Top five tips for an amazing senior portrait Experience

Having your photo taken can feel intimidating, nerve-wracking and stressful.  But it can also be empowering, energizing and bring you a little shot of joy.  My goal is to help your senior feel their most confident selves and the result will show in their final photographs. 

My Seniors are beautiful people with special energy.  I work closely with each to bring out the facets of their personalities in the form of photography.  Just as each human being is an individual, each photoshoot is also individual.  I want to get to know who your child is and what they love, and bring that out on camera.  Your senior’s portraits should be a positive reflection of who they are at their core.

 With a natural and relaxed approach, I like to enhance what’s already there rather than trying to create something that isn’t reflective of your child.  We work closely to choose a location that is meaningful and photogenic.  Thankfully, here in Leelanau County we have plenty of beautiful places to work with. Alternatively we can head into Traverse City for a more urban feel.

We plan wardrobe options together.  Whether your senior chooses to incorporate their hobbies and passions or opt for simplicity, we plan out all the details during a planning consultation.

Topped off with a gentle flow of posing during the session, your senior will leave feeling empowered and energized.

I have found these five tips to be most helpful as your senior prepares for their portrait session. Please share with your senior:

1)    Know where you’re headed.  Have the address of our starting spot in your phone and be sure to arrive 10 minutes early.  I’ll let you know the order of locations in case we have more than one.  Be sure to text me if you’re running late.

2)    Keep your wardrobe choices simple and reflective of you.  Unless logos and mascots are part of your identity, avoid them at all costs.  These tend to take the photos off your beautiful self.  Small stripes can moiré on camera but other simple patterns can look fabulous.  We go over wardrobe tips in detail during the consultation.

3)    Take a moment to notice the details.  The focus is often on making sure hair and makeup look perfect but don’t forget about your brows and your fingernails.  We want to avoid any bitten or chipped nails or eyebrows gone awry.  And guys, make sure you have a nice clean shave before hand.

4)    Don’t get hung up on blemishes or braces or anything else you can’t control.  The point of a senior portrait is to capture the most authentic version of the real you at this very special moment in time.  If you’re wearing braces, that’s 100% ok.  You’ll look back on these images many years later and enjoy these youthful details. But if you wake up in the morning and your skin isn’t looking 100% how you’d like, I’ve got you covered and I will make your skin look its very best.

5)    Loosen up.  Bring a friend to lighten the mood.  There’s no better way to get authentic smiles then having your best buddy around.  We’ll have music going and you can feel free to let loose.

I can’t wait to work with you and your senior. This is such a milestone in life and I am here for you to capture it, stop time for a moment, and celebrate your amazingly awesome teen as they step into adulthood.