I had the pleasure of working with high school senior, Justin! A great guy, easy going, open to anything, and basically open to humoring me as I went from idea to the next, to the next idea, to the next idea.

Senior photos are a great thing to do on the side if you’re getting started in the portrait business. Often people tend to think “family portraits” but don’t forget about senior portraits. They are a blast!

The senior girls will often bring four sets of clothes with ALL accessories from earrings, to necklaces, to shoes. Not one detail is overlooked. And guys, well guys are so great because what you see is what you get. They have a couple different shirts and are pretty much open to any idea you have, but unlike girls, they have NOT been thinking about this photo shoot for months on end.

When working with guys, I always think of mom.

I wonder ‘how many faces has mom known him to have”.

Answer: Countless.

So the least I can do as their photographer is capture as many faces and sides to their personality as I possibly can. This is why I try all kinds of ideas. The more we try, the more I get to witness first hand his different smiles

his natural laugh

and his expressions that don’t necessarily involve a smile but are still a part of who he is

When I do a senior photo shoot, I want the parents to look at the photos and say “he’s had that look since he was two!” or “that look is totally from his grandfather” or “that is Justin, right there, you caught my Justin”.

And I especially want Justin to see the photos and recognize himself and his personality. We’ve all had our photo taken when we got the results and questioned whether or not that was really us in the picture. When you do Senior Photo Shoots, think “documenting the detailed expressions that tell the story of this person”. You are not there to capture their hobbies and the same smile with changing outfits. You are there to capture the spirit of who they are and the many faces that their spirit has. Does that make sense?

For more examples of this, check out our Associate Portrait photographer, Gina Sook. She specializes in family and senior photos. Gina’s work with seniors is AWESOME–it’s creative, funky, cutting edge at times. She totally dials right in to the Senior energy. You can see her gallery on our website.

I hope you’re okay if I post this one Justin…:). He’s dating a beautiful girl named Natalie. She was such a sweetie, and I loved her big brown eyes…you could get lost in them. So I had to take a shot with her blurred in the background because I felt like it would make her eyes stand out even more. (Aperture: 2.8)

Another side tip, suggest having the senior bring a parent or friend (or both) with them to help them relax, make them laugh, etc.

When doing a Senior Photo Shoot, look for interesting spots. We were actually going to do the shoot at the park, but when we met in the parking lot I noticed the back wall of a church in the alley across the street. It was orange! Guess where we ended up? Yep, in the alley behind the church with the orange wall!

If you haven’t already, check out our Portrait 101 Kit for all the nuts and bolts to doing this kind of business from waiver release forms to packaging pricing and marketing yourself.

Justin- thanks for being such an easy guy to photograph!! I had a blast during our photo shoot!

And a big congrats on graduation around the corner!! Hugs to Natalie and her beautiful brown eyes!