watawin. Between 4-H, National Honor Society, SkillsUSA, speech, and dance, she still found time to be one of my EMDP Ambassadors for 2025r.

A Chance to Mark It Properly

Senior year moves fast, and most of it gets remembered in phone photos and hallway snapshots. A Cap & Gown session is a chance to slow that down for an afternoon, put on the cap and gown (and whatever else feels like "you" right now) and end up with portraits that actually match how big this year was. It's something every one of my senior clients gets the option to add, at no extra cost, with a couple of images included and room to add more if there's a look or a location worth chasing. Most years only a couple of seniors take me up on it. This year Riley was one of them.

The Two Shots She Came For

Riley had one non-negotiable going in: this session had to happen at the Capitol, cap and gown, under the arches of the colonnade. The other was just as specific, a shot sitting on the Capitol steps, gown pooled around her, with the building rising up behind her. We built the whole afternoon around getting her those two images, and everything else grew from there. Once we had her must-haves, we kept going. She traded the cap and gown for her FFA jacket over a white lace dress, cowboy boots and all, right there in the same colonnade. Then we walked next door to the Governor's Mansion in her actual prom dress, a blue and white floral gown, first among the flowering bushes along the tree-lined path, then back at the Capitol for that steps shot she'd asked for from the start. Cap and gown, FFA jacket, prom dress. Three sides of the same senior year, all in one afternoon.

If You're a Senior Considering This

If you're one of my senior clients this year and a Cap & Gown session sounds like your kind of thing, get excited! I'll reach out in the spring, before you graduate and we'll plan some fun celebrating your next chapter plans!

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Would you love a session that reflects your story, style, and personality just like Riley's? Whether you're in the arena, the pasture, or somewhere in between, I’d love to create portraits that feel like you. Let’s talk about what a custom session might look like.

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