There are tons of different types of photography. There’s family photos, wedding photos, landscape photography, stock photography, couple photos, and (of course) senior photos. When I first started photography, I tried every single one of these types of photos. I took photos of anything and anyone that I could. I left no stone unturned. After a couple years of saying yes to everything I knew I needed to start settling more into one type of photography. Pretty quickly, I landed on senior photos.

WHY?

There’s so many reasons, and they can all be summed up in these three words: creativity, connection & season of life. (I know, I wish it was three C words too, but I couldn’t lie to you to make it all three Cs.)

Creativity:

High school seniors are ready and often begging for creativity. They want their photos to be different. They want their friends to see their photos and remember them in a couple months. They don’t want basic photos. They may want to incorporate a trendy outfit or an idea that they saw on TikTok, but they still want to make it their own. They rarely say no to an out of the box idea. This means I can take photos for seven seniors in one week and every session will be vastly different. It’s never the same session with the same locations when you are hanging out with seniors. Every year my seniors push me out of my comfort zone to find new ideas that will make their photos unique.

Connection:

If you stop me in Walmart and ask me what my favorite part of my job is I will quickly say the connection I get to make with my clients. They become friends. They are people that I don’t avoid when I see them out and about in town two months later. High school seniors are eager to connect with other people. They are easy to chat with and have so much to talk about. Think about it! They are on the edge of their life completely changing when they graduation high school. Dreams for the future, current hobbies, favorite thing about school, summer plans, and extracurriculars that they are currently involved in are my first conversation topics with every senior. I never find time to drag or sessions to be boring when I get to hang out with seniors because of the connection they are open to having with their photographer.

Season of Life:

I want you to think back to your senior year of high school with me for a moment. You may have been different than me, but I remember my senior year of high school being filled with LOTS of feelings. I was anxious about who I would stay friends with post graduation. I didn’t know what my life would look like within 6 months. I was excited for the senior things like prom and senior FFA banquet and senior night for softball. I was overwhelmed with college applications, scholarships and planning of events. These are only a handful of the feelings that every high school senior is feeling when they show up for their senior photos. It’s a LOT. It is such a unique time of life. They are on the edge of a major life change, and you KNOW it. They are trying to prepare for it. Being able to talk to them about this and reassure them that they aren’t doing anything wrong is a gift. More importantly being able to spend an evening with them and allowing them to forget all of the stressors that come with senior year and just enjoy themselves is such a blessing. Reminding high school seniors that they are loved, valued and so worthy amidst all of these big feelings is the greatest joy of my life. As their senior photographer, I have the unique opportunity to freeze time for them. I get to slow them down, boost their confidence and remind them that this season of life is just a season.

That is the BEST thing about being a senior photographer.

High school seniors will always keep me on my toes. They make me laugh. They push me out of my comfort zone. They become friends and remind me of the importance of my job. That being a photographer can be more than pushing a button and capturing a scene. It’s connecting with people and reminding them of their value. I know that I needed someone to do that for me more than ever when I was a high school senior myself.

If you want me to capture your senior photos, reach out to me here! If you want to hang out more in my corner of the internet, follow me on Instagram here!