Athletes+Sports
Teens+Tweens
Seniors
When Claudia, her mom Karen, and I first met to talk about her Senior Portraits and her joining Team 2024, they said they wanted for this to be an outlet for her outside of the daily duties and responsibilities that student athletes face… and that was music to my ears. I want my seniors to have an escape from the daily grind. From start to finish, the portrait process helps my families carve out time together while documenting and celebrating and important life accomplishment for the Senior.
Quality Communication
I often reference “mom” when talking about the primary parent who is planning the session, but I do have dads who are involved with their seniors from start to finish, and I LOVE it when that happens. We welcome one or both, or older siblings, grandparents… who is a part of the shoot is fully dependent on our seniors.
Regardless of who is in the planning circle, our sessions are anywhere from 1.5 to 3.5 hours, and we plan extensively to be sure we make the most of our time. We want the final gallery to be an honest reflection of the senior, and success depends a lot on good communication. For that reason, our process creates multiple opportunities for our seniors to spend quality time connecting and exchanging ideas with their parents as we plan, shoot, then relive their day.
Planning Consult
We start by utilizing a vision board created by the senior and their parent as we bring focus and a visual representation of what the senior’s likes are. This way, we can be sure we are understanding one another clearly.
I invite my families to text me as they are shopping if they have questions about what styles work well in a photograph, before we hold our in-person wardrobe and planning session. There we play “dress up” and figure out what looks the senior session will showcase. I am able to share lessons I’ve learned through my years photographing seniors, but the TIME they spend together talking gives our families room to learn about one another: what their likes are, where their insecurities lie… the clothing and styling talk is just a gateway to bond.
Picture Day
Our seniors are the stars of our shoot day, and we incorporate the family present into helping us pamper, praise, and celebrate our star. We might have them hold a reflector, or shoot behind the scenes video of the hair and make up prep, and though we might put them to work, we do tell our parents to come ready to jump into a photo or two too! The point is to keep our families engaged as they take in the sights and sounds of the day. It sounds cliché, but it gives them the chance to take mental pictures in their minds of their “baby” who isn’t so much of a baby anymore… then when they see the actual portraits we make together, well, it just makes seeing those images even more emotional.
Image Reveal and Ordering Night
Our Reveal Night is a celebration of our senior and starts with a personalized cookie cake from Simply Divine Cakes, but the main attraction comes next as our families see their gallery for the first time on a musical slideshow. As the images pop onto the TV one by one, the families get to relive the big day. They’ve invested time together and can take proud ownership of the images they see, but it’s even more than that. Inevitably, the senior is going to see photos that blow them away, that they can’t believe is THEM, or the parents will see an expression on the senior’s face that sends them back to when this near adult was in elementary school… it is an emotional recap of an important life season AND time well spent together. These portraits and the products we design with them can only be described and meaningful fine art. When our families get them back, and every time they lay eyes on them, they get to remember it all.
XOXO,
Lymarie
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