Hannah Yao | Downtown Saint Paul, MN | Fashion Photography

Senior Photos (well, kinda) | Fashion Model Hannah Yao | Saint Paul, MN

When my inbox dinged with a message from model Hannah Yao, I was super intrigued. Hannah is a fashion model and college freshman attending Penn State. She’s originally from the Upper Midwest (Michigan) and she is signed with 4 different modeling agencies:

MMG Model Management out of NYC/LA
Wehmann Agency out of Minneapolis
Mara Models out of Chicago IL
Model Club out of Boston/New England

So what was she doing contacting me?? She found me on Instagram and apparently had some free time while she was visiting her boyfriend in Minneapolis/St Paul and meeting with her agency here. I’ve had some location ideas in mind for a shoot for quite some time now, and I felt that Hannah would be the perfect model to experiment with! We planned a downtown St Paul shoot, I scouted the locations I was interested in like Mickey’s Diner, Rice Park, and Seventh Place, and we crossed our fingers hoping for a cloudy but clear evening.

Aaaaaaaand we got it. Sometimes everything works out perfectly and this magical spark ignites a fire. This was one of those times. Hannah’s makeup, hair and outfits were ON POINT and the weather cooperated as I had hoped. As we got to know each other, I was super surprised to learn that Hannah never did senior photos! How could that be? She was only a senior just last year, and she’s got to have people knocking down her door for modeling jobs. Well, it turns out, Hannah was a late bloomer, who grew 6 inches (what??) between her junior and senior year and didn’t start modeling until she went through that growth spurt and was discovered by someone in a shopping mall. Soooooo we decided that this was her official senior photo session and I was more than honored to be the one behind the camera.

As you look through these images, remember that Hannah has only been modeling for less than a year and just tell me that she isn’t destined for this?? She’s amazing. She's done a campaign for Vans, and she recently walked in NY's Fashion Week (eeeeeek!) She takes direction well but is a self-starter and can move her body in perfect ways, creating angle after interesting angle. She KILLED it. If you’re a senior wishing to prepare for your senior photos and want to learn some tricks, study Hannah. And then call me :)