I met Nicole at the beginning of my junior year of college, & never did I ever expect her to become one of my best friends. we spent a lot of time together at work & at school (should we call that trauma bonding?) & she quickly became one of my favorite people. at the beginning of our senior year, we were both looking for a one-semester lease, since we were both supposed to be graduating in December. lo & behold, one of our coworkers happened to live in a three bedroom house, & two of those three bedrooms were empty. basically we forced Jody to let us move in & it was truly the start of something beautiful.
fast forward to the end of March - I'm interning for the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo when Nicole texts me & asks if I can take her grad pictures. in typical Nicole fashion, she's waited until the absolute last minute to get things done (iykyk), & I rushed back to College Station, because really, when your best friend asks you for pictures can you really say n0??
if any of y'all have ever taken senior pictures at Texas A&M, you are more than familiar with the absolute misery that is taking pictures at the academic building. an icon of the university, no senior graduates without taking pictures here, & come grad season you can wait in line for hours to take your pictures. we definitely lucked out with the day we picked, & only spent about thirty minutes in line.
the only other "must" Nicole had for our day was to take pictures with her horse Mac, aka CR Metallic Cat. together they've competed on the Texas A&M Ranch Horse Team for the last two years, & watching them grow together has truly made my heart so happy. they're an incredible duo & I was so excited to add such an important aspect of Nicole's time at A&M into her photos.
obviously we also had to take some pictures in some fun clothes, in addition to Nicole's team shirt. Nicole changed into a beautiful white dress, & the pictures turned out so good. really fueled my horse girl dreams, & the only thing that would have made them better is if we had a field to go galloping around in. tell me Nicole + Mac are not an absolutely iconic duo!
& then of course we had to include our best buddies, Mecate & Hondo! I don't want to say they were the best part about living with Nicole, but they were absolutely in the top three. they didn't really understand what was going on, but they tried their best & really enjoyed being the center of attention. definitely some of the cutest subjects I've had in a shoot! & just look at how proud of their mom they are!
to my best friend - I truly couldn't be prouder of you! you're the busiest person I know, but you always showed up to be there if someone needed you, & you dedicated yourself so fully to all of your passions & interests. I know you are going to do amazing things, & I can't wait to watch you continue to grow into the absolutely incredible person (& photographer!) I know you are.
xo, Caroline
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